Theater, music and art to warm autumn nights

Theater

A Romeo and Juliet-type tale of the pathos of young love blighted by archaic family squabbles is sure to fill theater seats. When the divisive factor hits a bit closer to home, like racism and racial identity, the story gets a lot darker. That’s part of the reason for the Milwaukee Rep to put on Yellowman, a Pulitzer-nominated play about two friends and lovers who grow up in the American South. Both are black, but one is light-skinned and the other dark, a distinction that makes worlds of difference in their lives and may ultimately tear them apart. This bittersweet love story opens Sept. 28 and runs through Nov. 13, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. on Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets range from $25 to $40; for more information or to purchase, visit the Rep’s online box office or call (414) 224-9490.

The Alchemist Theatre has a habit of putting on shows throughout its building, which includes a theater, the Bay View Lounge, a basement and out of the way spaces.  Faust: An Evening at the Mephisto Theatre is set in the 1920s at a theater that performs nothing but Faust. The show will occur simultaneously throughout the Alchemist. Audience members are encouraged to slip in and out of scenes and piece together the story moment by moment. The show runs Sept. 29 through Oct. 29. Tickets are $17 in advance and $19 at the door. For more information, visit the Alchemist’s website.

The Bay Players, based out of Bay View for the past 60 years, market themselves as “the community theatre with a professional difference.” That difference should be noticeable in their season premiere, Leading Ladies. In this farce, two Shakespearean actors plan to pass themselves off as a rich old lady’s long-lost nephews — only to find out the long-lost relatives are, in fact nieces. Shows are Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 7 and 8, all at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15, $12 for students, via mail order or at the door.

Music

The MSO will perform Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A minor,” one of the most famous piano concertos ever written.

This weekend, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is joined by Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski, who has received near-universal acclaim for both his technique and his musical personality. Trpčeski will play Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor. Edo de Waart will conduct. The program also includes John Adams’ Harmonielehre, which de Waart premiered with the San Francisco Symphony in 1985. Concert times are Friday at 11:15 a.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Tickets start at $22. To purchase, visit the MSO website or call (414) 291-7605.

Jazz pianist Rick Germanson of the Rick Germanson Trio may be originally from Milwaukee, but his name’s been more closely linked to his new home in NYC, where he’s been heralded as one of the greatest new talents in the city. Friday, Germanson returns to Wisconsin to show off his talents at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Sept. 30, and tickets are $28; call (262) 781-9470 or go to the center’s online box office.

Didn’t get your Frankie Valli fix when Jersey Boys came to town? Then stop by Wisconsin Lutheran College this Friday to see the Unexpected Boys, a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute band who’ve been touring the world for the last two years. They’ve mastered all of the band’s greatest hits. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $34 general admission, $31 for seniors and donors, and $12 for students. Also available is a pre-show dinner option, which begins at 6:30 p.m. and costs an additional $21. To purchase tickets, visit their website or call (414) 443-8802.

Visual Art

Brent Coughenour’s piece for the Nohl Show, “In Search of Lost Time,” is a multi-channel installation that clinically surveys television’s emotional manipulations.

Every year, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation awards Mary L. Nohl Fellowships out to Milwaukee artists both emerging and established, offering winners funding for new, innovative works. And every year, those fellowships reward us with astonishing installations at UWM’s Inova/Kenilworth gallery. This year, the show features three established artists (Brent Coughenour, Paul Druecke and Waldek Dynerman) and four emerging artists (Sarah Buccheri, Neil Gravander, Ashley Morgan and Chris James Thompson). All seven have used the Nohl funding to produce outstanding, complex works that cross genres. We’ve left more detailed descriptions to Inova itself. The full exhibition opens Sept. 30, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at Inova The show runs through Dec. 4. Seven ancillary events have been scheduled; for details, visit the exhibition’s website.

Windfall Theatre: Omnium Gatherum, through Oct. 8

Soulstice Theatre: Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, through Oct. 8

Carte Blanche Theatre: Mein Kampf, through Oct. 9

Marquette University: Little Shop of Horrors, through Oct. 9

American Players Theater: The Glass Menagerie, through Oct. 15

APT: Crime and Punishment, through Oct. 16

First Stage: Seussical, through Oct. 16

Fireside Theater: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, through Oct. 23

Milwaukee Rep: From My Hometown, through Oct. 30

Last Chance

Your Mother Dances, Stripped Roundly, closes tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 27; 7:30 performance.

Frankly Music, trio program, closes tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 27; 7 p.m. concert.

American Players Theater: The Tempest, through Sept. 30

APT: Of Mice and Men, through Oct. 1

APT: The Taming of the Shrew, through Oct. 2

Skylight Opera Theatre: The Rivals, through Oct. 2