Magic for Eye and Ear
European cirque style proves a good match for European musical masterworks.
Apr 30th, 2011
7 Stories at Next Act Theatre
The Off-Broadway Theatre gets edgy with this new comedy, with expert timing and a rubber-faced protagonist.
Nov 16th, 2009
True West by Pink Banana Theatre Company
The novel approach of setting Shepard's play in an actual apartment works, but some of the acting does not.
Oct 19th, 2009
‘The Smell of the Kill’ convinces
What if you had the chance to kill someone without consequences?
Oct 12th, 2009
Invader? I Hardly Know Her!
At the moment, Invader? is Milwaukee’s own Little Shop of Horrors, bristling with snappy comedic dialogue, clever lyrical twists of the music, self-referencing humor and absurd plot points.
Sep 10th, 2009
“God Bridge” by Youngblood Theatre
Youngblood finishes its summer season with an intriguing, absurdist original work that shows off acting chops.
Jul 29th, 2009
Sexual Perversity in Chicago
Video presentation, a fluid direction, and that staccato way of talking. You know? Yeah. But you know? Right. It's playing at Bay View's Alchemist Theatre.
Jul 16th, 2009
The Winter’s Tale, told in the dead of summer
If the acting of Winter's Tale shines, then it's the APT stage design that intensifies the illumination. The production has been set in the late 19th (and early 20th) century.....Set changes are inventively pared down to the modified placement of a single and simple chair.
Jun 28th, 2009
‘Henry V’ production proves simplicity can still be quality
The one thing any Shakespeare play doesn't need in order to be successful is extraneous sensationalism. The Bard's text alone often makes the plays so dense that any effort to heighten them with elaborate or ornate design elements can seem like depreciation. With language so beautiful, characters so rich, and dramatic turns so engaging - all Shakespeare needs for a quality production is a talented and dedicated cast, supported by equally worthy direction. With Milwaukee's Quasi-Production' staging of Henry V, a vast array of talent has assembled to create a simple but highly engaging depiction of the solidarity of soldiers, the beauty of love, and the power of unity.
Jun 3rd, 2009
‘Henry V’ realized with more than just imaginary forces
It is the final play from William Shakespeare's historical tetraology of British kings, and the most oft-quoted. This Quasi Productions performance of Henry V grew not only out of a collective desire to make a worthy theatrical presentation, but from a grim sense of incompletion.
May 30th, 2009
‘Pirates’ invade the Skylight
pirates-penzanceA hilarious reach for the pinnacle of musical ridiculousness, Milwaukee's latest production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance fully engages its audience's satirical sensibilities. Whimsically adapted by the Skylight Opera, this production is less a straightforward rendering of the classic comic opera and more a snapshot taken with a hall of mirrors lens.
May 26th, 2009
Wild Space Dance’s ‘Map of Memories’ sheds light on a disbanded Milwaukee community
Map of Memories is not only an enthralling 90-minute kinetic display of beautiful sinewy human motion but also a local history lesson. A performance event features a fascinating pre-show talk by Milwaukee Historian John Gurda about the origins of Jones Island, its inhabitants, and its eventual change into its support for modern industry.
May 2nd, 2009
Social Security at Sunset Playhouse Theater
Successful New York art dealers Barbara and David Kahn are about to have a problem. That problem comes in the form of a elderly, walker-using, bitter woman named Sophie. She is Barbara’s mother, and ever since Sophie’s husband died and children have grown up she has developed a penchant for creating arguments and difficulties with all those who surround her. Barbara’s sister Trudy and her husband Martin — who had been taking care of the aging mother — are flying off to Buffalo to end their college daughter’s involvement in a situation of extreme debauchery. This encompasses the first act of the low gravity comedy by playwright Andrew Bergman. From this point on, surprises of character, witty retorts, and twists of plot try to keep us engaged. Social Security, despite its unaffected title, is essentially a play about romantic lust: from the initial exploration of it by someone in her later teens, to the nourishment or dissolution of it by couples in their mid-years, and finally in the inspiring rediscovery of it by someone in the winter of life. Dialogue exchanges are well-handled by the two different couples, but it does not support the script. It requires a more grounded and naturalistic acting approach, rather than the screwball ping-pong pace this staging undertakes. The energy and commitment by the actors is right, but the broad tone is off. As a result, the audience is set up for an uproarious heart attack of bawdy engagement but instead the verbal-based jokes flatline, producing only a modicum of laughter. There are moments of broad humor that bring gasps and guffaws, but overall they seem misplaced in this production. Actor Susan Dwyer Loveridge plays Barbara with sufficient talent but at times her emotional reactions are at such a high precipice that it leaves her nowhere to go. Donna Daniels (Trudy) and John Roberts (Martin) share equal talent in their roles as an overly worrisome and neurotic couple, however they approach the play with a reserved commitment and come across as caricatures. Bonnie Krah (Sophie) and Glenn Villa (David) are the standouts of the cast. Krah’s role as the mother is a bold, extreme, and yet genuine creation. Despite Sophie’s overboard behavior, Krah plays her with professionally trained honesty from moment to moment. We totally buy her both as the crotchety parent and into the transition of a romantic woman. As the cut-up, abrasive art dealer, and son-in-law, Villa shows how to make a sparsely written character come to life and play it without pretense. He treats the character as a real person. Douglas Smedbron rounds out the able cast as the love-swooned artist Maurice. The set looks amazingly posh, giving the illusion of an upscale Manhattan apartment. The general wash of lighting works for a comedic piece and the changes of mood are supported by invisible modifications to the illumination. A lengthy set/costume change between the scenes of act two felt long enough to break the story flow, though. Sunset’s production of Social Security […]
Apr 21st, 2009
The Pavilion
“This is a play about time,” the Narrator of The Pavilion announces. And “time” here is both an intriguing theme an theatrical snag. The Pavilion is the latest entertainment offering of Next Act Theatre. Although the play has moments of genuine humor, literary beauty and acting prowess, overall, the production’s full-size sheet felt stretched out over a queen-size bed. The plot of The Pavilion is a simple one. It’s the summer of 2000 and Pine City, Minnesota is having it’s twenty year high school reunion. Peter has returned to his home town to win back the heart of Kari, his high school love. Twenty years ago Peter skipped out on Kari to go to college, her pregnancy the reason for his abrupt exit. Kari was left alone and bitter to deal with her impending child. Now Peter is back, using the highschool reunion to make amends with Kari and rectify his now conscionable stupidity. The Pavilion, the old dance hall location where the class reunion of 1980 takes place, is also a metaphor for the universal covering under which we all interact. For interconnectedness, how everything we do, from whom we choose to love to every thought we think, has an affect and effect on everyone and everything else in the universe. It’s a rich and interesting concept but one that’s presented here with blocks of ennui I found difficult to ignore. Angela Iannone (Narrator) watches over Mark Ulrich (Peter) and Mary MacDonald Kerr (Kari) The unique story element in The Pavilion is the inclusion of a Narrator character played by Angela Iannone. Narrator is an extremely modest character name for one who fulfills multitudinous theatrical elements. Iannone is an exceptionally apt protean performer. For in this small triumvirate cast she plays not only our cosmic force and commentator, but a myriad of other reunion attendees, both humorous and tragic, for Peter and Kari to interact with. The mutable actress changes body and voice like most of us change TV channels. Mark Ulrich plays Peter. In less capable acting hands Peter could come across with a certain false pretense. But Ulrich takes his time with the role and plays it simply. The highlight of his performance comes when he presents Peter’s monologue about how and when he first fell in love with Kari. There’s an earnest gentleness to his delivery that defies anyone with a brain to lose their attention. Mary MacDonald Kerr, virtuoso director of Next Act’s past production of Going to St. Ives, plays Kari. Kerr, with the honesty and openness of someone with nothing to lose, does the best she can with the unsympathetic role of a character who blames the universe for her current marital and childless dilemma, but unfortunately just comes across as annoyingly petulant. Director David Cecsarini puts his actors sufficiently, if tediously, through the emotional obstacle course of the plot. The blocking of the actors and the use of the performance space is well handled. Only once did I notice a clunky transition […]
Apr 16th, 2009
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
On the surface Edward Albee’s 1951 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – currently playing at The Alchemist Theater – seems to be nothing more than an intellectual pun on the verse “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?”, having little to do with the author herself. However, the disenchanted couple at the core of the play – Martha and George, performed with supple intensity by Sharon Nieman-Koebert and Mike Webber – exist in a world not so dissimilar to Woolf’s. They live in a world of domestic and academic impotence. Although Virginia and her husband, Leonard Woolf, shared a love and fondness for one another, they lived in separate worlds within their home. This lack of excitement, this confinement, led Virginia and her restless soul to have an open affair, as we see Martha attempting here in front of George with the vigorous and handsome Nick, a newcomer to the university that Martha’s father runs and where George teaches history. Like Woolf, Martha seeks a natural vigor lacking in George. At the heart of the story a couple looks to season the domestic blandness of their life together, and in doing so, deconstruct and reconstitute their love for one another. Kirk Thomsen, who also directs the production, plays Nick with a naive seriousness that is the complete opposite of George’s (and Martha’s) sharp condescension and bitter wit. After a party welcoming the new faculty, Nick and his pretty but innocuous wife, Honey (played by Liz Shipe) venture to the older couple’s home for a nightcap. It’s Martha’s fawning over Nick that sparks the tinder of tension hovering between her and George into an all out fire. Nick and Honey become pawns in the older couple’s power struggle. As they’re being moved from square to square, Martha informs them of her child, to which George pleads to her: “No, Martha. Don’t you bring that up, Martha. Don’t you dare talk about our son, Martha!” With this revelation, shrouded in mystery, dark secrets begin to spill out of both couples, and we see an inversion of the appearance of the younger couple’s happiness. By the end of the night, both couples come face to face with the delusional foundations on which their relationships are built. The most entertaining scene occurs when Martha and Nick – their sexual tension coming to a head – grind and twist to some very hip Surf Rock, while George watches helplessly with a brandy-comatosed Honey from the couch. Think of the scene from Blue Velvet when Dean Stockwell – from his anachronistic, pastel-consumed drug house – sings Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” for a frenzied Dennis Hopper (as George is here) and a group of oblivious and eerily sterile women (as Honey is here) who sit around knitting, unaffected by the storm on hand. For a brief minute the play turns into a musical: Martha and George trade syncopated insults in tune with the music, and level-headed Nick provides the pragmatic chorus, “Jesus Christ you two, enough!” The scene culminates with an impressive […]
Mar 30th, 2009
A Bronx Tale
Is it better to be loved or feared? This question gets to the heart of A Bronx Tale, Chazz Palmenteri’s tour de force currently ready to enthrall you at the Marcus Center’s Uilein Hall. The story takes place in the 1960s in (you guessed it) the Bronx and centers around a boy, Calogero (“C”), and his respect and loyalty for two very different men. Lorenzo is the boy’s father, a hard working, well-liked individual who cares for his son a great deal. On the other end of the spectrum is Sonny, a nefarious street boss who commands respect in the neighborhood through intimidation. Both men play an important role in the life of the boy and each one contributes to the boy’s eventual learned values. Conflict ensues when Lorenzo objects to Calogero’s over exposure to the immoral, yet street smart Sonny. Growing up in the Bronx is a concept so far removed from my own formative years spent in the bucolic areas of Racine county, writing this review makes me feel, in a way, like a fish writing about algebra. Or, given my comparative lack of understanding of anything mathematical, it’s like me trying to review algebra. However, love and fear are really the only two emotions that matter in any given situation for anyone. Boiled down, all of our actions, daily, yearly, moment to moment, are motivated by one or the other. Young C learns to balance these two motivators throughout the story. What C learns from Sonny about girls he balances against his father’s prejudice. And in turn, what C learns from his from his father about trust he bounces off Sonny’s paranoia. When the story ends, C has grown into a young man with all the emotional tools necessary to make it in the world that is neither Sonny’s way nor his father’s, but his own way. Chazz Palminteri is a virtuoso stage performer. Forget Bullets Over Broadway, forget The Usual Suspects, basically forget whatever your preconceived notion might be of Palminteri from any particular movie or stage production. Palminteri is a veritable rock star of the theatrical stage. And if you’ve never seen the performance talents of Chazz Palminteri, I implore you: Get to the Marcus Center this weekend and prepare yourself for some riveting entertainment. Using merely his body and voice he creates an entire panoply of characters, each with his own unique vocal and physical quality. Without break he unfolds the story through these characters for an endurance testing hour and forty minutes. Chazz Palminteri being such the powerhouse performer that he is, it’s a virtual breeze to forgive some of the cartoony aspects of the story, especially when you find out the one-man-play is also written by Palminteri. This is not an ego thing. Palminteri deserves to be performing his own work. Some of the characters are there solely for humorous effect and don’t add much to the story: there is a fat man, who was so fat his shadow once killed a dog, and a guy […]
Mar 30th, 2009
