‘Fisherman’s Daughters’ Sings of Wisconsin

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents The Fisherman’s Daughters in the Stackner Cabaret January 9 – March 1, 2026. Pictured L to R: Chase Stoeger, Kelly Doherty, Eva Nimmer, Alex Campea. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

It was a big success at Fish Creek’s Northern Sky Theater, featuring talents (backstage and on) also known in Milwaukee.

So the Milwaukee Rep grabbed The Fisherman’s Daughters and restaged it for its Stackner Cabaret, more famous for celebrity tributes and singalongs.

It is a story with original folk music celebrating the allure of Door County back into its 19^th century immigrant settlers and then forward to turn of the century and two dissimilar sisters occupying the homestead of a future lovely state park. They agree to and then resist the replacement of the home they grew up in.

I have an affection dating back decades for Wisconsin folklore and music, the draw of its state parks and the way its legends of immigration settlers and family squabbles still speak to current day America.

A familiar Wisconsin songwriter in the Door County region, Katie Dahl, created the show and its book, music and particularly lyrics that carry the most weight in describing the immigration heritage and the family squabbles we all grew up enduring and reconciling.

You need some of that affection going in, since The Fisherman’s Daughters is a lightweight entertainment with some nice domestic exchanges and a presentational style. With fiddle and guitar background it ranges from the emotionally touching moments to some toe-tapping group harmonies, from gentle insights within the family drama to mugging overplay to keep us paying attention.

The story, often told through lyrics that emphasize word images more than rhymes, has the smart sister coming home from Chicago – Nora, played by Eva Nimmer – and the surly older sister – Sarah, played by Kelly Doherty — who stomps around Door County in her dead father’s overcoat and yells in Norwegian when angry. Both actresses are familiar names on Milwaukee’s stages.

Nimmer’s savvy singing duty is to be sweet and lyrical in harmony, though Nora gets to flash some temper, too. Doherty has the huskier, more penetrating voice, able to move Sarah from tough as nails to engagingly gentle. They are augmented by two male actors-singers and the fiddle-and-guitar duo named Frogwater (actually Susan and John Nicholson, also well-known Wisconsin performers).

Chase Stoeger has the garrulous part as Charlie, who keeps interrupting and changing his voice to force laughs from the audience. Alex Campea, who did better work recently at the Skylight Music Theatre, tries to find a way to be constantly enthusiastic as happy intruder John.

Doherty has the showiest part in her initial anger at being abandoned by her sister and eager to sell the homestead to go a-traveling, while Nora has been a-traveling and has been disappointed. The musical plays on a reversal of desires. Its main attraction is the rhythmic metronomic movements set up among all the players whether exchanging gestures or cutting up fish. The folk songs have hints of sea chanties, Appalachian melodies and English tunes.

There is also a sister partnership behind the scenes, again with familiar Wisconsin names – director-choreographer Molly Rhode and music director Alissa Rhode. The reliance on harmonies is overdone, but the homespun poetry keeps us listening. Though only about 90 minutes without intermission, a viewer can’t help feeling there were several places where intermissions seemed almost built in and would have been welcomed.

The Fisherman’s Daughters will run through March 1. You can purchase tickets here.

The Fisherman’s Daughters Gallery

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Dominique Paul Noth served for decades as film and drama critic, later senior editor for features at the Milwaukee Journal. You’ll find his blog here and here. For his Dom’s Snippets, an unusual family history and memoir, go to domnoth.substack.com.