The Coach at the Rep, a Superbowl wager pays at MAM

Theater

In theater, winning might not be the only thing — but Lombardi is fresh off a win on Broadway, and on its way to the Milwaukee Rep this weekend. The Rep is the first regional theater to perform the show, a glimpse into the life of one of Wisconsin’s cultural heroes, played by Rep regular Lee E. Ernst as Lombardi. The show opens in previews tonight, with a formal opening Friday and a run through Nov. 13; showtimes are 7:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets start at $20, and can be ordered online or at (414) 224-9490.

Driving Miss Daisy is best-known as the Academy Award-winning film starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. But it began as a Pulitzer-winning play Off-Broadway in 1987. The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre will revive the show this Friday. In the play, Daisy Werthan, an eccentric elderly Jewish woman, takes on Hoke Colburn as her black chauffeur. The driver-passenger relationship blossoms into friendship. The show runs Oct. 14 through Oct. 30, with shows at 7:30 weekdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets range from $15 to $40; to order call (414) 291-7800 or visit MCT’s website.

One aged former starlet is a frightening proposition. Imagine two of them duking it out on the set of a low-budget thriller. That’s Gorgons, which Renaissance Theaterworks opens Friday. The story echoes a classic feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that reached its peak when they costarred in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The show runs through Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. weeknights, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $36; call (414) 291-7800 or visit the online box office.

Set-up for the worst honeymoon ever: Old guy kisses bride, swaps souls with her. That happens in Prelude to a Kiss, opening Thursday at Sunset Playhouse. This modern fairy tale/romantic comedy runs through Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $20, $16 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at Sunset’s website or via phone, (262) 782-4430.

Friday, the Racine Theatre Guild opens Doubt: A Parable, the story of a nun’s crusade to remove a charismatic priest who she believes to have had inappropriate contact with one of the male students at their Bronx parochial school. Nothing is as clear as it should be. Doubt runs through Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2, 4 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Prices vary based on date and time, and can be purchased at the RTG website or (262) 633-4218.

Milwaukee Public Theatre aims to  draw the eye toward social issues. From the Start, Consider the Finish addresses end-of-life planning. Two MPT actors have performed the 20 dramatic sketches and 22 original songs across the state since early September, but they return to Milwaukee this and next Tuesday. Tonight’s show, at 6 p.m. at UWM’s Engelmann Hall, includes guest actor Mark Metcalf, and next Tuesday’s, at 5:30 p.m. at the Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, features guest actor Susan Dolan. Dolan co-wrote The End of Life Advisor, the book on which the play is based. Both Milwaukee shows have a talkback after, and all performances are free.

Music

Edo de Waart’s Mahler cycle continues with the First Symphony, “Titan.”

Edo de Waart opened his tenure as music director at the MSO with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, and then continued the cycle with Mahler’s Third in June 2010, his Seventh last October, and his Second (Resurrection) Symphony to close out last year’s season. This weekend, he continues with Mahler’s First (Titan) Symphony. Also on the program is Schumann’s Fourth Symphony. Concerts are on Friday at 11:15 a.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m., and tickets start at $22. Visit the MSO’s website or call (414) 291-7605.

The Wisconsin Philharmonic opens its fall season tonight with Love and the Sea, a celebration of maritime music. Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, Elgar’s Sea Pictures (with mezzo-soprano Heather Jewson), Dubussy’s La Mer and Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto (performed by Chapman Competition-winner Chelsea Shurilla) are on the program. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Oconomowoc Arts Center, 641 E. Forest St., Oconomowoc. Tickets are $15 to $35 and can be purchased online and at (262) 547-1858.

The Dukes of Dixieland will visit the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts this week. The traveling group brings years of New Orleans jazz tradition to Milwaukee. The six dukes, the oldest Dixieland jazz group in existence, wear their Dixie heritage proudly, although they’re not afraid to mix in some pop, gospel or country, too. The show begins at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and tickets are $20 and $15. Call (262) 781-9520 or visit the online box office.

The Waukesha Choral Union opens their 2011-12 season this weekend with The Human and the Divine, comprising music that explores human relationships. This collaboration with Hartford Union High School’s Concert Choir will take place at the Basilica at Holy Hill, in Hubertus. They will sing folk songs and sacred works from all over the globe at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15, $13 for seniors and students and $4 for children 11 and under. They are available from chorus members, any Waukesha State Bank, their online box office, or at (414) 297-9310.

The American Tapestry Trio, led by Robin Spielberg, will be performing new arrangements of classic American tunes ranging from the Civil War through the Gold Rush and all the way up to the first half of the 20th century. The concert, part of the Wisconsin Lutheran College Guest Artist Series, begins Friday at 8 p.m., and tickets are $20, $18 for seniors and donors and $12 for students. To purchase tickets, visit the online box office or call (414) 443-8802.

Visual Arts

Renoir’s “Bathers with Crab,” the spoils of a bet with the Carnegie Museum, is one of the pieces in the MAM’s new Impressionists exhibit.

Payoff time has arrived on a Super Bowl bet between the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. The Green Bay Packers won, and the MAM won with it: earning an extended loan of Renoir’s Bathers with Crab. Though it’s an oil on canvas, the work will be a bonus addition to the museum’s new exhibit: Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper. Approximately 110 works will be displayed, from artists including Manet, Degas, Seurat and Van Gogh. The exhibit opens Friday and runs through Jan. 8. Visit the MAM website or call (414) 224-3200 for details.

George Widener, a savant with Aspberger’s tendencies, uses his calculator-esque command of memory to produce works like “Friday,” a comprehensive listing of successive Fridays.

Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts, opening at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, is so big that it’s subdivided into four quadrants: Holding Memory (found objects with strong emotional resonance); Forget Memory (works by artists confronting dementia in the lives of loved ones); Shared Memory (works that explore specific, group memories); and From Memory (works by artists with extraordinary memory capabilities that border on savant).

“House of Mind” combines art and performance to explore memory.

The exhibit ties in with a number of the center’s performing arts programs, including House of Mind, with Seattle-based choreographer Pat Graney. House of Mind runs Oct. 11 to 22, at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 4 and 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and tickets are $15 and $12 for students. Hiding Places runs through December.

Special Events

George Watsky takes spoken word poetry to a whole new level. But don’t take my word for it,  take a look for yourself. Watsky is coming to the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center on 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17. Earlier in the day, he’ll do a student matinee and workshop. Tickets for the night show are $10, $5 for students. Ticket holders are welcome at the workshop, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Visit the SMPAC box office or call (414) 766-5049.

Theatrical Tendencies: The Little Dog Laughed, through Oct. 22

In Tandem Theatre: Miss Mannerly, through Oct. 23

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

Alchemist Theatre: Faust: An Evening at the Mephisto Theatre, through Oct. 29

Milwaukee Rep: From My Hometown, through Oct. 30

Next Act Theatre: The Exonerated, through Oct. 30

Milwaukee Rep: Yellowman, through Nov. 13

Last Chance

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

APT: Crime and Punishment, through Oct. 16

First Stage: Seussical, through Oct. 16