Feinstein’s Sinatra, Raining Beatles, Blues Bros. revived

Music

Michael Feinstein visits the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Saturday to perform the music of Frank Sinatra. Photo credit American Public Television.

Acclaimed singer Michael Feinstein visits the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra this weekend for The Sinatra Project. The program comprises tunes Sinatra sang, famous standards and unrecorded compositions alike. Five-time Grammy nominee Feinstein will sing them with the MSO, with Sam Kriger conducting. The concert is Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverside Theater. Tickets range from $31.25 to $71.25. To order, call (414) 291-7605 or visit the MSO website.

As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, Present Music is offering Milwaukee a closer look at talented people born the year Kevin Stalheim founded the new-music organization. The Around 30 program involves around 30 artists around the age of 30 from the realms of music, dance, visual art, design and more. The concert begins Saturday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Turner Hall Ballroom. Tickets are $35, $25 or $15, with half-price tickets available for students. To order, visit Present Music’s  online box office or call (414) 271-0711.

RAIN, one of the longest-running Beatles tributes, comes to the Milwaukee Theater Thursday. Photo credit Cylla von Tiedemann.

RAIN, one of the most popular Beatles tributes touring today, comes to the Milwaukee Theatre for one night, this Thursday. The group, just off a 300-show Broadway run, will play a set that stretches across the Beatles’ entire discography, including pieces never performed by the Fab Four live on stage. The show begins March 1 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $75, $63, $48 and $33. Order through the theater’s Ticketmaster account.

The Milwaukee Opera Theater explores the meaning of Home in their winter concert. The show includes world premieres by four Milwaukee composers: Brian Myers, Timothy J. Rebers, Joel Kenneth Boyd and Jason Powell. The concert begins March 4 at 4 p.m. at Plymouth Church, 2717 E Hampshire St. Tickets are $15  online or by phone, (800) 838-3006.

Bel Canto Chorus builds their latest concert around music director Richard Hynson’s Evensong, which celebrates light’s triumph over darkness. The theme fits, the majestic St. Joseph Center Chapel, which at that time should be ablaze with sunlight streaming through stained glass. The Bel Canto Boy Choirs and soloists Rebecca Whitney (soprano), Jonathan Laabs (baritone) and 2011 Bel Canto Regional Artists Competition winner Eric Jurenas (countertenor) will also be part of it. The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4, and tickets are $20 or $25. Visit the online box office to order.

Denis Azabagic plays the guitar very, very well. But don’t just take my word for it; listen to this. I’ll wait. Dum de-dum-de…. See? Azabagic is great, right? Well, he’s playing a recital at the UWM Peck School of the Arts Recital Hall, 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 2. UWM’s Guitar Concert Organization is presenting Azabagic. It’s a bargain: $10 general admission, $5 for seniors, free for students UWM alumni, faculty & staff with ID. Call the UWM Peck School Box Office, (414) 229-4308.

This weekend, the Marcus Center hosts the Official Blues Brothers Revue, the only Blues Brothers tribute sanctioned by Dan Ackroyd and the Belushi estate. The show features the music and comedy of both the original movie and the five albums released by John Belushi and Ackroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, respectively. Shows are March 2 to 4, at 8 p.m. Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $45 and can be ordered at (414) 273-7206 or the Marcus online box office. (As it happens, the All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers is headed to the Milwaukee Theatre March 8. That’s a lot of Blues, brother, in one week.)

The Presidio Brass quintet will perform some of Hollywood’s greatest tunes at Wisconsin Lutheran College Friday. Photo credit Terry Moran, Jr.

San Diego’s Presidio Brass blow through Wisconsin Lutheran College Friday for a concert of hit film music. They touring on the heels of their Sounds of the Cinema album. The concert starts at 8 p.m. on March 2. Tickets are $24, $21 seniors/donors, and $12 students. Call (414) 443-8802 or visit the online box office.

The We Six jazz band normally plays works byother artists. Thursday, they’ll perform nothing but All Our Own compositions. This home-brew program, an annual affair, will feature music by We Six trumpeter Eric Jacobson, tenor saxophonist Eric Schoor, guitarist Paul Silbergleit, pianist Mark Davis, bassist Jeff Hamann and drummer David Bayles. The concert begins March 1 at 7:30 p.m., at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, where the sextet is in residence. Tickets are $22, $12 for students; call (414) 276-5760.

Theater

The touring cast of “Mary Poppins” comes to the Marcus Center for one week, starting tonight. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Mary Poppins, the world’s best-loved nanny, wafts into the Marcus Center tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 28) for a week-long visit from the world’s most-beloved nanny. The stage musical, adapted from the original book series and the 1964 Disney film, tells the story of supernatural nanny Mary Poppins, and her work with the Banks family. The show runs Feb. 28 to March 4, with shows at 7:30 p.m. weeknights, 8 p.m. Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The run is mostly sold out; remaining seats start at $78. For more information, visit the Marcus website or call (414) 273-7206.

In Tandem Theatre presents the Wisconsin premiere of The Chosen, an Aaron Posner adaptation of Chaim Potok’s most famous novel. The play, set in 1940s Brooklyn, tells the story of two Jewish boys, one Hasidic and one more liberal. A beanball on the baseball field opens their stormy, lifelong friendship. Posner also adapted Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev, which Milwaukee Rep staged in 2010, and the Rep’s recent To Kill a Mockingbird. In Tandem’s The Chosen runs March 2 to 25, with shows at 7:30 p.m. most weeknights, 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $22 weeknights and matinees and $26 Fridays/Saturdays, with a $2 discount for students and seniors. Call (414) 271-1371 or visit the online box office.

Youngblood kicks off their 2012 season with The Flu Season, a reluctant love story set in the confines of a the psychiatric ward of a hospital. They’re being very literal with the venue; Youngblood’s staging the show in the former Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital, now UWM’s Northwest Quardrant, at Newport and Maryland, across Maryland from the Sandburg Towers dorms. The show runs March 1 to 17, with performances at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; order at their online box office.

George Orwell’s landmark dystopic novel, 1984, gets a theatrical treatment at the Alchemist Theatre this weekend. Michael Jean Sullivan’s adaptation focuses exclusively on protagonist Winston Smith’s imprisonment by the ruling political party and the re-enactment of his memories to “re-educate” him. David Kaye directs this Project Empty Space/Bad Example production. It opens Thursday, March 1, and runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through March 17. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Order online. The Alchemist Theatre and Lounge is at 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Bayview.

First Stage opens an adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this weekend. The show runs March 2 to 31, with most performances Saturdays and Sundays at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Tickets range from $11 to $22, and can be ordered at (414) 273-7206 or First Stage’s website.

Visual Art

Edmund Mathews’ “The Gathering” is one of the many works chosen for the Charles Allis’ “Forward 2012” exhibition.

Friday, the Charles Allis Art Museum will open Forward 2012, its biennial juried exhibition of Wisconsin artists. The works in this year’s exhibition have been selected from more than 250 entries. They depict a broad spectrum of art from across the state. The exhibit will run March 2 to June 3, and is free with museum admission: $5 or $3 for seniors/students/veterans. Visit the museum’s website for more information.

Milwaukee Rep: To Kill A Mockingbird, through March 11 (EXTENDED)

Milwaukee Rep: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), through March 11

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre: A Thousand Words, through March 11

Sunset Playhouse: Greater Tuna, through March 11

Boulevard Theatre: This Lime Tree Bower, through April 1

Last Chance

Windfall Theatre: Wittenberg, through March 3

Fireside Theater: Viva Vegas, through March 4