At the Sunsent Playhouse, taxes can be funny
"Love, Sex and the IRS" mixes cross-dressing and tax evasion; hi-jinks ensue.
May 3rd, 2011
Fun with a point
Those rotten fifth-graders thought they had Miss Nelson's number. Then the sub showed up.
May 2nd, 2011
First Stage alum directs classroom musical, “Miss Nelson is Missing!”
Molly Rhode directs tale of rowdy kids and the teacher who tames them. Rhode started her as a teen actress at First Stage.
Apr 25th, 2011
Boulevard closes 25th season with charmers by Shaw, Wilder
"A Village Wooing" and "Pullman Car Hiawatha" are all about the words.
Apr 21st, 2011
Fun that trades on stereotypes
Kitschy and irreverent, Carte Blanche's production offers a (slightly skewed) view of life on the other side of the tracks.
Apr 10th, 2011
NEW! Diane Reeves sings jazz at Alverno
Grammy-winning legend sounds, looks and acts the part.
Apr 10th, 2011
“The Hundred Dresses” resonates with audiences young and old
First Stage's charming production offers lessons on fear, courage, and the power of words, in a story that speaks to audiences of all ages.
Mar 28th, 2011
Two talented girls, “100 Dresses”
Meet Katherin Pollnow and Marion Frank, two of the child actors in the First Stage Children's Theater show that opens Friday.
Mar 24th, 2011
Gershwin on the Musical Mainstage
Singers from the Milwaukee area's A-list remember George and Ira.
Mar 23rd, 2011
Shakespeare’s da bomb at The Rep
The Stackner Cabaret's madcap "Bomb-itty of Errors" is a tour-de-force of rap, rhyme and rhythm.
Mar 22nd, 2011
Vijay Iyer on Alverno Presents
The celebrated young jazz pianist brings his trio to the South Side campus.
Mar 21st, 2011
The Rep’s rapped Shakespeare
"Comedy of Errors" goes hip-hop in "Bomb-itty of Errors," opening Sunday in the Rep's Stackner Cabaret.
Mar 18th, 2011
“Tuesdays with Morrie” resonates with thoughts of loved ones
A poignant Sunset Playhouse production of a play based on real life.
Mar 13th, 2011
Ricardo Lemvo, Grooving the Rumba with Latino Arts
TCD's Peggy Sue Dunigan dances to Makina Loca, with an auditorium full of rollicking kids at the United Community Center.
Mar 8th, 2011
Bug:Me!, tiny critters with life lessons
Jeremiah Clay Neal's new musical for the little one takes the creepy out of the crawlies.
Feb 22nd, 2011
Bug:Me!” offers a glimpse of springtime
"U:Bug:Me!" rushes in the season, bringing life to enchanting insects and compelling audiences to fall in love and be young (or young at heart) once again.
Feb 15th, 2011
Soulstice puts you in (someone else’s) therapy
In Conor McPherson's "Shining City," Soulstice puts an audience of 50 onstage with the actors in a psychological drama.
Feb 14th, 2011
Soulstice stages Conor McPherson’s psychological drama
The company will make audiences of 50 feel they're in the therapist's office, in the local premiere of "Shining City."
Feb 9th, 2011
Off the Wall’s thoroughly modern Alice
Jeremy Welter's edgy "Alice in Wonderland" makes Disney's look like, well, Disney.
Feb 6th, 2011
The Magic Bicycle runs on imagination
John Oliver's new play, for First Stage Children's Theater, is entertaining, thought-provoking fare for the over-8 crowd.
Jan 17th, 2011
Find enchantment in First Stage’s “The Magic Bicycle”
Playwright John Olive's vision comes to life on stage with the story of two teens and their journey through time and space in search of the meaning of family.
Jan 10th, 2011
APT’s new “Gift of the Magi” enriches the season
James DeVita and Josh Schmidt added music and songs to their adaptation of O. Henry's sweetly ironic tale of Christmas love and sacrifice.
Dec 2nd, 2010
Sunset’s “Wonderful Life” a bittersweet end for Salentine
Artistic Director Mark Salentine touchingly directs his last show, as 50-year institution Sunset Playhouse cuts back.
Nov 30th, 2010
“My Son Pinocchio” is perfectly magic at First Stage
Artistic Director Jeff Frank stages the perfect show to articulate the magic of family this season.
Nov 28th, 2010
Jack Forbes Wilson shines in The Rep’s LIBERACE!
The brilliant lights and costumes combined with Wilson's expert performance pay a fitting tribute to one of the world’s most iconic and entertaining virtuosos.
Nov 23rd, 2010
Chamber Theatre’s Subject Was Roses touches
MCT stages Frank Gilroy's 1965 Pulitzer winner, a kitchen-table dramedy of set in the wake of World War II.
Nov 21st, 2010
“It’s a Wonderful Life” coming to Sunset Playhouse
In his final show, Mark Salentine reimagines the iconic story of George Bailey to creat a touching, but not overly sentimental, holiday experience.
Nov 20th, 2010
A new twist on an old tale at First Stage Children’s Theater
My Son Pinocchio revisits a timely holiday theme, centered around the blessings received through joy, love and sharing family.
Nov 20th, 2010
Soulstice takes on “The Foreigner”
Playwright Larry Shue died in 1985, but his plays live on in Milwaukee. The Soulstice Theatre has takes on his hit comedy -- and its baggage.
Nov 1st, 2010
In Tandem’s darkly comic “Art of Murder”
Joe DiPietro's deliciously nasty comedy opens at the Tenth Street Theatre.
Oct 25th, 2010
First Stage finds the ‘second star on the right’ in “Peter Pan and Wendy”
This enchanting production of Peter Pan and Wendy adeptly tells a story that, like Peter Pan himself, never grows old.
Oct 18th, 2010
Flights of Fancy in First Stage “Peter Pan and Wendy”
Puppets and live actors mingle in this version of Pan, which is all about imagination and the emotional flight from childhood to young adulthood.
Oct 11th, 2010
The Rep’s “Asher Lev” is art to be taken seriously
A captivating production reveals rich, intelligent performances that demonstrate that life, like art, is, as Asher Lev describes, “both demonic and divine.”
Oct 5th, 2010
Plenty of “Reasons” to get to Renaissance Theaterworks
Beautiful, pretty. Unattractive, ugly. What do these words really convey about a person, especially a woman?
Oct 4th, 2010
Renaissance “Reasons to Be Pretty” more than skin-deep
Neil LaBute's stinging needle of a play probes the difference between outer and inner beauty.
Oct 4th, 2010
“The President” impressively opens Windfall’s 18th season
Thoroughly enjoy this Milwaukee premiere, a production that provokes an introspective undercurrent beneath a generous layer of hearty laughter.
Sep 29th, 2010
British invade new music series at the Sunset Playhouse
Elm Grove's Sunset Theater launches a new musical series featuring professional local talent.
Sep 24th, 2010
Next Act’s season opens quietly, poignantly and with a gentle smile
Joel Drake Johnson's "Four Places" probes laughter and heartache as parents and children reverse roles.
Sep 15th, 2010
Old fashioned summer fun with Hula Hoop Sha-Boop
If rock ‘n roll was a "disease” in the '50s, then the Stackner Cabaret's "Hula Hoop Sha-Boop" is a great way to catch that eternally uplifting fever.
Aug 8th, 2010
Boulevard Theatre opens 25th season, lovingly
"Fourplay: 4 Plays of Love and Seduction" explores the many themes of the L-word, mostly with great success
Aug 6th, 2010
I’m sorry you feel that way… A memoir (sort of)
Diana Joseph articulates the mundane with stark factuality and rarely any sentiment. But underneath it all lies clarity and warmth.
May 13th, 2010
Alverno Presents Zemog/El Gallo Bueno
Jazz? Rock? Latin? Abraham Gomez-Delgado's septet is a little of all of that, and a lot of fun.
Apr 12th, 2010
First Stage’s Alexander and his very bad day
Musical version of Judith Viorst's tale about a day when everything goes wrong makes an amusing and uplifting musical.
Apr 12th, 2010
Next Act’s The Value of Names
Jeffrey Sweet's play peels away the layers of meaning and worth bound up in names.
Apr 4th, 2010
The Boulevard’s It’s Your Mother
Durante and Tuxill's string of vignettes about mothers and daughters skates on the surface of the relationships.
Apr 4th, 2010
A Wiz made for kids glitters at First Stage
First Stage has adapted the 1975 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz.
Mar 22nd, 2010
Liz Lerman’s Dances for Everyone
Native Milwaukeean has made a career of getting non-professionals dancing, onstage and off.
Feb 19th, 2010
Milwaukee Choral Artists
A multicultural evening of mystical music from a superb women's choir.
Feb 15th, 2010
The Rep’s Almost, Maine
The Rep's Stiemke Theater offering offers winter vignette comedy with a heart.
Jan 21st, 2010
Annie at Milwaukee Theatre
Annie and Daddy Warbucks send a warm, fuzzy message for the season.
Dec 21st, 2009
Off the Wall’s La Cage aux Folles
Dale Gutzman's holiday guts, glitter and guffaws in the complicated world of transvestite show business.
Dec 12th, 2009
The Marriage of Bette and Boo at Boulevard Theatre
Christopher Durang's dysfunctional, autobiographical tale is fleshed out in all of its profound absurdity.
Dec 5th, 2009
Lady With All the Answers at The Rep
Resident Rep Company actor Laura Gordon shines in this one-woman show about a beloved advice columnist.
Nov 30th, 2009
We Six performs music from the big, small screens
Interesting covers from The Odd Couple to The Flintstones uplift this Wisconsin Conservatory sextet.
Nov 23rd, 2009
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie… with First Stage Children’s Theater
A clever mouse and his sympathetic friend are the center of this lively, mischievous production.
Nov 12th, 2009
STOMP at the Milwaukee Theatre
The national tour brings its percussive bash to town with new numbers and a showcase for body movement and creativity.
Nov 7th, 2009
Deathtrap at Sunset Playhouse
The 1980s setting and a few dramatic misfires lessen the intensity of this mysterious production that's packed with surprises and quick turns.
Oct 28th, 2009
Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking
The Rep stages Didion's renowned memoir in a one-woman show.
Oct 18th, 2009
Iannone as Kate Hepburn at In Tandem Theatre
Angela Iannone nails the iconic star in a one-woman show.
Oct 12th, 2009
Bliss
Treasured traditions collide with modern thinking in this provocative Turkish tale about honor killings.
Oct 1st, 2009
Tuesdays with Morrie at Soulstice
A trip to reconnect leads to a discovery of self, life and death in this Soulstice performance.
Sep 27th, 2009
Wild Space Dance’s Trace Elements at Turner Hall
Choreographer Debra Loewen and a small company of able bodies experiment with vertical space in fluid ways.
Sep 22nd, 2009
Sondheim’s Company at Off the Wall Theatre
It's the best of Broadway on Dale Gutzman's little stage as friends and former girlfriends cajole a happily single man into committing to love.
Sep 14th, 2009
Verdi’s Requiem
In this musical dedication to the Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, the approximately 90 minute performance will allow the music group and collaborators to create an inspirational project — a choral constituency.
Sep 11th, 2009
Dispatches from Tutu Retro at MAM
Peggy Sue Dunigan uncovers 40 years of Milwaukee Ballet costume history at their season-kickoff fundraiser.
Aug 29th, 2009
There will be tiptoeing at some point in the play
It's Oscar Wilde's Bliss family, busy ignoring their dinner guests. APT's troupe brings to life a "comedy of manners" in the latest Up The Hill outdoor staging. As in most Wilde plays, the guests sneak out.
Aug 11th, 2009
FAME at Sunset Playhouse
Before there was American Idol, Making the Band, High School Musical and other insights into becoming a star -- there was the 1980 ensemble docudrama about New York's High School for the Performing Arts. Now it's a new musical.
Jul 31st, 2009
Comedy of Errors
If this interpretation appears over the top, the audience gathered at the Up the Hill outdoor stage assimilated quickly to this campy, if not nostalgic take on Shakespeare.
Jul 13th, 2009
APT set to celebrate 30 years at July 12 dedication party
A look at the troupe that winds words between the trees and rocks, going on for nigh 30 years now. Interviews with players and information before the Touchstone dedication on July 12.
Jul 10th, 2009
The Philanderer at American Players Theatre
Contrasted against a rugged outdoor setting, the sumptuous turquoise and red late 19th-century scenery at the American Players Theatre production of The Philanderer prepares the audience for contrasts that George Bernard Shaw invokes in his play. Progressive for the time (it was banned at first by British Censorship in 1893), the story contains themes of feminine vs. masculine, father vs. daughter, love vs. lust, and marriage vs. friendship - all mingling together in a captivating script performed by the APT in their Spring Green home.
Jun 25th, 2009
Anderson and Roe dazzles the ivories at PianoArts concert
After performing a world premiere piece, Grand Scherzo based on Mozart's Act One of the opera Cosi fan Tutte, they constructed a duet for four hands on one piano. As the pair crossed over and under each other's arms, the subtle nuances of notes and measures evoked a passionate response from both musicians and audience. You needed to catch only a smile, or a lean into the other's shoulder by either piano player to sense the intense synchronization of genius.
Jun 22nd, 2009
Noises Off! at the Sunset Playhouse is great summer fluff
A bit of British humor enlivens the stage at the Sunset Playhouse with the current production of Noises Off!. This award-winning play from 1983 was revived in 2001, and continues to challenge theater companies. Playwright Michael J. Frayn created a tightly wound laugh out loud farce that builds in tension throughout the three acts. Flapping doors, lost contact lenses, an axe and a disappearing plate of sardines occasionally steal a scene.
Jun 10th, 2009
Off the Wall’s fundraiser mines with ‘Gold’
Broadway music often strikes memories in the mind, and it was this intent which played the audience's heartstrings in a four day special event at Off the Wall Theatre's staged fundraiser to support its upcoming 2009-2010 season which stages at the Black Box space on Wells Street in Milwaukee.
May 26th, 2009
Milwaukee Ballet does “Live and Kicking”
While the Milwaukee Ballet takes its act on the road in St. Louis this weekend for a kind of lollapalooza of dance companies called "Spring to Dance Festival", we look at the final 2008-09 season performance featuring the return of a popular but strange William Shatner-inspired piece.
May 19th, 2009
Hamlisch, Ambassadors, and an ingenue enchant Milwaukee audience
From the minute Hamlisch stepped on stage, the program soared as the Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony/Pulitzer Prize winning composer paid homage to audience member Mary Youth, who was celebrating her 101st birthday. When Hamlisch asked her to divulge the secret of long life, Youth emphatically stated, "I laughed my way through life."
May 11th, 2009
‘Romantic Fools’ at the Tenth Street Theater
Fools and their fantasies: Perhaps at one time or another every person plays a fool for love. Portraying both the foolish and the fantastical through the course of a loosely related romance, In Tandem Theatre Company closes its season with Rich Orloff’s comic revue Romantic Fools. Twelve short sketches travel down a wayward path between the first date and first walk down the aisle for one attractive couple, with bizarre twists and turns along the way. While much of the script runs through highly humorous material, it crosses some sexually explicit subjects with a kinky bent, somewhere between Saturday Night Live and a Dr. Laura therapy session. Playwright Orloff’s prolific one-act plays are often featured in the annual Best American Short Plays collections. Here the comedic elements are provided within the subtle format of a game show with the main contestants being Lori (Georgina McKee) and Andrew (Ryan Schabach) who, along with other assorted characters on this path to love, reveal an intensity and complete compatibility which gave credibility to the absurd situations on stage. Sometimes characters speak directly to the audience, eliciting smiles and giggles. Director Jane Flieller also keeps the skits fresh and flowing with minimal props on a red and gold stage reminiscent of television’s matchmaking games of the past – but here using only one door instead of three. Sometimes the situations and dialogue entice the audience into uncomfortable territory for conservative mindsets, leaving little romance but considerable foreplay. While several great scenes incorporate some very funny lines that anyone can relate to, one special sketch provides classic appeal. After her engagement, Lori tries to find a wedding planner. A guest appearance by the artistic director surprises everyone as a figure from the comics past. Smoking a large cigar with heavy eyebrows and a mustache, the planner promises Lori a perfect event from “married to buried,” and puns ensue in rapid succession. This Romantic Fools resists the overly sweet and sentimental moments of courtship by employing sexuality, a contemporary and open vision of dating and mating. These fantasies may appeal to mature audiences for an evening of pure delusional entertainment. While the theater company presents this play as “a comic collection of dating do’s and don’ts”, some fools for love may prefer observing more heartfelt emotion and less dysfunction. Still, InTandem successfully delivers a provocative night of fun.. InTandem Theatre Company presents Romantic Fools at Tenth Street Theatre until May 17. Also enjoy supporting an innovative mission for the promotion of theater arts in Milwaukee by attending their annual fundraiser, Bottoms Up – a casual evening of beer tasting on June 5. For more information and tickets for either the play or fundraiser: 414.271.171 or visit In Tandem’s website. For venue, tickets, showtimes and more, visit Footlights Milwaukee online.
May 4th, 2009
The Sky is Falling! at Danceworks
The concept of falling —whether in love, out of love, off bridges or off a bike–creates an intriguing performance through the Danceworks, Inc. production of The Wide Sky is Falling! , which closed out the 2008-09 season at their studio theater last weekend. The program collaborated the choreography of Artistic Director Dani Kuepper together with “countless contributions” from the Danceworks Performance Company while incorporating text from their Aurora Adult Day Care Project. Even the audience participated on that Friday night with a contribution to the medley Falling Over & Over & 0ver, with a two-line rendition of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head that expanded on this theme. The falling theme resonated through each number with fresh inspiration in the hour plus performance. Steps of Caution reminisced about protecting the young from the worries of tricycles and skateboards set to the background music of Rock A Bye Baby. Another number, Landing is Hard, demonstrated soulfully through dance how one partner keeps another from falling apart emotionally during which Simon Eichinger and Kim Johnson-Rockafellow performed a poignant duet that imaginatively used a three-tiered step for a platform. The familiar song London Bridges also delivered an unsettling urgency later in the program through rhythmic movements in The Warning. But more humorous elements appeared throughout the program including Roller Coaster, offering a choreographic look at this frightening amusement ride as did the company finale, Fast Fall. Each DPC member dressed in tropical floral sundresses or bright polo shirts which added a note of spring’s color to these scenes, and skirts that flowed with each dance step. While perhaps slightly less compelling or cohesive than other Danceworks productions this year, the evening again appreciated the versatility of DPC and their ability to communicate ideas– including the complexities of falling–through the art of dance. It promotes excitement for their DanceLab events which begin through the summer months starting with “Screen Dance” on July 11. A summer season pass is 60 dollars for these four performances through August 8, promising to become an entertaining element to Milwaukee’s seasonal live arts scene. For more information regarding summer dance classes for children and adults, or the DanceLab season series call: 414.277.8480 or www.danceworksmke.org
Apr 27th, 2009
‘I Just Stopped to See the Man’ at Steimke Theater
Whether an individual actually walks side by side with the Devil or only faces personal demons during his life, the human soul suffers — needing to sing “the blues”. In the Stiemke Theater’s final selection of the season, I Just Stopped By To See The Man, all three of its characters sidestep tragedy in order to gain greater self-understanding through songs played from the strings of a guitar named Angela. Striking chords of a story that blends both American music history and broken humanity, renowned British playwright Stephen Jeffreys concentrates on myths surrounding ‘the devil’s music’, or the blues. The Rep invited director Regge Life with his prestigious credentials and experience to develop these character studies together with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater actors by debuting Eric Hellman (Karl) and Cedric Young (Jesse). Resident Rep acting company member Lanise Antoine Shelley (Della) complements the small cast that reveals the complexity of certain personalities and circumstances on the stage. The premise of the play surrounds Jesse Davidson, an aging blues musician of legendary fame who faked his death in a devastating car accident to escape his former life. His only legitimate child, a daughter named Della, returns home after a long estrangement as a fugitive from her own mistakes at the age of 27 and the pair hide in seclusion. Then Karl, an English rock star on tour in Memphis, enters the quiet but sullen household searching for his musical blues hero and the inspiration to redeem himself from his own devils. This compelling and soul searching play challenges the audience assertions on what one considers to be the devil’s activities, especially in music, and the choices made in life when one might claim “the devil made me do it.” Simultaneously, the script confronts racial prejudices and religious conformity viewed from several time periods. Hellman, Young and Shelley provide emotionally nuanced performances integrating all these elements that makes the audience care for each character, especially bluesman and rock star who form an unexpected connection. Hellman and Young sing evocative rhythms on the guitar including Churchyard Blues lyrics that cry: where my body’s broken/and my soul is damned to hell /The devil has me right down/under his spell. Acted on a simple but beautifully constructed set with a skewed perspective, the stage lighting casts shadows through the slats of the humble home reinforcing the mindset that human lives are indeed shadowed by misfortune. Despite one’s belief in an actual ‘Devil’ or his ability to buy a person’s soul, the play celebrates through the power of a uniquely American music through the suffering of all humanity — but also the innate desire to survive deep pain by invoking compassion and understanding. I Just Stopped By To See the Man throws insight on life’s everyday woes when the only relief as Jesse believes is “to sing those blues, when the heart’s too sick to pray.” I Just Stopped By To See The Man until May 3. For information call: 414.224.9490 or milwaukeerep.com.
Apr 22nd, 2009
How I Became a Pirate at First Stage
Each pirate on this ship, cleverly dressed for the sailing, sings and dances to rhythmic tropical tunes while young Jeremy learns pirate code and language enough to join the crew. When a midnight storm ensues, the mast lets loose over the stage before intermission. In the second act, pirates search the audience. Representing the Arrgh's cast, Austin Zdziarski as Jeremy Jacob ably handles this zest for sea life, and helps them bury their booty. But he still longs for soccer games and kisses goodnight.
Apr 22nd, 2009
Genesis
“Art is at its best when it’s challenging,” claimed the ballet’s Artistic Director Michael Pink after Saturday night’s performance of Genesis at the Pabst Theater. The Milwaukee Ballet’s weekend production featured the three finalists from the International Choreographer’s Competition, which were chosen from over 30 entries worldwide. The results proved to be challenging for the audience and dancers, inasmuch as there was more dance than ballet, more bare bodies than costumes, and more stage smoke than scenery. New Zealand’s Cameron McMillan presented “ESO,” which combined elements of robotics and dance that incorporated angular positions, lifts and arm movements against staccato measures of violin music. While immensely interesting and unconventional, the lyric qualities of ballet were missing as the dancers donned grey boy shorts, T-shirts, and camisoles for this contemporary composition often surrounded by smoke. “City of the Shining Jewel,” apparently a metaphor for the third chakra in Sanskrit, characterized the second selection by American-born Maurice Causey, but required little imagination when the dancers used dialogue and were left standing during the piece in what can best be described as nude undergarments. While the human body is indeed a form of beauty to be admired through the art of dance, this composition pushed the limits of this premise, crossing over into performance art with provocative couplings and movements that were indeed challenging to see on stage. The last performance, “The Games We Play” by Australia’s Timothy O’Donnell, won first place in the competition, which Pink announced at the evening’s end. The female dancers en pointe, dressed with delicately covered arms and torsos but paired again with men in boy shorts, applied the movements of “ballet” to this often-frenetic choreography that may speak to a society with too little time for real relationships. O’Donnell revealed his piece represented people he knew within his life conceived into a story framework that helped create his original composition. Awarding this last piece first place perhaps speaks to the fact that audiences appreciate seeing the stories in life expressed through the art of dance while enjoying the beauty of costumes and musical accompaniment that encompasses classical ballet elements. And while classical and contemporary dance must coexist to invest in the future of ballet, a clear understanding of those defining elements that make ballet unique from other dance forms helps distinguish ballet as a timeless art. A desire to accomplish this together with the quality of the entire company, which the Milwaukee Ballet proficiently showcased when they rose to the challenge of superbly performing these three selections, creates memorable evenings. This will again be demonstrated for the recently announced 2009-2010 season when The Milwaukee Ballet returns to stories and favorite fairy tales that never grow old, including the world premiere of Peter Pan. Holding the promise of regal costumes and ballet choreography that provides family entertainment, these offerings may capture the magic for the future art enthusiast’s attention and interest, another challenge for all the arts in today’s culture. Complete schedule and ticket information for the Milwaukee Ballet can […]
Mar 30th, 2009
The School for Wives
On a sparse but well used stage, laughter filled the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center when teenage thespians, known as “The Young Company,” presented Moliere’s classic The School for Wives. Under the leadership of accomplished actor and Associate Artistic Director John Maclay, First Stage Theater Academy’s advanced pre-professional training program for high school students inventively added an interesting diversion to the casting. All the roles (except one) were inverted by gender so a six-foot tall African American male actor enhanced the shape of sweet, naive Agnes. If reversing roles seems absurd, this casting twist imparts Moliere’s words with even more wit. To hear Arnolphe, as a tiny young woman bound in suit and tie, apply the script’s criticism to her own sex, “with regards to their frailty, silliness, and that their souls are bad,” immediately impacts the meaning and upends the play. A light dose of contemporary music, including the song “Staying Alive,” also add to the tongue-in-cheek tone of this French farce that observes the dynamics of femininity, masculinity and marriage playing against age and destiny. The story relates the tale of Arnolphe, a 42-year old man who has groomed his ward Agnes to be his bride since she was age four, but denies her individuality and intellect in hopes she will never stray after matrimony. But all it takes is one look from the right young man, Horace, to win her heart by affirming her intelligence and insight. With the combination of mistaken identities and motives characteristic of Moliere’s plots, fate eventually intervenes in Arnolphe’s calculated plans. Fine acting by Jeremy Tardy, costumed with white heels and a bow tied bonnet, creates a young Agnes who is charming, capable and clearheaded to great effect, a difficult role when played by the appropriate sex. As the maid Georgette, Joe Mazza captures this personality with affable eccentricity. The young women, especially Kelley Annesley, Madeline Bunke, and Rachel Schmeling, handle the male counterparts with complete ease, while the entire cast gives Moliere’s coupled dialogue an approachable and familiar rhythm. Many of the 40 Young Company members also work behind the scenes on technical skills because the purpose of this First Stage program is training youth in every phase of theater by working with the top professionals of the regional area, which extends beyond Milwaukee to as far away as Minneapolis and Chicago. Annual auditions determine this select group that additionally prepares for National Shakespeare Competitions across the country where they often garner top honors. The Young Company’s next performance happens May 8-9 with the world premiere of The Body of Christopher Reed, a weekend opportunity to view the impressive achievements of one of the largest Theater Academies for youth in America. Complete event listings for this and all things happening on Milwaukee stages can be found at Footlights online.
Mar 26th, 2009
Blues in the Night
It’s two or three a.m. in the morning on a sultry evening in a shabby New York City hotel. The “blues” overcome three women, all ‘”taking a chance on love” with the same man in the Skylight Opera Theatre’s sensual production Blues in the Night that opened Friday night. While short on a compelling story line, this Sheldon Epps’ Broadway show from the 80s revisits the canon of the great American Songbook through composers Bessie Smith, Benny Goodman, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Mercer, and Duke Ellington- to name only a few. The four performers, last seen in The Skylight’s Smokey Joe’s Café, strut and sulk, sway and shimmy with riveting style that pays tribute to these distinctly American rhythms. While the singers perform on a tiered stage with an iron staircase angling through the open hotel rooms, the production offers the audience a view of each woman, individually or when collaborating on a number, that demands their attention immediately. Drenching the stage in hazy violets and dusky blue light adds to the midnight ambience, and each singer languishes on an overstuffed chair or chaise in the dark while another mesmerizes the audience with a gutsy rendition of these classic songs. Most fascinating in the collection was music composed by women in the early 1900’s, including Ida Cox’s feminist lyrics that long for a woman’s dignity and respect. Alberta Hunter’s “Rough and Ready Man” or Ann Ronnell’s “Willow Weep for Me” provides additional feminine inspiration for these entertainers from the past, as did five songs from the famous Bessie Smith. The three women carry this voice with momentum when Cynthia Cobb (The Lady) impresses throughout “Kitchen Man” and “Take Me For A Buggy Ride,” which uses the double entendre and whip with great emphasis. Or let the imagination soar when Kate Margaret McCann (The Woman) seductively sings “Rough and Ready Man.” Liz Baltes plays the daring Young Girl in “Reckless Blues,” lying right down on the stage floor. The protagonist to this trio, Benjamin Sterling Cannon, engenders his own steam in “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” and “Baby Doll.” Everyone smiles when the first act finale taunts the audience with the choreography and lines in “Take It Right Back.” Collaborating on this show, Musical Director Jamie Johns sits at the “top floor” of the hotel set playing the piano as he conducts percussion by Michael Lorenz, bass by Tom McGirr, and brass by Tim Bell and Tom Schlueter leaving these memorable “Blues” in the mind with utter perfection. And while the saucy lyrics uncover the heart’s deepest desires with each number, any overriding story fades on stage. Enjoy The Skylight’s arousing presentation of Blues in the Night that appreciates this art form in American music, afterwards squeezing your own ‘baby doll’ tight while slipping close together on a cool spring evening when leaving the theatre. Complete schedule information and tickets for this show are available at Footlights online by clicking here.
Mar 16th, 2009
Same Time, Next Year
Romantic commitment tangles with social convention in a love story laced with humor. Same Time, Next Year, the latest selection from the Sunset Playhouse, continues to charm audiences with this complicated liaison that spans 25 years. The 1975 Drama Desk Award-winning play by Bernard Slade centers around two characters, Doris and George, who meet unexpectedly away from home and fall deeply and madly in love. Yet they are each married (to other people) and have children, a major inconvenience. The six scenes in two acts spans 1951-1975 revealing the growth that Doris and George experience as individuals and a couple while committing to meet once each year on the same weekend. Not only do they love each other, but each other’s families as well. This highly unconventional combination provides the framework that gives the production its heart. Even though this story decidedly resists social norms, this unlikely pair displays concern, dignity and humanity throughout the production. Sarah Laak Hughes and Cesar Gamino play Doris and George with all these essential qualities while imparting a genuine chemistry to their relationship, filled with sexual tension and affection, but appreciating each other as a man and woman. Although opening night provided a bit of nervousness in dialogue, the run will only become better. Several poignant scenes defy time, including those dealing with growing children, growing up and growing older, even struggling with death. Director Mark Salentine finds a balance between the humor and the guilt inherent in this obviously complicated situation that complements set and technical designer J. Michael Desper’s comfortable and pleasing guest cottage setting. Even new managing director Jonathan West appears to have touched the Sunset with his distinguished expertise as seen in the impressive quality of their last two productions. But ultimately, Hughes and Gamino discover the core of the script and believe throughout these many years that, “Life is saying yes… even when one’s life can be a mess.” Through each heartthrob and heartache, the positive energy of love and concern is demonstrated for all persons, including the spouses of the couple, Harry and Helen, which shines through the production and becomes applicable to any relationship. Kudos to Hughes and Gamino for giving Doris and George yet another 25 years on stage in Same Time, Next Year, however unconventional their romance might be. In life, everyone needs support and commitment from friends and others to get by in an often-heartless world, and this March at the Sunset Playhouse, love expresses itself in its own unique way. The Sunset Playhouse presents Same Time, Next Year until March 21. For information: 262.782.4430.
Mar 10th, 2009
The Elephant Child and Other African Tales
One of the only remaining auditoriums in the Milwaukee Public School System resounded with children’s voices last week. In Ivory Hall at Lincoln School for the Arts, Milwaukee Youth Theatre presented The Elephant Child and Other African Tales. Through the tradition of folklore, writer and editor Frederick KD Diggins reformatted stories from Rudyard Kiplings’s Just So Stories together with additional African legends to create this appealing children’s production. The ninety-minute performance included five folktales incorporating a beautiful borrowed set from Ko-Thi Dance Company that fills the stage with a massive tree hung with fiber sways resembling the jungle. This provided the perfect backdrop for the tropical printed skirts and knotted headpieces worn by the LCA African Dance Company. Skillfully choreographed by Shirley Gilbert, these dancers established a rhythmic and cultural link to the tales as well as serving to separate each scene from its predecessor. Accompanied by narration from an older actor, each tale revealed a moral or explained intriguing phenomena of the natural world, such as how the elephant acquired such a long nose (adapted from Rudyard Kipling). The actors spanned several age and experience ranges, portraying the tiniest mouse to a fierce crocodile in colorful and clever attire from Kim’s Costumes Limited. Several performers debuted on stage for the first time, while others demonstrated additional stage presence including Deonata Griffin and Daphne Cain. The overriding effect was entertainment. All children will appreciate the participation encouraged in the Swahili fable, The Three Tasks, which asked them to choose from several endings for each feat the Prince needed to complete in fulfilling a promise to his father. It’s disappointing MYT remains without sufficient microphones for all their actors to use because in the large theater the smallest voices lose their projection, taking away from the performance as a whole as well as robbing the performers of deserved recognition. Yet whether providing acting experience, technical skills or for pure enjoyment, this “theater by children, for children” inspires school programs that will develop future participants and supporters of the arts. This is clearly seen at the Lincoln MPS center where the timely vision of MYT continues on May 21 and 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the LCA Studio Theatre 208 with their next production Winnie The Pooh. Complete schedule and tickets for Milwaukee Youth Theatre performances are available online at Footlights.
Mar 10th, 2009
The Neverending Story
The power of imagination overflows the Todd Wehr Theater when The Neverending Story arrived this weekend courtesy of First Stage Children’s Theater. The production crosses elements of fairy tale and science fiction while the story revolves around saving the land of Fantastica, which requires a chosen hero to be sent on a quest for the cure. The familiar novel by Michael Ende was adapted for the theater by David S. Craig and will recall for audience members several favorite movies, including one in 1984 directed by Wolfgang Peterson. Yet on this stage imagination demonstrates its power through every aspect of the production’s technical collaboration: scenic designer David Minkoff’s Zen-like circular steel stage with floor to ceiling silky curtains allows the audience to sink into Fantastica’s surreal nothingness with the cast. Lighting Designer Keith Parham creates larger than life creatures by shadowing the actors with white light against the black backdrop. Puppeteer/Props director Mark Hare together with costume designer Debbie Baer fashion mythical figures from the novel, both monstrous and miniature, with delight. All these technical supports give credence to Bastian’s fantasy that when reading, the mind transcends everyday life and sorrows. Bastian is struggling with the death of his mother, and Bastian’s alter ego, Atreyu, battles for the Child-Empress’s life to save Fantastica as Bastian battles real life bullies at school. The contrasting comedy and tragedy of the journey, including several incidents tinged with fright, sustain the tension to Atreyu’s great quest that Bastian eventually enters. Every adult actor expertly conveys several characters without a slip that adds to the performance’s seamless flow, which Director Jeff Frank moves at a pace with a clear crescendo. In the “Adventure Cast” for opening weekend, Mack Folkert imbues Atreyu with youthful wit and growing wisdom. Thomas Mazza captures Bastian visually as emotionally the lost boy gains confidence. While the production is recommended for children over six, adults will be attracted to the performance and ingenious theater elements, which portrays this magical world that emphasizes the pleasures of reading. Perhaps everyone will find appreciation for gnome Urgl’s remark, “Humans: most of all their youth have the power to see the truth.” What truth needs to be seen? That creativity inspires the answers to real life obstacles through wishing, dreams, fantasy, inventing and imagining, all acts of creating. Who first imagined the ipod, iphone or blackberry, this advanced means to communicate? Certainly never Franklin, Edison or Bell dreamed their now crude predecessors would reach such technological heights that might also detract from this formidable creative power. The enchanting production reminds the audience these key issues deserve consideration, because when each individual forgets to wish or imagine society will be swallowed by an empty void of reality, perhaps unable to find solutions to its burgeoning problems. This truth inhabits the extraordinary story of Bastian and Atreyu that First Stage retells, but also implies the 21st century’s neverending story. Complete schedule and tickets for this performance are available at Footlights online.
Mar 10th, 2009
The Bra Project
Over 500 bras complement the weekend production of Danceworks Performance Company’s The Bra Project, which incorporates an A to Z litany of names for the feature of the female anatomy that fills this garment, including the word “Carambas.” As an important but politically and sexually charged garment, the bra provides one clear definition of femininity. From the time a small girl searches her mother’s dresser drawers, to the teenage impatience for “developing,” to the possibility a doctor will deliver a diagnosis of breast cancer, the bra expresses womanhood¾ whether underwire, padded, strapless, longline, nursing, sports, wonder, smooth, lacy, décolleté, uplifting, or corseted. That said, The Bra Project traverses this precarious fashion and emotional history with grace, humor and sensitivity through a combination of movement, music, and poetry. Artistic Director Dani Kuepper, who recently returned, along with the DPC Choreographer Kelly Anderson have produced an evening dressed in ample lingerie accompanied by provocative ideas for contemplation while enjoying the enchanting performances of the dancers. Guest choreographer Elizabeth Johnson adds a flourish with a special number that sardonically suggests she’s “a carpenter’s delight, straight as a board and easy to nail.” This leads to the DPC wistfully cavorting in “Bee Sting and Mosquito Bites,” where each performer tries to stuff their bra with balloons, Kleenex and even socks to enhance their budding endowment. Speaking to a darker sexual side, Christal Wagner dances in lovely black underwear through “A Black Lace Bra Kind of Woman.”For a flirtatious peek from the male point of view, six company members of both genders pick apples from a tree constructed of bras in “Apples: Orgins of a Striptease,” which seductively concerns those tempting “ripe apples.” Two exceptionally poignant numbers use both humor and truth. “Jugs” presents a trio of mothers dancing to Love Potion Number Nine, a symbolic juxtaposition of breasts, defined maternally and sexually, and still controversial in 2009. While Victoria’s Secret may flaunt sheer underwear in their public windows, natural infant feeding repulses others. For the finale, “The Pink Piece” tackles the issue of breast cancer, statistically a terrifying threat to women of any age. Everyone probably recalls a woman, including someone dear, struck with this disease, perhaps even lost prematurely. Danceworks’ new project related more than mere art for the women in the audience. As a member of this sex, the concepts behind the dance transcended the evening completely, combining the two purposes seamlessly. A man may have viewed this production, just as they do Victoria Secret catalogues, through entirely different eyes. Seeing it similarly would be an exceptional feat. Unless a man has ever breastfed a baby, tried to find proper underwear to fit a dress, suffered with a broken underwire or strap, been exposed to a mammogram, or snapped on this clothing almost everyday since becoming a teen how could this performance possibly call to mind the same visions? Yet from either a man’s or woman’s perspective, showing too little or too much, wearing a 32 A or a 38 C– Carambas! […]
Jan 26th, 2009
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Since the creation of Adam and Eve was there ever a perfect love? The Sunset Playhouse’s presentation of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change celebrates the beginning of 2009 and the glory of love by trying to answer this question. Through 20 delightful comedy and musical sketches, this humorous and often poignant play examines the emotions of a relationship from the first date to the thirty-year marriage with near perfect style. The revue’s book and lyrics (written by Joe DiPietro) and music (composed by Jimmy Roberts) capture the travails of romance portraying vignettes ranging from first love to the ritual of funeral dating for those over sixty. J. Michael Desper’s set is filled with cut-out hearts recalls the heyday of “The Dating Game,” complete with small screens overhead that are very effective in transitioning each scene with words and images. The four stars on stage seamlessly travel this lovelorn timeline with ease with the accompaniment of Donna Kummer’s piano and Jacob Sudbrink’s violin to enhance their engaging performances. Kyle Breitzman, Sarah Laak Hughes, Bill Rolon and Cindy Zauner infuse the script and songs with romantic chemistry, tension and believability. Hughes clearly radiates desire in several solos including “I Will be Loved Tonight” and “He Called Me.” Each unique number possesses an alluring charm, but “A Stud and A Babe,” depicting the awkward ambience to dating, along with “Tear Jerk,” or how a couple survives a ‘chick flick,’ initiate hilarious responses. Others, including “Like A Fine Wine” and the ballad”Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love with You?,” wrap the evening in a warm hug. While the show speaks mildly about sex, the several broader innuendos and remarks spark even more hilarity. The Sunset’s production revisits both the beautiful and shattered moments of passion in a fast-paced two hours. It is thoroughly satisfying and suggests a perfect love may be waiting for someone right around the corner because men and women will always crave, as one melody sings, “to have a soul entangled in mine.” Sitting in the audience reminiscing these glorious moments, even those with tears, creates a flawless evening to enjoy another story remembering the eternal human journey through love and life. Elm Grove’s Sunset Playhouse presents I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change until February 1. For information: 262.782.4430 or sunsetplayhouse.com.
Jan 21st, 2009
The Musical
It’s yuppy hour! This sums up the first 2009 selection in The Rep’s Stackner Cabaret, Dogpark: The Musical. The tag line drolly reflects the production written by Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner, a husband and wife team, and Michael J. Hume. The night is spent ascertaining the love lives of “two-legged” canines in this premiere offering from the writers who brought They Came from Way Out There to the venue in 2007. In this new collaboration from Beecham, Hillgartner and Hume, four personable dogs longingly search for their soul mate (or pup and paw mate) at the neighborhood dogpark: Champ, Bogie, Itchy and the leading lady to these tramps, Daisy, who effortlessly steals a dog’s heart and an ample portion of the show in her white plush skirt and platinum head of hair. Without the gifted talent and comedic aptitude displayed by all the performers, the musical could easily slip into a series of one liners and puns poking fun at man’s best friend. Yet Lenny Bonavez, Chip Duford, Jonathon Spivey and the lovely Katherine Strohmaier elevate the story line to humorous performance art, rather than merely a melodic discussion of a dog’s life. Whether dressed in costumes and hats trimmed in fur (especially Bonavez wearing poodle fuzz), singing with the hand puppet trio created to stand in as Daisy’s back-up singers, or dancing to Suzanne Seiber’s inventive choreography, each canine character comes alive on stage to the audience’s delight. Strohmaier, who recently graced the stage of the Pabst Theatre in A Christmas Carol, enlightens the production through both song and dance, a fitting feminine counter part for these three stooges of male dogs. Her stage presence dominates but doesn’t overwhelm the other actors, each giving their dogged personifications bright sparks (along with literal barks) of humanity. The plotline’s twists and turns in this particular dogpark become immaterial. When the musical showcases songs titled “Dogs in Heat” and “Deep Dog Doo Wop” performed by these expert actors, sit back and sip a drink in the Stackner Cabaret while laughing¾ enjoying the sheer entertainment of DOGPARK: The Musical, completely believing when Daisy says to Bogie, “You had me at woof.” The Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents DOGPARK: The Musical in the Stackner Cabaret until March 1. For information and tickets: 414.224.9480 or at milwaukeerep.com.
Jan 14th, 2009
Dale Gutzman’s Holiday Punch Green
Spiked with humor and a generous spritz of decadence, Dale Gutzman’s Holiday Punch Green lightly focuses on environmental issues. Together with this politically correct “green” emphasis, the two-hour performance also spoofs Gutzmans’s longevity as the company’s artistic director. In these 28 loosely related sketches, the twelve cast members (including Gutzman who appears on stage to host the show) change costumes and scenes effortlessly in the intimate space while Chris Wszaleck’s piano and Patrick Hopkins’ percussion provide the music. The revue presents Gutzman’s particular take on the holidays with panache and a decidedly deviant slant, although several installments could be eliminated to spark a stronger show. During the first half, a number titled “That Special Store” parodies West Side Story with a clever rendition of ”IKEA…the most beautiful store I ever knew”to the award-winning melody of Maria.Jeremy C. Welter follows by singing the timely and touching Brother Can You Spare A Dime? Even box office manager Mary R. Henricksen participates with two satiric versions of The Night Before Christmas in mocking tribute to Off the Wall Theatre. Just before the intermission, a rousing version of Obama Mia! reprises the popularity of Abba’s musical and movie phenomena with catchy political lyrics honoring the recent election. When returning to the theater after sipping real punch, the second act showcases the musical numbers Hard Candy Christmas, featuring the feminine side of Off the Wall, and If I Ruled the World sung solo by Gutzman. A very funny finale closes the show, which was never intended to offer family-friendly entertainment, with a piece that makes this all too apparent. Yet when Off the Wall’s Rickettes immortalize New York’s famous Rockettes to celebrate their 75th birthday the comedic choreography portrays the male cast baring their bellies and legs to conclude the evening with raucous hilarity. While this spicy Holiday Punch may be a delightful drink for those seeking adult seasonal spirits and entertainment, the production will not be everyone’s cup of Christmas tea. These festive moments and music will certainly provoke that kick of sardonic laughter that is Off the Wall’s signature ingredient to the Milwaukee theater scene. Off the Wall Theatre presents Dale Gutzman’s Holiday Punch Green through December 31. For information call 414-327-2552.
Dec 22nd, 2008
Michael Pink’s The Nutcracker
What a night for the Tannenbaum children! The toymaker Drosselmeyer fashions not only toys, but also an evening of magic for Marie, Fritz, and Clara (and the audience) in the Milwaukee Ballet’s presentation of Michael Pink’s The Nutcracker. This Milwaukee holiday tradition opened December 12 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Pink’s version differs from the classic E.T.A. Hoffman book that was translated into a full-length ballet through the incomparable music of Tchaikovsky’s enduring score. In Pink’s retelling, Clara still receives the present of a nutcracker on Christmas Eve, but she becomes only one-third of the trio who travel to the Land of Sweets. Marie, her older sister, and Fritz, her rambunctious brother, accompany her on this surreal journey where “The Nutcracker” transforms into Drosselmeyer’s nephew, Karl. Karl falls in love with Marie as the story unfolds while a humorous sibling rivalry flares up between Fritz and Clara. The romantic story of Clara and her nutcracker prince has been transferred to Marie and Karl, including the pas de deux in the closing minutes. Throughout this family-themed evening, Drosselmeyer liberally sprinkles his silver fairy dust over the show, and the evening’s confections abound with lavish sets, glittering costumes and lively dances that stir the audience with visual delight including the charming Tannenbaum home where the Christmas Tree mysteriously grows and the Mouse King arrives for the midnight battle in the first act. To end this entrancing act, the final scene features the Snow Queen, the delicate Jeanette Marie Hanley, stepping through the frosty blue and white costumed ensemble while snow falls like shimmering powder sugar on the stage. With a sense of seasonal wonder, the Queen’s tutu and the snowflake’s gowns glisten through the entire sequence. When the second act opens, Karl and the Tannenbaum children arrive in the Land of Sweets to a carousel of ethnic dancers riding atop their corresponding animals. From then on the ballet dancing entertains Fritz and Marie, along with the theater, although the intricate technical ability of the choreography gives way to allow for more children from the Milwaukee Ballet School to appear in the production. This is incidental unless an original production of The Nutcracker lingers in memory. Incorporating more children into the ballet cast adds a unique element and focuses on these fanciful moments so important to holiday traditions and creates abundant sugar plum dreams for all that attend. Luz San Miguel (Clara) and Tatiana Jouravel (Marie) add lovely touches to the Tannenbaum sisters, their fondness apparent through this story line while Ryan Martin (Drosselmeyer) dusts the night with his own ballet magic. Add in David Gill’s spectacular lighting effects while Pasquale Laurino guest conducts Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra members and The Milwaukee Ballet concludes in perfecting this holiday night of The Nutcracker. Both the young and the young at heart will leave the theater wishing Drosselmeyer might appear one December evening with this enchanting magic at their own front doors. VS The Milwaukee Ballet presents Michael Pink’s The Nutcracker at the […]
Dec 17th, 2008
The Show
Reminding Milwaukee once again that the “Yuletide has a dark side,” In Tandem Theatre Company reintroduces parodies and sketch comedy in The Show. The fourteen sketches, written and performed by local actors Karen Estrada, Matthew Huebsch, Doug Jarecki, Andrea Moser and Jason Powell, combine new and old material that provide a counterpoint to the sentimental overload during of the holiday season. This two-hour production would make any Christmas Scrooge grin and these performers bring an inventive sense of comic timing to the stage. The Show is full of intelligent, witty and hilarious dialogue and lyrics, which are recommended for those over the age of thirteen. The entire evening evokes the retro feel of a 70s television variety program with contemporary updates. Each sketch showcases these talented actors. A favoritepresentation could only be chosen with considerable difficulty because the cast works together through each number as a team, interchanging roles and costumes flawlessly. Several highlights include “Past, Present, and Future Tense” which portrays the ghosts of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol ruminating on helping Ebenezer. Also excellent is the musical rendition of “Beer Goggles” that recalls the impaired judgment of a New Year’s Eve party in which an inebriated couple recites a love song to one another. You can also watch Mary and Joseph struggle through “Couple’s Therapy” which provides a bit of human insight to the marriage consummated after the immaculate conception of Jesus. The finale, “Wrap It Up,” concludes the evening on a high note of rhyme with St. Nick rapping together with his back-up dancing elves. The only concern for this delightfully irreverent show became the performer’s attire. Throughout the evening, especially when out of the minimal costumes, their appearance might have been a bit more formal, all black or elegantly casual. This could have heightened the parody while creating a wonderful complement to the sparse stage adding an element of holiday pizzazz. Kudos to In Tandem and these five performers who provide an alternative to overdosing on sugary themes with satiric spice. Honoring the tradition of sketch comedy The Show will enlighten any December weekend with comical, but slightly deviant seasonal cheer. VS In Tandem Theatre Company presents The Show at the Tenth Street Theatre through December 20. For tickets: 414-271-1371.
Dec 8th, 2008
The Happy Elf
“Think big and you can do great things.” Believing this line quoted from Harry Connick Jr.’s The Happy Elf, First Stage Children’s Theater perfected every production element throughout their opening night performance. From the charming North Pole stage designed on two levels to snowflakes of light spiraling over the audience, the musical Happy Elf delivered the promised ticket of holiday joy. With music and lyrics composed by the famed Harry Connick, Jr. and a book written by Andrew Fishman, this tale of Eubie the Elf considers postmodern concepts. Eubie works in a North Pole inhabited with Walgreensleeves, McDonner’s, Northstarbucks, and Barnes and Snowble. But the seasonal magic hovers under elves’ hats and shines through in five new songs commissioned especially for this First Stage production, including the delightful “It Happens When You Try” and “Santarific.” A national award-winning production team including Broadway Director John Rando, Choreographer Wendy Seyb, Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt, and Costume Designer Karin Kopischke worked with Milwaukee’s own Richard Carsey as Musical Director and Lighting Designer Jason Fassl. This team creates a show which sparkles with professionalism. Add the acting abilities of First Stage’s Bluesville cast, which includes the lovely voice of Rachel Schmeling as Mollie and Alex Aldred’s Curtis, the two unhappy teenagers who assist Eubie in bringing a light-filled Christmas to the depressed and cloud-covered town of Bluesville. Credit actor Jared Gertner with providing the show with a believable Eubie, who appears eccentric and lovable with finesse. His feminine companion, the elf Gilda (played by Hannah Laird) finds the sweet taste of romance for Eubie in delectable proportions. Santa’s powerful voice speaks through Michael James Leslie and represents another Milwaukee debut. This contemporary take on America’s Christmas season reminisces animated holiday television specials. It is filled with untraditional melodies and carols, and the production moves quickly and seamlessly in less than two hours. The story’s mischievous and heartwarming antics entertain both adults and children, bringing a unique brand of Christmas cheer. The Happy Elf honors the quality talent brought by First Stage’s exceptional vision and commitment to Milwaukee children’s theater. Perhaps as if reiterating a First Stage thought on this production, Santa proclaims when he rides into Bluesville that his “presents are not rewards for the renewed spirit of Christmas but seeds of hope and generosity to be shared throughout the year.” First Stage Children’s Theater presents Harry Connick, Jr.’s The Happy Elf through December 24 at the Todd Wehr Theatre in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets: 414.273.7206 or www.firststage.org.
Dec 1st, 2008
Have A Seat
By Peggy Sue Dunigan “Sitting on chairs upholstered with stars,’’ a quote from Milwaukee’s Poet Laureate Susan Firer used in one of the evening’s dance presentations, describes the Danceworks production Have a Seat featured this past weekend. Five numbers choreographed with chairs and overseen by Guest Artistic Director Janet Lilly cohesively define the performance. This included two world premieres incorporating international choreographers Isabelle Kralj from Slovenia and Navtej Johar from India. While the physical reality of sitting in a chair and the art of dancing might appear contradictory, the two blended seamlessly. A variety of benches, loveseats, and colored chairs enhanced the dance narratives, especially in the second selection. Kralj’s “I Still Don’t Know” displayed varying dimensions of a love relationship danced superbly by Slovenian performers Dejan Srhoj and Ursa Vidmar, often depicted by the distance between their two chairs. “To Sit or To Be,” an avant-garde piece with metaphysical meaning that was choreographed and performed by Navtej Johar, contemplated statuesque poses with witty overtones. And Janet Lilly’s “Glacial Milk” offered a humorous peek at dance to great effect, which included her own dialog. Costumes enhanced both selections, in the first Johar’s flowing gauze pants, and in Lilly’s a full skirted red dress that twirled to her dance. The last piece “Immediate Seating” appeared to imagine a child’s game of musical chairs intertwined with somber country themes of broken homes. Primary crayon colored chairs, eyelet dresses with red leggings, and Raggedy Ann dolls added to the world premiere’s tone and style, admirably danced by the company. If you missed Have A Seat this past weekend, their upcoming production The Bra Project will January 23 through February 1. Danceworks provides an innovative and intriguing evening opening the audience to the narrative expression of dance through body movements. They also demonstrate that age becomes irrelevant when viewing or performing their selections, and each evening encourages the audience’s appreciation for the skill of both dancer and choreographer. VS
Nov 10th, 2008
Greater Tuna
By Peggy Sue Dunigan It’s the small rural town of Tuna, Texas circa 1986– where inhabitants find that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet demonstrates rampant disrespect for parental authority. Taking this trip to Texas, the Rep’s Stackner Cabaret opened the production Greater Tuna this weekend and presented one third of the Tuna Trilogy’s engaging satire written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard. Having toured the American play circuit both nationally and on Broadway for over 21 years, the Stackner’s version of Greater Tuna is directed by J.R. Sullivan and features gifted actors Lee E. Ernst and Gerard Nugent (both members of the Resident Acting Company) in over-the-top portrayals of the rural South. The two DJs on OKKK Radio oversee events in Tuna when they actually report the news they haven’t lost. The radio station format helps narrate the action and delineates a thinly disguised plot while this two-man team portrays the over 20 eccentric personalities that drive the production. In one charming portion of the performance, Ernst plays Petey Fisk, a lisping proponent for the Greater Tuna Humane Society, with loving affection. After a quick change, Ernst (dressed in drag) is the 18-year-old Charlene Bumiller reciting her award winning poem “My Tuna.” Nugent shines as Bertha Bumiller, the mother of three of Tuna’s most difficult teenagers (including Charlene) and wife of womanizer Hank. She shakes her booty to howls from the audience. His Reverend Spikes delivers a eulogy in a rhinestone-studded suit with appropriate showmanship, stringing together every cliché representing the best, or worst, of television preachers. Both Ernst and Nugent hit every opening with nary a wardrobe slip throughout the numerous costume changes with kudos to technical stage support. They also manage to imbue each of these multiple characters with dead on credibility. Yet the two-hour running time (with one intermission) extends the visit to this Texan town and perhaps overstays the welcome, as the satire loses some of its bite through the last half hour. While the play claims “the world outside Tuna is bizarre” the Stackner’s Greater Tuna may be the necessary strategy to relieve those stock market blues. This retro rural Texas offers a humorous evening of quick change on the stage spent with the incredibly comical Ernst and Nugent, and provides a perfect bizarre present for the upcoming holiday season. VS The Rep’s Stackner Cabaret presents Greater Tuna through December 28: 414.224.9490 or www.milwaukeerep.com
Nov 10th, 2008
The God Committee
By Peggy Sue Dunigan What is a day of life worth? This question becomes the focus for Acacia Theatre Company’s opening production, The God Committee. The ninety-minute, no-intermission script by Mark St. Germain tackles complex ethical and moral questions regarding organ transplant– specifically heart transplants– together with a host of underlying health care issues critical in today’s society. The seven member cast consists of four doctors, a nurse, social worker, and a priest whose challenge becomes deciding who will receive the next heart, arriving by helicopter in one hour, and classifying patients for their priority status on the heart donor list. However, plans go awry, traffic impedes the heart’s arrival, and another decision must be made. During all the committee’s discussions, the politics, costs and criteria for determining these life and death events consumes center stage. The priest, Father Dunbar, states the case that if the committee “makes these decisions on anything that can’t be quantified you’re playing God.” With 91,000 people on the list for heart transplants and only 11,000 a year becoming available, qualifying for and topping the donor list requires patience, dedication, fortitude, and a little luck. Many patients die while waiting for a donated organ that can be implanted. The Acacia cast carries this subject material with appropriate intensity and without melodrama, a nod to director Glenna Gustin. Even Douglas Smedbron’s Father Dunbar delivered his quirky humor with skill. Brenda L. LaMalfa’s Dr. Ross added a fine touch to the difficult role of a mother who lost her only child to suicide. While the entire cast displayed competent acting, the loud Irish music played during the performance distracted from the play’s purpose. The script is strong enough to stand alone, and ought to have been allowed to do so. But the crucial issues of organ donation and health care resonate throughout the production, and will become even more vital in the future when the impact of dwindling medical personnel and monetary resources is fully felt. Additionally, the measures that surround end of life controversies are becoming increasingly debated. These fascinating questions dealt with in The God Committee provide an plenty of fodder for conversation afterwards. This includes one about placing the orange dot on a personal driver’s license, the symbol that an individual is willing to be an organ or tissue donor, giving the gift of life to another person should they lose theirs. What is a day of life truly worth? VS Acacia Theatre Company presents The God Committee at Concordia University in the Todd Wehr Auditorium through November 9. For tickets: 414.744.5995.
Nov 4th, 2008
Sleeping Beauty
Magical lighting effects abound in the Milwaukee Ballet’s season-opening production, Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty. But commingled with the sparse post-modern scenery, these fantastical efforts slightly diminished the accomplished dancing in Michael Pink’s reinterpretation of this full length ballet, which also displayed Marius Petipa’s legendary choreography. Pink’s version of the familiar fairy tale reduced the three-hour plus length to just over two hours, including an intermission. His production centers the story on royal and regal sequences celebrating Princess Aurora’s christening, 16th birthday, and eventual wedding. While these scenes showcase grandeur, the chosen elements understate the dramatic heart of the story and engage the audience visually more than emotionally. When Prince Desire finally awakens Princess Aurora with true love’s kiss, the remaining ballet movements become anti-climatic, even though exquisite dancing highlights their wedding ceremony. The massive semi-circular stage backdrop, placed high above the dancers, further enhanced this emotional distance. Between David Grills’ lighting designs transforming the floor of the stage and the constructed “sky” backdrop, there appears a black space. These three components divided the stage into separate sections where the lavish costumes and elegant ballet steps dissolved into the black abyss. When smoke envelops the stage during a scene transporting the Prince and Lilac Fairy to Aurora’s castle, the set design finally complements the performers and production, but only briefly. Budget concerns often necessitate simplicity of stage design, but cohesiveness between the set and dancers was missing from this Sleeping Beauty. The semi-circular set design also overpowered both the stage and the dancers so they appeared smaller than life. Often the Milwaukee Ballet uses a backlit stage and scenery with theatrical success, but this production was not one of those successes. Tchaikovsky’s score orchestrated under Andrew Sill’s direction and the superb skill demonstrated by all members of the Milwaukee Ballet Company beautifully enlivened the production, especially with the imaginative use of garlands and the corps’ synchronized choreography honoring Aurora’s 16th birthday. Luz San Miguel and Ryan Martin (married partners outside the ballet) portrayed the Prince and Princess with delicate artistry, especially in the bridal pas de deux. In contrast, the evil sorceress Carabosse created welcome tension throughout the performance in her flowing ebony costume, fluidly executed by Jeanette Marie Hanley with devilish flair. Her four attendants twisted and tumbled around her, adding another malevolent touch to the tale. Equally impressive throughout the performance was the addition of students from the Milwaukee Ballet School. Acquiring stage presence and exposure early in a career develops the company’s commitment to the Ballet’s future, advancing the art of dance. While this production of Sleeping Beauty envisioned the Milwaukee Ballet’s impressive talent, perhaps the upcoming season will more brilliantly illuminate these valuable gifts. The Milwaukee Ballet’s next production is The Nutcracker, a holiday tradition, which runs December 12 through December 28. 414.902.2103 or www.milwaukeeballet.org
Oct 27th, 2008
Stevie
Hugh Whitmore’s two-hour play, Stevie, tells the story of the life of British poetess Stevie Smith. Christened Frances Margaret Smith and called Peggy by her family, Smith was said to resemble jockey Steve Donaghue, inspiring the name that stuck with her. Born in 1902, this feminine literary figure was honored with two prestigious awards for poetry including The Queen’s Gold Medal in 1969. Yet her Aunt Madge (“The Lion”), who helped raise Smith, often referred to Stevie’s writing and rhymes as only “stuff and nonsense,” rarely appreciating Smith’s creative talent. Yet Smith’s written musings reached far beyond the “stuff and nonsense” her Lion Aunt believed them to be, which the Boulevard Theatre’s production confirms with stellar clarity. Under Mark Bucher’s direction, the debut Boulevard performance of actor Amber Page resurrects the poetess with stunning directness and genuine sensitivity. When Page recites Smith’s poetry or transforms her character into significant figures recalling Smith’s past, the audience listens mesmerized by her facial expressions and stage presence that evokes Smith’s spirit. Page embodies both the writer’s life and her language. The script’s vignettes of biography, autobiography, and Stevie’s poetry are touched with humor and poignancy. This performance brings the audience to a modern understanding of Stevie’s words about living a life outside conventional norms. The set of empty picture frames hanging on the wall behind furniture draped with white cloth accentuates the colorful personalities of Smith and the Lion Aunt Madge, who is ably portrayed by Sally Marks. These two actors display a visible affection for each other on stage that intensifies during the Lion’s illness. Page as Stevie states, “People thought because I never married I didn’t understand the emotion, but I loved my aunt.” Sally Marks plays the Lion Aunt Madge This relationship provides the centerpiece for the entire production because Smith considered herself estranged from conventional society, an independent woman who shunned marriage and the status quo that believed “a poet is not an important person.” Even the various men who flow through Smith’s life, remarkably played by Ken Dillion costumed in a black suit, including her vagabond father who left home when she was three, the fiancé she dearly loved, and male friends that cared for Smith later in her life fail to offer Smith a comparable love. While reciting one of Smith’s famous poems about a man who died at sea, the audience understands the depths of Smith’s despair and her consequent fascination with death when Page repeats the last line, “I was much too far out my whole life, not waving, but drowning.” The Boulevard Theatre’s not-to-be-missed production of Stevie recalls that neither love, the enjoyment of everyday life, nor following a dream are only “stuff and nonsense,” but rather they substantiate human existence. Page, in a luminescent performance enhanced with an equally wonderful performance by Marks, reminds the audience that Smith’s life contributed volumes on the difficulties inherent to living a life with creativity and imagination, yet outside society’s norms, even when success affirms that decision. […]
Oct 27th, 2008
All The Great Books (Abridged)
The sound of the bell signals that class is in session. For audiences attending All The Great Books (Abridged) at Tenth Street Theatre this involves participating in a remedial Western literature course taught by In Tandem Theatre Company. The performance proves to be a humorous hour and forty-five minutes during which classical literature clashes with popular culture for the audience’s entertainment and edification. The production was written by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, with additional material by Matthew Croke and Michael Faulkner. These four men combine their collective training in improvisational comedy and Ringling Brothers and Bailey performances with prestigious credentials from the UC-Berkeley and Boston University. As a result, All The Great Books (Abridged) tries to educate a high school class (played by the audience) on the meaning of 86 literary classics through comedy. Every technique from revisiting the Three Stooges to Saturday Night Live skits are used during the play, which sometimes resembles a three ring circus. A coach, a professor/drama teacher, and a young student teacher forge ahead through dramatic presentations of Homer, Dickens, Austen, Hemingway, Joyce, Thoreau and Tolstoy, among 80 others. While this silly supposition offers an evening of continuous laughter, the script also invites the audience to recall these timeless books and their own high school experiences with them. Doug Jarecki, R. Chris Reeder, and Kevin Rich perform superbly with this material, which in less talented hands might fall on deaf ears. These three actors demonstrate camaraderie on stage that carries the evening, an essential ingredient to dramatizing the 1,000 pages plus of War and Peace in five minutes. Each actor showcases a remarkable gift for improvisation and comedic timing, both as a troupe and on an individual level. Reeder’s rendition of poetry combined with phrases “Go gentle into this Gladys Knight” resounds with humor as does Jarecki’s explanation of Little Women chalked on a board with football play by play descriptions. Rich’s one sentence summaries of the last twenty books puts a striking finale to the play, even if his character confuses invincible with invisible when discussing Homer’s Odyssey. There’s also timely political commentary injected into the script previewing election year while Chris Flieller provides skillful technical support. While dispelling the play’s premise that “reading and fun have little to do with literature,” the production also underscores and uncovers the discrepancies between literary knowledge and cultural education, both of which are components to attaining genuine literacy. When one mentions Homer, is it the Greek poet or the character from The Simpsons to which they are referring? Who are the Brothers Grimm, or as the play puts it, The Brothers Gibb? While Great Books espouses humor, at the end taking it over the top, the evening delves into rethinking these legendary books that defined certain cultural concepts and how pop culture delineates contemporary society. Take a seat for an evening at In Tandem’s Western Literature class and ask yourself the question the play posits when explaining Dickens’ beloved A Christmas Carol: Were Marley and […]
Oct 13th, 2008
Giggle, Giggle, Quack
A barnyard chorus of mayhem overtakes a Dutch country farmhouse in the lighthearted Giggle, Giggle, Quack. The stage’s resemblance to a field of brightly colored tulips and the production’s amusing mischief recapture Doreen Cronin’s familiar picture book. Using this adaptation by James E. Grote and George Howe, First Stage Children’s Theater opens their First Step Series, which they present at the intimate Main Stage Hall inside the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. Although the 50-minute musical attracts a pre-school audience, this charming story provides plenty of word play for adults to appreciate through the intelligent dialogue and lyrics. To be enjoyed on several levels, the performance succeeds in sustaining the attention of all ages in the audience. The tale is woven around Farmer Brown, who desperately needs a vacation. When Brother Bob agrees to run the farm in his absence, Pig, Cow, Hen and Duck utilize “A Golden Pencil” that allows them to use their imaginations to create several misplaced instructions on how to run the farm, causing humorous confusion for Bob. The golden pencil is delightfully depicted using Latin-themed Samba music. Add to the production Kristina Van Slyke’s ingeniously conceived costumes, complete with webbed slippers for feet, together with Karl Miller’s playful choreography that recalls various musical genres, and the children watch entranced. Several clever lighting and stage effects also create an element of surprise that the audience asks about in the talkback following the performance. A combination of casts acted on Sunday morning, with Alison Kennedy performing “Duck” and Rachel Schmeling playing “Hen,” both students at the First Stage Academy. The storytelling of Beth Mulkerron’s “Pig” and Karen Estrada’s quirky “Cow” round out the ensemble to comprise a comic yet masterful menagerie overseen by the dual role of Farmer Brown and Brother Bob, capably portrayed by Rick Pendzich. Sitting on carpet mats or risers close to the performance, these tiny tots barely uttered a sound the entire hour while they experienced the joy of theater, many for the first time. In Giggle, Giggle Quack the concept of introducing young children to the joy and thrill of live theater instead of video screens attains a high standard. The future of all performing arts depends on these “first steps” that Milwaukee’s First Stage envisions and delivers with remarkable skill. Whether one giggles with a quack, an oink, or a cluck, this performance produces a moovelous hour of make-believe. First Stage Children’s Theater presents Giggle, Giggle, Quack at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 East Walnut, through October 19. 414-273-7206 or www.firststage.org
Oct 6th, 2008
Gypsy
This iconic musical retells the story of a show business mother, Rose, and her two daughters, Louise and June. Louise went on to become the Burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. Gypsy: A Musical Fable, provides a softer framing for what June described as a “much darker childhood” than the fable presented in the musical based upon the book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is considered to be one of the greatest American musicals, containing memorable songs and sparking a film and numerous Broadway revivals that continually receive awards. Off the Wall Theatre’s production evokes the feel spoken of in the show’s lyrics: “This world…small… funny… and fine.” The staging, defined with Dale Gutzman’s astute direction, required using every inch in Off the Wall’s elongated, intimate space to capture the larger than life and exceptionally fine performances. The audience is within a few feet of the stage where Rose, Louise, June, and Herbie (the faithful lover Rose refuses to marry) confront them almost face to face. Created with minimal set design, even portraying the burlesque house with effective restraint, the entire stage frames the extraordinary talent presented in the theater. Sharon Rise portrays Rose’s complex personality as a person the audience can grow to understand, making it believable that she would lovable in eyes of Herbie and Louise. Rise’s stunning presence illuminates this real life tale, stretching the limits of the quintessential overbearing parent, while Robert Hirschi inhabits Herbie with a compassionate grace without lapsing into sentimentality. Liz Mistele’s blonde June and Alison Mary Forbes’ brunette Louise, who eventually becomes Gypsy Rose Lee, each obey the demands of their mother with reluctant devotion. When June elopes to claim her independence, leaving Louise as their mother’s last hope for stardom, Forbes and Rise cement their chemistry in the musical’s second act. This transformation in the configuration of the characters allows Rise and Forbes to deliver the emotional weight to sustain the production. Rise plays Rose letting go of Louise’s life, one she had once hoped to be her own, completing the formidable task every mother must accomplish when her children reach adulthood. A host of young performers round out the extraordinary cast, which includes the four-piece musical ensemble directed by Anne Van Deusen. Among the musical delights is “You Gotta Get A Gimmick,” the assorted stories of three strippers performed with delicious humor and accompanied by the audience’s laughter. While this autobiographical musical reveals the intricate relationship interplay between mother and daughter, the classic story also masks a dysfunctional family that gravely impacted the children’s education and welfare. Underneath the engaging music and comic entertainment, Off the Wall’s production of Gypsy uncovers the fine line between serious encouragement and the dreams parents press on their progeny. Search the sidelines of today’s athletic fields, behind the performing art stage doors, or the homes of Honor Society members to discover contemporary versions of mother Rose. Gypsy questions the ultimate value of parents’ projecting their uncompromising hopes for success on their children. Off the Wall Theatre’s […]
Sep 29th, 2008
Gossamer
Casey Tutton and Mark Metcalf in Gossamer Gos·sa·mer (n): a light and delicate touch. These words define this coming of age story that confronts sensitive social issues with light touches of humor, imagining the nature of dreams against the realities of domestic abuse through this credible ninety-minute production that deftly uses puppets to portray delicate concepts. First Stage Children’s Theater, in collaboration with Oregon Children’s Theater, opens their season with Gossamer, a world premiere play adapted by Lois Lowry from her young adult novel. The story centers around Littlest, the youngest member of a community of ‘dream givers,’ who is being initiated and trained in the trade of delivering dreams to humans. Littlest is charged with delivering dreams to a vulnerable young boy named John. Removed from a foster home because of abuse, John explores the stories of his life through his bad and good memories. In the foster home, Littlest and her mentor, Thin Elderly, fight off the terrifying nightmares that diminish John’s self-esteem while giving him dreams that strengthen his spirit and offer the promise of emotional healing. Credit the considerable talents of the entire company, along with the creative puppets fashioned by Mark Hare, to bring Lowry’s innovative novel to life. As part of the Saturday evening cast, Casey Tutton (a girl of 11 with numerous acting credentials) delights with both believable innocence and concern while she struggles to voice her own intuitions. The superb Mark Metcalf, sharing a genuine affection for fellow actor Tutton, tenderly develops Littlest’s abilities playing Thin Elderly while making every night a dream to treasure. Richard Halverson is distinctly enjoyable as Most Ancient, a role that gracefully touches on respecting the wisdom of older generations. And puppeteer Alexis Block, playing the dog Toby, impressively imbues a marionette with personality. Every technical contribution — including white flowing costumes, underground staging, and artistic lighting — substantially develops Lowry’s lofty ideas into a tangible theater presence. The author puts fantastical events into three dimensions, which First Stage admirably captures. While this premiere script could benefit from minor tweaking, the performance provokes questions that require attention. If either the novel or the play educates one child or adult about abuse, the story will have served an even greater purpose. This production gives children a voice that allows them to picture surviving this delicate but critical reality in contemporary life. After the performance representatives from Children’s Services Society of Wisconsin, an organization that works to eliminate these tragedies, provides opportunities to answer questions regarding domestic violence and abuse. Where do dreams really come from? Lowry presents her audience with one otherworldly answer: that nightmares haunt the mind with recrimination and fear while dreams pervade the ordinary with courage and confidence. Who could survive life without imagining wonderful dreams during the days or nights? First Stage’s Gossamer reveals this forgotten and fragile insight that ultimately fosters enduring hope. First Stage Children’s Theater presents Lois Lowry’s Gossamer until October 5 in the Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Center […]
Sep 23rd, 2008
La Boheme
A large golden moon casts shadows over the Cabot Theatre’s stage set in Paris, 1933. In this glowing new version of La Boheme, Bill Theisen, the company’s artistic director, adapts the opera to define the artistic but risqué lifestyle rampant in Paris during that decade. With Theisen’s inspiration gleaned from the photographic collection of Brassai, this fresh production, also based on Scenes de la vie de Boheme by Henri Murger, revisits bohemian France together with Giacomo Puccini’s lyrical music. Last staged by the Skylight 40 years ago, the opera remains Puccini’s most recognized work and introduces their 2008-2009 season in celebration of the composer’s 150th anniversary. La Boheme speaks to the creative passion necessary in life as experienced by four fledgling artists while true love’s destiny intermingles with subsequent loss to change the lives of these common everyday men struggling to exist. Beginning on Christmas Eve in 1933, this quartet of artistic individuals parties before escaping their landlord and the rent due to partake in the city’s nightlife. Fate intervenes when Rodolpho meets his neighbor, Mimi, and the pair fall fast in love with moonlight shining through the rooftop apartment. One of the other artists, Marcello, later reunites with the love of his life, Musetta, and as the year passes into springtime, each of these love stories waxes and wanes until tragedy eclipses the ending. Theisen’s libretto, composed in English, adds concrete meaning to these sensual four acts, which are equally enhanced by a host of technical directors including Pasquale Laurino (music), Rich Rasmussen (scenic), Carol J. Blanchard (costume) and Kurt Schnabel (lighting). Each envisions Paris and Puccini in complete synchronization with Theisen’s original concept, and the evening builds upon this crescendo of theme, plot, and melodic composition with the accompaniment of the 30-piece orchestra and the Milwaukee Children’s Choir. Each member of the young cast captures the essence of this bohemian existence with an appealing chemistry heightening the premise and passion of the opera. Michael Mayes and Brandon Wood as Marcello and Rodolpho thoroughly embrace their counterparts Danielle Hermon Wood and Alicia Berneche – Musetta and Mimi. After the intermission, the actors command the imagination of the audience, drawing them further into 1933 Paris. La Boheme finishes with an emotional flourish due to the expert acting and operatic abilities of the entire ensemble. This explains how powerful a 100-year-old piece remains potent when produced by talented artists with a passion for their work. This Skylight production indeed becomes the perfect venue for initiating or indulging an artistic taste for the delights of opera. This story of love and loss, with lives severed short, resonates with all ages. The audience was enchanted opening weekend, attentive to the stage resounding with English instead of Italian but moved by the intense performances. These Parisian scenes honor the Skylight’s tribute to Puccini’s beloved La Boheme, a story confirming the belief that discovering an uncommon love in an ordinary world endures. VS The Skylight Theatre’s production of La Boheme continues until October 5 in […]
Sep 16th, 2008
I Am My Own Wife
Photo by Jay Westhauser A string of white pearls defines the central character, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, in The Rep’s season opener I Am My Own Wife at the Stiemke Theater. This real-life character, who was born in Berlin in 1928, wears a “black peasant dress, sturdy, in fact orthopedic, black shoes, and a string of pearls.” Charlotte’s given name, however, is Lothar Berfelde, and Charlotte represents the spirit of wit, intelligence, strength and survival as a transgender public figure under two extremely oppressive regimes during her lifetime: the Third Reich and Communist governments. I Am My Own Wife finds its unique rhythm in Doug Wright’s dramatic structure, as well as the impressive performance of Michael Gotch, who gives each of the over 30 miniature scenes and multiple characters he plays a refined dignity. Capturing Charlotte with a restrained mannerism and underlying respect, Gotch achieves a persona that reveals to the audience the immense hostility and cruelty brought upon individuals during these time periods. Through these vignettes of Charlotte’s life — as a youth at her Tante Louisa’s home, living in the subculture of Berlin, collecting the relics she considered a record of life, surviving her Stasi involvement as an informant and conversing with Wright as he tries to envision his play — she remains an eccentric individual whose story uncovers abundant treasures that give insight into the human condition. Touched with humor that brings both Charlotte and the audience to smile, her life is a microcosm of meaning for the all of society’s outsiders. Under Director John Langs, Gotch moves Charlotte through each character and time period seamlessly and effortlessly with only simple props. Scenic Designer Brian Sidney Bembridge, Sound Designer Josh Schmidt and Lighting Designer Noele Stollmack combine their efforts to present the grandeur of Charlotte’s Grunderzeit Museum, which she patiently restored and revived as a historic site, with vintage elegance and surprising effects. This two-hour play exposes the history of alternative lifestyles and enlightens the questionable facts surrounding the life of a remarkable, solitary person. Whether these are clearly established truths is secondary to the confrontation of atrocities and obstacles and the survival of all persons considered deviating from the normal, less than perfect, or seriously challenged – the “persona non grata.” This must-see 2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play will alter common visions of a string of pearls, refocused through the eyes of a woman who crosses over conventional lines to understand the gender, family and societies she is dominated by. Whether I Am My Own Wife references the World Wars, celebrity, homosexual life or tyrannical regimes, Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf – through Gotch’s superb acting – succinctly puts all in perspective when she reflects on her beloved furniture in the museum. “This is not only decoration, it was used. Show it as is … because everything here is a record of living, of life.” VS The Rep’s I Am My Own Wife in the Stiemke Theater runs through October 5. For more information call 414.224.9490 […]
Sep 16th, 2008
100 Years of Beautiful Music
Gracious. Elegant. Gifted. Enthusiastic. These classical characteristics describe Thallis Hoyt Drake, recording secretary and publicity chair of the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee, and the prestigious organization itself, celebrating its centennial in May 2009. Drake, a past president and member of the MacDowell Club for 50 years, describes the vision of the first 38 women who were strong minded, talented, and desired a stage to perform and display their musical skills back in 1909, well before women achieved the right to maintain property or to vote. As Drake says, “It wasn’t considered proper for a woman to perform in public,” but these women signed the charter for the club on May 19th of that year, which provided them with a new venue to use their abilities and education. Following through on this original charter, the MacDowell club initiated an all-female chorus and orchestra, conducted by a woman, which presented a series of yearly concerts at the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin, still a historic presence in contemporary Milwaukee. Members either performed or supported the club by attending the productions free of charge. Guests were allowed to listen for a 25-cent admission fee. The concerts, student organizations and musical study groups that developed in the succeeding decades illustrated the MacDowell Club’s mission statement: furthering musical interests in Milwaukee, providing incentive for progressive work for both professional and amateur musicians and acquainting the public with the number and excellence of local musicians. This includes Drake, an excellent violinist and founder of Early Music Now, along with hundreds of music teachers over these years. The club offered an opportunity and outlet for these musicians to enhance their own artistry and a platform to continue performing. Drake believes that the club saved her performance skills and helped her find long-standing friends and colleagues with exceptional gifts who all shared a passion for performing classical music. Membership throughout these years was earned through a blind audition, which continues to the present day. Annual dues now require a $25.00 check instead of three dollar bills as in 1910, but still include free admission to all the performances given in public places and private homes by the members. Today, the Club welcomes members of both genders, but still embraces the mission it was founded upon: the inspiration of the wife of Edward A. MacDowell. Edward MacDowell is one of the first American composers to receive international recognition for his career. After his death in 1908, Marion MacDowell played private piano concerts in people’s homes to raise money for the MacDowell Colony, now based in New Hampshire, which provides sabbaticals and housing for all artists to dedicate solitary study time towards their chosen area of expertise. The MacDowell Colony flourishes, as do numerous MacDowell Clubs throughout the country, all as a result of Marion MacDowell’s efforts. In 2008, Milwaukee’s chapter focuses on their 99th season, leading up to their centennial on May 19, 2009. Drake enumerates the club’s special events for this 100th year. Erin Biank, a graduate student in […]
Sep 1st, 2008
The Girl in the Frame
What would life be like with the perfect partner, romance, or relationship? Exploring all these possibilities, Jeremy Desmon’s 2003 play The Girl in the Frame closes In Tandem Theatre’s season. This tribute to the romantic ideal focuses on the seldom-realized fatal discrepancies to these overrated dreams. The Girl in the Frame intersperses musical numbers throughout the two acts while centering on the faltering relationship between Alex and Laney, two 30-somethings who have been engaged for four long years. Alex, who seemingly unemployed waits for executive-on-overdrive Laney to return every evening, begins to imagine another person in their home, a beautiful girl in one of those stock images from the picture frame he gives Laney as a gift on their anniversary. He dreams about her while once again Laney catches a flight overseas to straighten out a business deal gone awry. To Alex’s surprise, a very real girl sashays through his bathroom door that evening. This is the girl in a white dress, whom he names Evelyn, that lived mid-twirl inside the picture frame and begins to fulfill his every need, including cooking chicken Florentine and chocolate mousse for dinner. When Laney returns home from her European business trip she discovers Alex and Evelyn, this figment of her fiancés imagination, replacing her in the bedroom. So she conjures her own fantasy fireman, Tomas. For a short time, the four live in unimaginable bliss, everyone’s dream a reality. But the dreams begin to fade over time, which allows Laney and Alex to discover a fitting end to their dueling dilemmas through humor and love. An entertaining evening full of many delightful moments, The Girl in the Frame fills the stage with touches of truth. What woman would refuse to imagine or flirt with the idea of a sensuous sculpted fireman who cleans, cooks and carries your favorite flowers to your arms every evening? The play’s musical score occasionally obscures the story, but the twisted duet between Tomas and Evelyn, “What Would You Do,” describes the traumas of remaining ever perfect with precise timing. Courtney Jones as Evelyn and Travis A. Knight as Tomas, both newcomers to In Tandem, capture these faultless ideals and the essence of their roles. Knight charges the stage, incredibly versatile, visually enhancing the capable sexy fireman that rescues Laney from routine as he fans the flame of her every desire. Alison Mary Forbes as Laney and Simon Jon Proven as Alex both revel in developing their fantasy relationships, although Alex’s character in the script could be more developed. But together the four create chemistry on stage, giving the play’s premise a credibility the audience embraces even if the set could use a sophisticated tweaking to brighten the scenes. Anne Von Deusen deserves special applause as the piano accompanist throughout the performance. When the enjoyment and laughter of the evening recedes, the production grapples with several questions regarding the expectations of romance and relationships, especially over long time spans. The disillusioned Laney admits in one scene, “Sometimes you outgrow […]
Jun 4th, 2008
The Spitfire Grill
The Spitfire Grill still sparkles. The award winning musical, a reprise production from September 2002, literally glows through the book, music, and lyrics by Wisconsin natives and friends James Valcq and Fred Alley – especially on this particular Saturday night, when the four piece orchestra played under composer Valcq’s guest direction. Based on the 1996 film The Spitfire Grill by David Lee Zlotoff, first screened at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, Valcq and Alley adapted the movie to one of a small Midwestern town: Gilead, Wisconsin. This is where the young ex-convict Percy Talbot dreams of starting over and setting down deep roots, but finds little to love when she reaches Gilead’s only restaurant and discovers its few inhabitants discouraged by life. But as Percy learns to forgive what others think and say about her and how they treat her as she participates in rural living, she also learns to forgive herself for committing a crime of desperation. Overlooking a bright morning sunrise, Percy ultimately begins to believe when she sings that “A diamond of hope shines a light in this dark heart of mine.” The cast of The Spitfire Grill lives out the frustration of a bleak Wisconsin winter on the Skylight’s spare, rough-hewn set, showcasing an open staircase of timber. Yet Alley’s compassionate lyrics, set to Valcq’s lovely melodies, resonate as a paradise of color, similar to a hill of October trees, enhances the backdrop through scene changes on the stage. From the opening “A Ring Around the Moon” to the charming “Into the Frying Pan,” Valcq’s rhythms use every frying pan lid, clanking car chain and snow shovel as percussion in a perfectly-timed performance. In an exceptionally poignant moment of music, Shelby Thorpe — the young woman helping in the grill when owner Hannah breaks her leg — comforts Percy after she reveals her personal grief with the haunting “Wild Bird.” The audience remains as silent as the night woods as the vocals haunt the theater throughout much of the performance, except when down-home humor punctuates the dialogue. This profound attention focuses on a strong professional cast including Katy Blake as Percy Talbott, who at first is all bravado but settles in to the softer aspects of the role as the evening progresses. Leslie Fitzwater as Hannah Ferguson and Elizabeth Moliter as Shelby Thorpe bring touching voices to the musical harmonies, and Becky Spice creates notes of laughter with her portrayal of Effy Krayneck. Today’s audiences still applaud this tale of redemption and hope, which won the Richard Rodger’s Production Award in 2001. Alley, who died only a month before the honor was awarded, continually lives on in through this performance and all his art. The musical resonates evocatively when the lyrics, “Shoot the Moon … Life is hard and gone to soon” resound on stage. His songs speak to the simple but profound truths in life, always delivered with a smile. Since its 2001 premiere in New York, The Spitfire Grill has played continually across the […]
May 27th, 2008
Choreographer’s triptych
In a triptych of ballet selections, The Milwaukee Ballet captured a complete repertoire of styles in Season Finale. This last performance of the 2007-2008 season showcased the entire company in extraordinary fashion through the work of several choreographers with a captivating trio of pieces: The Kingdom of Shades, Aubade and Offenbach in the Underworld. Beginning the evening with costumes in classic white tutus and coats, gilded in gold, the dancers in The Kingdom of Shades presented traditional ballet with arabesque sequences and corps divertissement. This selection from the full-length ballet La Bayadere, a love story of a temple dancer and noble warrior in legendary India, features pas de deuxs by Diana Stetsura and David Hovhannisyan. The couple danced in perfect sync, with Hovhannisyan skillfully showing the exquisite positions and pointe technique of Stetsura. Set in a tropical forest of trees, these royal dancers filled the stage as Andrew Sill conducted a portion of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to music by Ludwig Minkus and the choreography of the ingenious and influential Marius Petipa (1818-1910). The second selection, Aubade, was a world premiere, choreographed by Milwaukee Ballet’s own Artistic Director Michael Pink as a modern interpretation of lovers leaving each other at dawn. Featuring impressive dance sequences performed by both men and women, this contemporary and romantic vision of ballet took place on a sparse stage shadowed in morning light, from lighting designer Nicholas Phillips. Smooth and evocative, this corps of ten dancers completely covered the stage as Francis Poulenc’s music played through each movement. To finish the evening and season while celebrating the 100th birthday of choreographer Antony Tudor (1908-1987), the Milwaukee Ballet performed Offenbach in the Underworld. Amid the ambiance of an Art Nouveau set similar to one of Edouard Manet’s paintings of a Paris café, Offenbach delights with stellar performances offset by comic storytelling. Three central pairs of lovers spar through dance while a legion of “local French ladies,” in plaid silk skirts and matching bowed hats, step to the music of Jacques Offenbach as arranged by George Crum. Devilishly showing their sheer black stockings and ruffled undergarments, these flirtatious dancers lifted their skirts to steal several dance scenes, especially in their rendition of the high-kicking can-can. Only the audience’s imagination could fill in the ending to the story of this 1870’s evening in Paris. When the curtains closed to silent awe, as after a burst of colorful fireworks, the audience had experienced a trio of distinct styles in ballet and choreography and the work of three prominent artists in three periods in dance history: a display of the visual and intellectual spirit of ballet, an art that is equally strenuous and elegant. This Season Finale leaves a sense of the promise of the Milwaukee Ballet’s upcoming season that will begin in fall 2008, bringing another season of richness to a company with incredible value to the city’s art community. VS
May 21st, 2008
A Year with Frog and Toad
An afternoon – or an entire year – of life at the pond with Frog and Toad completely mesmerizes. Interpreting the book, lyrics and music of Willie and Robert Reale, First Stage Children’s Theater closes their season in classic style with A Year with Frog and Toad. As these amphibians perform a soft-shoe dance in brown-and-white spectators, this adaptation of Arnold Lobel’s picture books marvelously reveals the meaning of friendship. From the first moments of song, where Toad, Frog, and Bird chorus sing, “Spring isn’t spring, not without you,” every detail of the production enhances the experience. The enchanting costumes by Kim Instenes — like bird and mouse dresses edged in fringe — impart these humble creatures with an understated grace that captures the imagination. Frog’s pale green silk morning coat with bow tie commands respect, which carries over to every word and action throughout the play, as does Toad’s woven wool vest and knotted tie. Sarah L. Hunt-Frank’s creative stage design includes a semicircular arched bandshell in grass-green, sheltering the instrumentalists and framing the rotating homes of Frog and Toad in the foreground. Cobblestones beneath the actor’s feet give way to growing gardens, windows in the bandshell hide singing birds, and waves of satin blue cloth, when attached to the outer edges of the stage, allow Frog and Toad to swim through cut-out peepholes, revealing their heads. Every inch of the stage sets a believable scene as the action flows easily through seasons of the year. Best of all is Brian J. Gill as the quietly dignified Frog to John Maclay’s slightly cantankerous Toad. Recalling traces of Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye, those iconic figures of song and dance, Frog and Toad are already princes waiting to be kissed. As they near perfectly perform their roles with refined class and sincerity, the audience understands that one would surely be lost without the other, as they sing, “You will always be in all my dreams.” Paul Helm, Courtney Jones and Beth Mulkerron charm in multiple roles supporting this magical duo, ably assisted by the Frog Cast of First Stage child actors. The professional trio of bassist, percussionist and pianist, under the direction of former Milwaukeean James Valcq, plays as though performing for an elite evening soiree. The simple elegance of this performance underscores the importance of children’s theater while revealing a straightforward message. As Frog and Toad spend a year appreciating daily life and each other’s company, showing care, kindness, and empathy while happily baking cookies or taking tea, the musical uncovers the joys of living. Even the Large and Terrible Frog that comes to life in the second act creates an imposing but non-threatening element in this serene story. Children and adults delight in the animated melodies, meaningful lyrics, sly humor and subtle morals. The very best children’s theater illuminates real life with truths seen on stage that every age appreciates, so that when the stage lights raise, its themes linger in the audience’s mind with words or moments […]
Apr 8th, 2008
The Mystery of Irma Vep
There is pure pleasure in laughter, in comic relief from a long, receding winter, in an evening spent watching two very talented actors revel in their roles. Next Act effortlessly provides this opportunity in their production The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam. Charles Ludlam founded The Ridiculous Theater Company in 1967, where producing absurd comedy was serious professional business. Combining several classic film and theater genres, staging and lighting effects, borrowed text from other literature, precise stage directing and a measure of Abbott and Costello, Ludlum perfected an original avant-garde theater experience. After writing numerous plays to unimpressed critics – over 30 during his lifetime – 1984’s The Mystery of Irma Vep garnered Drama Desk and Obie awards for Ludlam and partner Everett Quinton along with a measure of financial success. Tragically, as with many creative professionals during the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic that decimated the arts community claimed Ludlam’s life in 1987. Fortunately his work remains, with fast-revolving humor revealing impossibly insane characters and plot twists. Two doors in a gothic, wood-paneled study repeatedly open and close with utter efficiency, allowing a pair of actors and a trio of behind-the-scene helpers to expertly recreate the ridiculous. The eight characters in the play, all performed by John McGivern and Christopher Tarjan incredibly portray Ludlum’s convoluted story, which questions the mysterious death of Egyptologist Lord Edgar Hillcrest’s son and his wife, Irma, after Hillcrest’s remarriage to the actress Lady Enid. Add the spinster housekeeper Jane Twisden, groundskeeper Nicodemus Underwood, a wooden leg, werewolves, secret dungeons and recently discovered Egyptian mummies, and you have hilarious surprises attracting attention every minute. While the story literally unravels, the skills of McGivern and Tarjan (and their seamless and elaborate costumes changes) hold the audience captive. McGivern delights as a primping and pampered Victorian woman while Tarjon’s fitting partner Lord Edgar responds. The evening accompaniment by Jack Forbes-Wilson as the Mad Gothic Organist transports the action to 1940’s film noir with ominous melodies. This production requires a host of expertise in every area, from David Cecsarini’s direction to stage technicians. The promise of great, difficult comedy demands precision to perform, and Next Act delivers. As one of the characters in the play so aptly describes, “It’s hard for people to believe in the supernatural, just hard enough to believe in the natural.” The Mystery of Irma Vep combines both – a supernatural story with the natural gifts of these actors and theater performances culminating in an entertaining production. Next Act ridiculously presents the unbelievable on stage so the healing power of laughter in life becomes unequivocally believable to those watching. VS Next Act presents The Mystery of Irma Vep at The Off-Broadway Theatre on Water Street until May 25. For tickets or information, call 414.278.0765 or visit Next Act online.
Apr 8th, 2008
Mass Appeal
Between heaven and hell, if either exists, is a present life that human beings struggle through, desperate to survive the circumstances that confront them. Saving a person from hell by faith, the conventions of the authentic church and the representations of those beliefs, including the priesthood, become controversial dialogue in the current production Mass Appeal by In Tandem Theatre. Amid the stained glass windows, both real and on stage in the Tenth Street Theatre, Bill C. Davis’s 1980 award-winning play corners two Catholic priests, Father Farley and Deacon Dolson, from different generations as one tries to save the other from themselves and the authority of the Catholic Church. Youth rebels against the status quo, while age asks only for acceptance, to be loved at all costs, even if one’s profession and principles are sacrificed. Michael Duncan plays Father Tim Farley, an older priest settled contentedly in a wealthy diocese that fosters a non-confrontational approach towards religion, specifically Catholicism. Enter Michael Perez as Mark Dolson, the young seminarian just ordained as a deacon, the last step before becoming a full-fledged priest. After three years of indulgent living amidst startling sexual mores, Dolson ultimately seeks celibacy and reform through the priesthood – but only on his own unconventional terms, which are contrary to the reigning authority. Father Farley enjoys this enthusiasm while attempting to restrain it, although the headstrong Dolson resists. Their conversations spill into contemporary issues facing the Catholic priesthood and the church – homosexuality, women in the church, materialism, complacency and faith. As these priests try to change one another, Farley and Dolson reveal their own personal secrets, underscoring the notion that each individual creates his own heaven or hell on earth determined by the place faith holds in their life. As Father Farley reasons, “If there is such a thing as hell – there are hints of it here on this earth.” Both Duncan and Perez inhabit these holy vestments with vitality, but there is an emotional vulnerability between the two men as actors, and characters, which could be realized more completely. The Tenth Street theatre is a fine venue to contemplate these weighty issues; the high ceilings and arched doors are appropriate to this particular production, and the stage is dressed with rich oriental rugs and an ornate desk befitting a priest of Farley’s stature. Indeed, the audience feels as attentive and captivated as though the sermons were real. The surprises inherent in Mass Appeal resonate in today’s culture, even if “faith” in organized religion is dissipating; the church relates to other organized institutions in society, including the business environment. We confront Father Farley and Deacon Dolson not just as priests, but simply as people coping with life’s difficult choices. What can someone, anyone, Catholic or atheist, believe and trust in? And if the people we respect in society betray us, even priests, then questions concerning the existence of not only God, but also love and faith among each other, make it difficult to remove the grace of […]
Apr 2nd, 2008
A graceful duet
The stomach twists into a knot, the palms springs tiny beads of sweat, and the heart flutters. These are the agonizing symptoms of performance in a piano recital, and they may occur as well in an anxious audience, holding its collective breath, waiting for every note to sound clearly and correctly. Yet PianoArts, a Milwaukee organization that hosts their own Biennial National Piano Competition, seeks to alleviate these physical feelings of insecurity and replace them with confidence. This year the PianoArts 2008 National Piano Competition runs from June 19 through June 24. Twelve chosen semifinalists will compete to be selected as one of three finalists; three finalists then perform with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in conjunction with Andrew Sill, musical director for PianoArts. The elite standards that PianoArts asks of these youths, from ages 15 to 19, includes speaking to the judges about their music, why they selected their piece and what these musical movements mean to them. The finalists perform a duet involving cello or violin as well as an entire concerto with the MSO, conducted by Sill. They are also asked to perform a solo to further elevate the level of competition. But before any of this happens, members of the PianoArts faculty use two days of the week before the final recital to help each of the semifinalists perfect their performance skills. This is critical to the competition, as the mission of PianoArts, slightly simplified, is to “develop innovative ways to foster appreciation and performance of classical music… through identifying and training America’s future concert artists.” This literally means that as every semifinalist practices on the piano, they concurrently study how to move on stage, present themselves to the public and make connections with an audience when they discuss their music. Sue Medford, manager and a co-founder of the PianoArts Competition in 1999, explains this unique aspect of their competition. “Today’s audiences like to be brought into the experience; they like to connect with the people on stage.” Her enthusiasm for their commitment shows as she continues. “Classical music is a form of true art, reflecting what we are as a culture, and the performing artist, the pianist, must bring that concept to life and to the audience.” After the competition concludes, first and second place winners (with prizes of $8,000 and $5,000, respectively) return for artist-in-residence programs that allow them to practice their skills on an on-going basis. PianoArts professionals mentor these award winners by encouraging them in their continuing musical education, often at prestigious college programs, offering fine-tuning and support for their performance schedules. A typical artist-in-residence pianist may be in the city from three days to three weeks, contributing to educational programs and family concerts. This enhances not only the pianist’s abilities, but provides opportunities to enrich elementary-age students with classical music. These outreach programs also help develop future audiences for symphonies and concert venues, not only in Milwaukee, but throughout the nation. The PianoArts winners travel worldwide to promote the prevailing mission of […]
Mar 31st, 2008
The Night is a Child
“How can you forget what you don’t understand?” asks Harriet Easton, a middle-aged mother from Boston struggling through endless, sleepless nights. Her insomnia follows the suicide of her son Michael after the tragic event at a city nursery school where he killed his ex-wife and seven other victims. These oppressive night shadows haunt Harriet in the Milwaukee Repertory’s world-premiere presentation of The Night is a Child. African-American playwright Charles Randolph-Wright attempts to understand the aftermath of Harriet’s personal tragedy as a connection to similar horrific events. He composes a drama that moves with underlying rhythms of music into themes concerning guilt, grief, religion and violence. In sheer desperation, Harriet Easton travels to her romanticized Rio when she realizes her incapacity to live with these demons any longer. Brazil helps her escape the anniversary of the tragedy and the influence her overbearing two children. In Rio, leaving Boston behind, Harriet discovers beautiful beaches, potent drinks and the Brazilian Samba as her mysterious friend Bia escorts Harriet through her nightmares to find dreams of peace. Still home in Boston, her two children – Jane, the successful type-A lawyer, and Brian, Michael’s alcoholic twin – suffer their own sleepless nights worrying about their mother’s whereabouts and pondering unanswered questions about the death of the brother they loved, the constant media coverage of the tragedy and the infamous notoriety that brings. As they seek to rescue Harriet, Jane and Brian save not only their mother but also themselves. As Bia tells them, “Sometimes what we find inside ourselves is more dangerous than outside.” Randolph-Wright asks the audience to see the samba as a metaphor for “letting go” of these unanswerable questions in life. But this metaphorical tension builds slowly as the action shifts between Boston and Brazil in the first act. Humorous notes in the script soften the disturbing subjects as the second act takes us further into these dilemmas. Yet there might be might be too many chords to hear as Randolph-Wright tries to synthesize popular music together with the drama of Harriet’s self-healing. Still, the excellent acting of Elizabeth Norment as Harriet and Lanise Antione Shelley as Bia creates an atmosphere on stage allowing all these themes to harmonize and their tenuous relationship to transcend two disparate cultures. Monette Magrath’s Jane and Tyler Pierce’s Brian capture sibling rivalry adequately. But these characters stand on a visually blank stage, minimal in design, with the richness of the Brazilian culture missing. Even the clothing Harriet wears never changes as she transforms her sleepless nights into rational survival. Throughout this bare two hours, there is more character and emotion, even through the customs of Brazil, to be explored. Charles Randolph-Wright creates an evening that asks many questions with few answers. Along with Harriet, the audience would like to believe fleeing to Brazil and embracing a fresh cultural context might offer permanent relief from life’s tragedies. But as she learns to Samba, to dance on the edge of Boston’s Charles River, that question remains. How does […]
Mar 18th, 2008
Sleeping Beauty
Two feuding sisters. Two witches. Branwen the bright witch and Modron the dark bring a sibling duel to this entertaining fairytale of magical powers as this First Stage Children’s Theater production of Sleeping Beauty unfolds with engaging and innovative touches. From the fall of glittering fairy dust on children’s heads as they enter the theater, this performance sparkles. King Peredur and Queen Guinevere are childless, destined by Branwen to discover Briar Rose in scenic designer Rick Rassmusen’s enchanted forest. Branwen’s plan wanders astray when Modron finds the child first, refusing to listen to her sister’s pleas to leave the little girl for the King and Queen. In the heated exchange of conflicting spells, the Royal Couple uncovers the tiny baby and carries her off to the castle where she temporarily escapes Modron. Seeking revenge for losing this battle, Modron challenges her sister again at Briar Rose’s christening. With only one blessing remaining, the dark witch casts her evil curse of death for Briar Rose before reaching her 16th birthday. Branwen softens her sibling’s dire magic, but the cautious royals burn every spinning wheel on which the princess could prick her finger and die and confine her within the castle walls. As she grows, her loneliness deepens, even with the consolation of her imaginative playmate Gryff (half-man, half-dragon) – so every summer Owain, a prince from a far away Kingdom, comes to be her friend. Declared “utterly useless” by his father, Owain and Briar Rose struggle together as their friendship grows. Her belief in him allows the Prince to develop his hidden talents and eventually gives him the courage to overcome the 100-year sleeping spell that divides the witch sisters forever. Spinning this inspirational tale is a winning cast of both adult and child actors skillfully directed by Jeff Frank. Molly Glynn’s Modron, deliciously sinister, pairs nicely with Diane Robinson’s benevolent Branwen. The banter between Bo Johnson’s Peredur plays well to Jacque Troy’s Guinevere is delightfully humorous, and the “Briar Rose” children that performed on Friday were exceptionally convincing in their role. The comical additions of Benjamin Riegel’s Gryff and the Tylweth Teg forest fairies create entertaining characters that move the story forward. With this retelling, Sleeping Beauty sidesteps much of the make-believe to create the real that magic Owain learns lies within himself. As he is told: “A man’s heart is his mightiest weapon.” First Stage’s production ingeniously enhances the original fairytale by presenting the timeless virtues of friendship, love and courage into the realm of kept promises that all ages will certainly appreciate. When Gryff and Branwen encourage Owain in the end scene to again “listen to his heart,” this performance of Sleeping Beauty succeeds in awakening the personal magic lying expectantly inside every heart. VS First Stage Children’s Theater presents Sleeping Beauty through March 22 at the Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. For information call 414.273.7206 or visit First Stage online.
Mar 6th, 2008
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Even without Shakespeare’s lyrical poetry, the Milwaukee Ballet’s presentation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream is, quite literally, enchanting. Set to Mendelssohn’s melodious score amid a lush canopy of forest on stage, this full-length ballet conveys the light-hearted qualities of Shakespeare’s rhymes through classical dances and visual spectacle. The host for the magical night is a delightfully mischievous Puck (Mark Pertrocci), who presides over the performance with skill and his quick, sure steps. A complement of young stars from the Milwaukee Ballet’s School Dance Program bring tiny spirits and sprites to life, floating across the stage waving fluttering silk butterflies. Midsummer marks the Ballet’s return to the complicated techniques of the classical tradition as choreographed by Bruce Wells, who studied under the great George Balanchine. His expertise was evident in pirouettes with grande battements, elongated arabesques, and several series of grand jetes incorporated into the story’s dance. Live music is provided by Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra members, including the vocal solos of Anne Ingram and Diane Bennett from the Milwaukee Children’s Choir. As the curtain comes down for the close of the first act, they sing a mesmerizing “So, goodnight” as the Fairy Queen Titania slumbers. But the Milwaukee Ballet’s ethereal second act, when Titania (Tatiana Jourvel) and Oberon (Ryan Martin) reunite in an exquisite pas de deux, is the crowning touch. As this royal duo fades into the final scenes and the two mortal couples finally marry in a celebratory dance sequence, the measures of “The Wedding March” serenade this breathtaking reprise of the complete Ballet Company. The silvery white tutu’s, veils of chiffon and satin costumes spinning through pinks, lavenders and sunlight golds is truly a dream en pointe. As fireflies fall through a dimmed backdrop on stage, Puck hushes the gorgeous evening of ballet poetry to a softly illuminated end. Shakespeare’s fairy-tale forest of love has become one of the most exceptional performances in the company’s entire repertoire. This weekend of evening enchantment holds great promise for the Ballet’s remaining season. VS The Milwaukee Ballet has two remaining performances this season, in April at the Pabst, and at the end of May. For information and tickets: 414.902.2103 or 877.643.7677, or visit the Ballet online.
Feb 26th, 2008
The Cemetery Club
One is never too old to fall in love – even after the age of fifty. The Sunset Playhouse presentation of The Cemetery Club reiterates this premise as three widows, Ida, Doris, and Lucille, visit the cemetery each month to talk to and remember their deceased husbands. But two of the women feel the need to move past their spouse’s headstones to a new life. As Lucille puts it, “I want to resign. I don’t like belonging to a club where half the members are dead.” Ivan Menchell’s play – adapted for the 1993 movie of the same name – deals with the heartache and pain of losing love, along with the change and fear of starting again. Lucille’s less-than-ideal marriage shows her acute desire to begin anew and seek the love she missed through years of married life, while friends Doris and Ida mourn the end of their happy marriages. They meet widower Sam, who visits his wife’s gravesite at the cemetery, and the comedy continues as each person’s loneliness leads to rediscovering dating, romance and how they view life moving forward. The play was written with some very funny lines and scenes in a Jewish New York flavor, yet there is a missing spontaneity, and the setting appears somewhat dated. With the onset of internet matchmaking for divorced and widowed baby boomers, these three ‘girls’ appear far removed and out-of-touch with today’s 50-somethings moving on with their lives in the Big Apple, especially after the reality of 9/11. Lucille is the flirty centerpiece to the club, and actress Susan Loveridge plays it broadly.Sally Marks, as Ida, is matched to James Jonas, as Sam, but the sparks sputter instead of fly. The devoted wife is Francis Klumb as Doris, “who lives with her head in the ground, still talking to the gravestone,” constantly fighting anything new while living in her memories, upset that the club is changing when Ida and Sam start a relationship. Several poignant moments carry through the laughter, and the play has many appealing qualities, including the deft way it deals with the daily aspects of experiencing loss. A surprise event near the end emphasizes the importance of living every day and telling those significant people in life that they are loved and make a difference. But the path to love after loss, regardless of age, is filled with more magic and meaning in these contemporary confusing times than is packaged in the dialogue of this play. This entertaining and humorous evening is billed as romantic comedy, and does deliver the comedy, as the opening night audience thoroughly enjoyed the production. There could be the promise of more meaningful relationships and romantic fire in this Sunset Playhouse production, yet The Cemetery Club communicates with hope that love does indeed last even after loss, and there remains no age or time limit to finding love again. VS The Sunset Playhouse, 800 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove, continues with the presentation of The Cemetery Club though March 15. […]
Feb 26th, 2008
Say Goodnight, Gracie
At the end of the night, amidst echoes of laughter, it is difficult to leave the Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Milwaukee premiere of Say Goodnight, Gracie. Yet there is plenty to consider afterwards in this 1978 script by Ralph Pape, whom in 2007 the Dramatist’s Guild of America selected as one of the country’s top 50 playwrights to watch. Five new and emerging actors carry this 90-minute, no-intermission evening, which conveys the Boulevard’s mission: to help young talent perfect their professional craft. Under the direction of Jon Beideschies, they create an exuberant energy and chemistry on the stage that brings both laughter and pathos to the production. The action revolves around two “almost 30-somethings” on the evening of their high school reunion. Jerry (Keith Tamsett) returns from another audition, told that “he will never, never, never play Hamlet on any stage.” Steve (Tom Dillon), an unpublished writer, lingers in Jerry’s tiny apartment, fantasizing that he has finally written a sitcom script that will finally make both of them famous. Add Jerry’s girlfriend Ginny (Rachael Lau), a somewhat successful singer, Bobby (Jason Will) and his sexually liberated girlfriend Catherine (Ericka Wade) to this pre-party exchange and the night blows away in a puff of marijuana smoke as everyone reminisces on the “high.” The group shares their surprising hopes, dreams and expectations as they discuss growing up during television’s “Golden Age” with Milton Berle and Groucho Marx. Tom Dillon’s Steve adeptly crafts his character with comic delight, while the women give capable performances. Tamsett leaves us wanting for more depth with his distressed Jerry, but it is Jason Will as Bobby who really brings the smoke; his lines are some of the most poignant, and they soften the laughter. “Everything cycles,” he says. “Like the three cycles on a washing machine … birth, life, and death … Everything comes around again so it doesn’t matter. Fifties, sixties, or seventies – it’s all the same.” As this disenchanted quintet discusses the Rolling Stone’s Mic Jagger – already an “old fart” in ’78 – and asks questions about going nowhere, the joy of being alive and the fear of the unknown, the play echoes with relevance more than a pure comedy could. Their realization that television and movies preserve the past, and that time passes quickly while the world changes, creates the wonder that perhaps tears are more appropriate than smiles when the lights go out at the end of Say Goodnight, Gracie. Tickets should sell out quickly at the Boulevard Theatre during this enjoyable production’s run before the last performance on February 3. VS
Jan 22nd, 2008
1963
The “Brown Bomber,” a 1947 four door Plymouth sporting plenty of chrome, sits center stage amid the day to day family life portrayed in The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. This world premiere play, adapted by Reginald Andre Jackson from the classic children’s book by Christopher Curtis Chapman, touches on America’s racial unrest in the 60’s. The first act takes place in Flint, Michigan, Chapman’s industrial hometown, and the Watson’s home life concerns sub-zero weather, welfare, school bullies and the discipline of their eldest son, “bad weather Byron.” Kenny, the story’s narrator, is a 10-year-old intellectual odd ball with a lazy eye and horn-rimmed glasses who frustrates Byron and his younger sister Joetta. When Byron refuses to learn from his continual mistakes, all five drive to Birmingham, home of their Grandma Sands, in an effort to get Byron on the right track. Protest marches and bombings in Birmingham’s streets during this time of social change show the significance of family and courage for people of any color. The set design is important for moving the action, especially the classic Brown Bomber, which rolls back and forth on half the stage. Once again, Kurt Schnabel’s imaginative lighting effects create excitement, especially in the second act. Yet the scene sequences move somewhat slowly, and the action is unclear or confusing at times, as the Birmingham cast appears slightly removed from the emotion in the play. But Jeremy Tardy as Byron creates a believably rebellious teenager, as does young Kelly Perry’s kindergartner, Joetta. The parents play a reduced roll in the production, letting the sibling rivalry between Kenny and Byron carry the script. It climaxes in the second act during Birmingham’s civil unrest, when the children ask “Why does hate eat them up?’ and “How’s these men hate negroes so much they could kill little girls in a church?” Whether in regards to the pivotal race riots of the 1960s or the violence still prevalent in 2008, these crucial questions warrant discussion after the performance, as these underlying issues remain timely in an increasingly diverse contemporary society. As Kenny displays courage in protecting his brothers and sisters, people of any ethnicity will appreciate the value of family, and the notion that every family demonstrates courage when they tackle problems together. Day to day rituals, including a belief system of faith, resonate through the performance as First Stage reminds audiences that family is indeed precious, even with their troubles – it’s a great comfort in life to be surrounded by, as Grandma Sands says, “My fambly, my beautiful, beautiful fambly.” VS First Stage Children’s Theater‘s production of The Watson Go to Birmingham – 1963 continues through February 15 at the Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. 414.273.7206.
Jan 22nd, 2008
A Cudahy Caroler Christmas
Bringing back that “old Cudahy Caroler magic” is Stasch Zielinski’s mission in A Cudahy Caroler Christmas, In Tandem Theatre’s co-presentation with the Marcus Center and a Milwaukee holiday favorite. Returning to Vogel Hall in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts Thanksgiving weekend, this production features both new and returning cast members.
Dec 4th, 2007
White Christmas
Snow fell several times, including over the audience, during The Skylight’s seasonal production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas Saturday night. The perennial favorite – which opened to a dusting of real snow in the city on Thanksgiving weekend – is filled with the Irving Berlin songs that made and continue to make memories during the holidays. This story surrounds two army veterans who become Broadway stars and rescue their old general’s failing Vermont ski inn. Along the way, the friends find romance with a pair of entertaining sisters and create a few surprises in this adapted musical setting. With well-known Milwaukee musical director Richard Carsey and choreographer Pam Kriger at helm, the classic 1954 film comes to life on the Cabot Stage. The score provides plenty of song and dance numbers the audience will enthusiastically enjoy, including less-remembered melodies like “I Love a Piano” and “Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun.” While reenacting the legendary performances of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney might be intimidating, the lead performers carry these roles with a chemistry that builds throughout the first scenes. Norman Moses as Bill Wallace and Branch Woodman as Phil Davis are at ease with these iconic characters, and the delightful dancing of Rebekah Jacobs as Judy Haynes along with the outstanding voice of Melinda Pfundstein as Betty Haynes gives enduring charm to such ever-familiar numbers as “Sisters, Sisters.” This multi-talented team is surrounded by a handsome, capable cast (with innovative performances by Brianna Zawada as the young granddaughter Susan and Rhonda Rae Busch as concierge Martha Watson) and supported with live orchestrations and sparkling 50’s costumes. Inside the Columbia Inn, during the final scene, the cast, cloaked in red velvet and snow-white fur, sings the title song – one of the most popular lyrics in the history of music – and glides the audience into the Christmas season. Giving emotional weight to the storyline, White Christmas is dedicated to several important Milwaukee theater personnel who passed away this year, including Montgomery Davis and Skylight costume designer Jeffrey Olson. Berlin’s tribute to family, friendship, and dreams of home over the holidays is heartwarming entertainment, evoking the simple longing and joy of being with loved ones in less complicated times and reminding is that loving and being loved are the best gifts to give in celebration of the season. VS White Christmas plays at the Cabot Theatre through December 31. Tickets are available by calling 414-291-7800, or visit skylightopera.com.
Nov 28th, 2007
12 Days – A Milwaukee Christmas
How many teachers inspire and believe in their young students? First Stages Children’s Theater musical play, 12 Days – A Milwaukee Christmas, is the adapted true story of Miss Emily Brown, a Downer College Professor whose Christmas theatrical productions became legendary in Milwaukee at the turn of the century. First Stage presents this holiday offering as a world premiere, written by Playwright-In-Residence James DeVita. DeVita is well-known to Milwaukee and Madison audiences as a core company member at the American Player’s Theater in Spring Green and, more recently, as the author of last year’s one-man show, Dickens In America, staged by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. This children’s play reprises his admiration for Dickens as he incorporates elements of the English author’s stories and words from the “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” which Emily Brown is credited with bringing to America from England. Money and supplies are scarce in 1917, during World War I, and Emily Brown, now a grade-school teacher, struggles to stage her Christmas play. The Scrooge-like principal, Mrs. Crudgens, orders the pageant cancelled, but the students heed Miss Brown’s words: “In this class, as in life, an effort is required.” They go caroling to earn the funds, and in the end, in true Dickensian fashion, minds are changed, hearts are won and everyone enjoys the final presentation. Traditional carols and falling snow sprinkle this First Stage production with charm. Sarah Day as Emily Brown brings energy to the stage throughout the 90 minutes, and her chemistry with Bo Johnson, playing Polish-American school employee Mr. Horace, adds a touch of tenderness to the slightly contrived plot. The Pear Cast, one of two sets of child actors alternating throughout the run, contributed ample talent to the humorous and light-hearted performance on opening night. An interesting historical set and period costumes accent the production. In the final scene, the students wear “homemade” costumes like plum pudding and buttered dinner rolls, which delighted all ages in the audience as they finished with a sing-along of the title carol. Ultimately the production offers some important ideas for discussion throughout this festive season: often life requires an effort, an imaginative effort, especially when difficulties arise. As Miss Brown quotes from Dickens to her students, trying to encourage them to see beyond their own circumstances, she says, “Without imagination, there can be no compassion.” First Stage’s 12 Days – A Milwaukee Christmas uses both imagination and effort to tell this family-friendly story of Christmas hope and how one person’s efforts can change lives in the smallest of ways. Perhaps with true Dickens conviction, adults and children will remember to make these compassionate efforts throughout the holiday season. And believe – as Mr. Horace and Emily Brown believe – that “Christmas is not complicated. Christmas is Christmas. Heaven bless us!” First Stage Children’s Theater presents 12 Days – A Milwaukee Christmas in the Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts through December 24. For information: 414.273.7206
Nov 28th, 2007
The Quiltmaker’s Gift
A kaleidescope of hues in imaginative sets and costume design delights the eyes in The Quiltmaker’s Gift, presented at First Stage Children’s Theater. The whimsical details in this musical fable will capture the attention of a younger audience, but adults will smile along with throughout the 90 minutes. Based on the picture book by Jeff Brumbeau, Alan J. Prewitt adapted the book for the stage. The musical becomes a “story within a story” as an old man tells the tale to a young friend he meets on the road. Several moral lessons are learned along the way and, while overt, are cleverly revealed in well-written songs by lyricist Steven Mark Kohn and composer Craig Bohmier, including the almost-lullaby “Earth, Water, Wind, and Sky.” The story the old man tells is of a powerful but unhappy King who tries to find satisfaction in life by filling his castle to the brim with things, a multitude of things. The item he most desires is an exquisitely made quilt from the Quiltmaker who lives on the mountain, but her handiwork is never sold, at any price, and is only given away to those in need. By forcing the Quiltmaker to fulfill his request for a quilt, the King begins to wonder, “Without all those things, what would I be?” The King, in discovering his new self, receives both the tangible gift of the Quiltmaker’s hand, but the more important gifts of sacrifice and selflessness. Performances by John Maclay as the King and the lovely Liz Baltes as the Quiltmaker fill the stage with charm. Every piece fit together pleasurably with a great supporting cast, which includes Lee Becker as an “unbearable scareable bear” and a comical six-soldier ensemble, subject to the King’s every whim, which as he describes “wear unusual pants just to amuse me.” Their choreographic numbers keep the musical moving while entertaining everyone in the audience. The reward of The Quiltmaker’s Gift is twofold – an engaging afternoon of theater and a simple reminder the best gifts are given, freely and with sacrifice. This is aptly demonstrated by the donation of the three stunning quilts used in the production, handmade by the North Shore Quilter’s Guild and requiring about ten months to complete. The First Stage performance stitches together a “tapestry of colors, rich and rare,” in story, song, and dance, asking the audience to remember where happiness is found along with that ability to keep hope nearby. The Quiltmaker encourages the King and audience as she says, “Hope is never far way, and sometimes even closer than you think.” VS First Stage Children’s Theater presents The Quiltmaker’s Giftat the Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, through November 11. For information please call 414.273.7206 or www.firststage.org
Oct 23rd, 2007
HA!
In Tandem Theatre Company marks their 10th Anniversary with the Midwest premiere of HA! Along with this premiere, the company also debuts their permanent residence at Tenth Street Theater, a few steps underground below a red brick church on Wisconsin Avenue near Marquette University. By opening weekend, In Tandem had finally received temporary occupancy. But even with unfinished features, the high ceilings, cathedral arched doorways and comfortable in-the-round theater will certainly provide the now-established troupe with an elegant space enabling their mission to enlighten, inspire, provoke, and entertain. Rich Orloff’s HA! pursues these themes with three distinctly different yet connected acts of theater. As a playwright, Orloff has won multiple awards for his comedies, and was most recently honored with a 2003 Dramatists Guild Fellowship. This particular play represents his comedic timing, but with biting “a-ha” moments. The first act sets a scene in ancient Greece, with the court of King Oedipus putting a politically correct spin on this unusual crisis in leadership. Act II moves to January 5, 1905, “when the snow in Russia turned red,” looking at this violent act from several points of view including the Russian aristocracy and their servants. The third act develops in a classroom, as a young student attempts to defend his ‘Master of Universe’ degree by designing a complete ecosystem named Earth. Its supreme element, the human being, is called before his professors, who will give him his final grade. At first impression, the entire play appears to be an extended riff on Saturday Night Live, but beneath the humorous lines are buried truths and thoughts worth contemplating. The cast, playing multiple roles, inclues actors Parker Drew, Simon Jon Provan, Kevin Rich and Jacque Troy as well as supporting cast members Jack Lee and Michelle Waide, and together they carry the comedy well. Under Chris Flieller’s direction, time and thought is given both to both laughter and the more controversial subject material. In two hours, HA! creates smiles but also plenty of conversation afterwards if the audience is willing. Several characters offer humorous “insight into the human condition,” asking “why human beings, given all the recipes and resources for paradise, were deemed impractical but at least biodegradable?” This series of comedic moments inspires and provokes, presenting a thoroughly happy 10th Anniversary for In Tandem. Celebrating in their new home on Tenth Street, HA! continues their theater traditions with wit and style. In Tandem Theatre Company continues presentingHA!through October 21 at Tenth Street Theater, 628 North Tenth Street, Milwaukee. For information: 414.271.1371.
Oct 10th, 2007
Hana’s Suitcase
“Stories can die if there is no one to tell them.” The line from Hana’s Suitcase, the First Stage Children’s Theater 2007 opening production, is revelatory. The story is the life of a 13-year-old Jewish girl and her family; the play tackles the drama and the difficulty inherent in preserving such tragic narratives. Hana’s Suitcase deals with hard questions about the Holocaust – specifically, how to present to young people the challenging fact that one and a half million children died. At the Tokyo Holocaust Education Center, inquisitive students Maiko (Pahoua Vang) and Akira (Touly Vang) begin a search for the mysterious story surrounding Hana Brady and her suitcase, found at a concentration camp after World War II. As their teacher Fumiko Ishioko transforms questions into answers, they discover that Hana’s brother, George, survived the camps and lives in Canada. And while Hana’s story ends at Auschwitz, George’s story reminds Maiko and Akira that the lives destroyed prejudice, hate and war in the past continue to hold meaning in the present. Based on a true story and a book by Karen Levine, the play was adapted by Emil Sher. The first half of the performance revolves slowly around scenic designer David Minkoff’s imaginative backdrop of bookcases, while throughout the entire play, costume designer Rick Rasmussen effectively uses dark masked figures to illustrate the dreadful days in the camps. As they move silently through the set with bright, blonde Hana, they provide subtle references to the underlying gravity of her circumstances. The action in second half of the play accelerates as the story of the Brady family and their eventual transfer to the concentration camps unfolds. During the talkback, the cast members discuss how performing this play releases emotions. Tears are often shed behind the scenes as orphans George and Hana are split at the camps and Hana’s suitcase is left standing on a train platform. But Fumiko tells the children, “The story may leave us terribly sad, but then we must find our way out of the sadness.” The serious subject matter in Hana’s Suitcase presents opportunities to discuss not only a great tragedy of the 20th Century, but disaster and death as well. Delicately handled, the sadness is dispersed as George reminds Maiko, Akira, and Famiko the love that lasts in his heart will find a way to theirs. Maiko and Akira finally title this love “small wings” as they plan a newsletter to remind others of these horrific events. These small, seemingly significant stories need retelling, including those children’s voices remaining silent or unheard, especially the children who died in the Holocaust. Ultimately this First Stage production belongs to Hana Brady, giving an important voice to all children, past and present, on stage and off. Hana’s Suitcase was left alone and behind but contained remnants of her soul, her story, that survives clear and strong. VS First Stage Children’s Theater presents Hana’s Suitcase through October 7 at Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. For ticket […]
Sep 21st, 2007
Cyrano de Bergerac
The panache of Cyrano De Bergerac resonated throughout the Quadracci Powerhouse Theatre at The Rep on opening weekend. Cyrano’s indomitable soul overcomes unsightly features through his unabashed ability to love, conquering both the stage and the audience to begin the 2007 season. Directed by Sanford Robbins from the nationally renowned Professional Theater Training Program (PTTP) in Delaware, which originated at UWM, Cyrano is a tour de force for graduates of the program. Lee Ernst, who studied under Robbins, creates a believable and honorable Cyrano, wholehearted in his unrequited love for his distant cousin, Roxanne. Whether reciting poetic refrains while dueling swords or under the moonlight to Roxanne, Ernst delivers an exceptional persona true to playwright Edmond Rostand’s panache. Add the fight choreography developed by Ernst for the production and the audience begins to understand the complete package this resident Rep actor brings to the theater. Two other graduates of the PTTP include Erin Partin debuting as Roxanne and Andre Martin performing as Christian de Neuvillette. Both light the stage, as lovers and actors, especially Partin as she imbues Roxanne with comely dignity. Torrey Hanson as Rageneau the pastry chef, another PTTP actor, adds comic delight with his patisserie poetry. And a recent performer from the same program, Benjamin Reigal – Ernst’s son – is sure to follow in his father’s footlights as both actor and fight captain. But this Cyrano uses the polish of the PTTP in combination with the superb costume design of Matthew J. LeFebvre who adorns the characters with every ruffle of romance. Lace, bows, tassels and tulle, with wonderfully imaginative shoes, addresses the play’s theatricality. Overhead “the lamps are lit” when two chandeliers rise above the beautifully dressed actors to begin the performance. Linda Buchanan’s scenic design, adaptable and appropriately restrained, allows the candlelight to illuminate the words and performances, particularly in scene three under full moonshine. However, the romantic soul of the story, that Cyrano’s love must go unspoken because of a long and protruding nose, a supposedly ugly presence, is timeless in its telling. In a society requiring more physical perfection than ever before, amid the constant picture of youth, Cyrano De Bergerac reminds us that beauty is window dressing. It is in the depths of spirit, wit, and wisdom, behind those curtains, where love resides. Speaking of heartbreaking tragedy beneath the comedy in the final act, Roxanne says, “I have lost my love twice.” The audience understands the double disappointment of love misplaced and squandered, but also the broken belief that outside appearances are of more value than inner character and integrity. Robbins and Ernst, with the large supporting cast of The Rep, produce three hours of theater demonstrating extraordinary romantic panache. Continuing until October 7, Cyrano De Bergerac, with a soul continually worth revisiting, offers a tragic lesson under the guise of laughter in love and life. VS The Rep presents Cyrano De Bergerac in the Powerhouse Quadrucci Theater at the Repertory Theater on East Wells. For information: 414.224. 9490 or www.milwaukeerep.com.
Sep 11th, 2007
The Spitfire Grill
“Shoot the moon, life is hard and gone too soon,” sings Percy, Hannah and Shelby in The Spitfire Grill. Set in the north woods of Gilead, Wisconsin, this production was adapted from Lee David Zlotoff’s film. Fellow Wisconsinites Fred Alley, co-founder of American Folklore Theatre in Door County, and James Valcq, who started at the Skylight Theatre in Milwaukee, collaborated on the themes of hope and redemption. Those familiar with Alley’s music, including the often-produced Guys on Ice, will reconnect with some of the haunting lyrics in this piece of musical theater. Several include “A Ring Around the Moon,” “Wild Bird,” “Shine” and “Shoot the Moon,” which are all made more memorable by Valcq’s melodies. Brenda L. LaMalfa, who plays the poignant main character of Percy, captures each note perfectly. Her persona of the young girl being released from prison radiates every nuance. Struggling to create a new life, Percy is placed in Hannah Ferguson’s Spitfire Grill, the only restaurant in town. When Hannah breaks her leg, Percy and Shelby, another young woman imprisoned in a stifling marriage, carry the responsibilities of the grill as Hannah recuperates. But the town busybody, Effy, and Shelby’s husband, Caleb, complain as Percy continues to bring her rays of hope to Gilead. Throughout the two acts, every character tries to shoot the moon as secrets are revealed and light flickers through the windows of the Spitfire Grill once again. But full summer moonlight shines on this production. Elaine Rewolinski as the cantankerous Hannah acts with appropriate audacity while beautifully singing every measure. And only 18, Cherissse Duncan as Shelby is an admiral addition. But LaMaffa is a Percy the audience will remember, as even a faulty sound system during the first half refused to let her character or vocals dim. This trio enlightened the stage with a glow that gives life to Gilead, their performances enhanced further by live instrumental accompaniment. Acacia Theatre’s Spitfire Grill would make Valcq and Alley proud as it retains the spirit of their script and score. These were to be Alley’s last lyrics, and final time the two long time friends combined their talents. He was unable to receive the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters Award for New American Musicals in 2001 that was given to this show as he died that spring of a heart attack, and for him life was indeed gone too soon. The tragedy of September 11 followed closely, and this musical resonated more deeply than ever as the then Skylight Opera produced the show the following fall. Six years later, the themes are ever timely and the ability to shoot the moon still illuminates hope. As the production continues until July 22, spend an evening in the light and shadows cast by this Spitfire Grill. VS The Spitfire Grill is presented by Acacia Theatre Company in the Todd Wehr Auditorium at Concordia University through July 22.For tickets or information call 414-744-5995 or visit www.acaciatheatre.com. .
Aug 1st, 2007
The Lady in Question
Gender-bending roles are a trademark in the scripts written by Charles Busch – accomplished playwright, actor and drag artist. Awarded a Drama Desk Award for Career Achievement in 2003, Busch usually plays the leading ladies in his parodies of 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s film. Two of his best-known works are Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommy Die. And one of his recent plays, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, received a Tony nomination. This Milwaukee production of The Lady in Question is a spoof of 1940s film noir with a patriotic bent. The premise is that international piano virtuoso Gertrude Garnet is on tour through Germany as Hitler tightens his reign. A chance meeting with Nazi sympathizer Baron Von Elsner and the mysterious American hero, Professor Erik Maxwell, creates a crazed love triangle. In the end, an aging actress, Raina Aldric, must be saved and multiple questions and answers unfold as foreign intrigue unites unlikely comrades. A staged escape through the Alps in shreds of paper snow completes these comical scenarios in just over two hours. As one lady in question, Mark Hagen puts Garnet in great light and her attire is, indeed, glamorous. Dale Gutzman as Von Elsner, who also directs, is a fine foil to Garnet while their perversions to the German language present sharp edged lines and laughs. Jeremy C. Welter, who plays the part of Professor Maxwell, is a lightweight hero for Hagen, but the two combine for a little chemistry on stage. But Karl Miller as Lotte, the Baron’s oversexed 12-year-old niece, provides another opportunity for drag. Draped in frothy lavender tulle or traditional Lederhosen, Lotte is front and center. Miller, along with an amply talented supporting cast, supplies the remaining comedic timing to this performance. Although the sets may be a bit underdone, the costuming more than makes up for the scenery. And the aisle is used to good advantage as an underground tunnel – just beware of gunshots! VS Off The Wall Productions presents The Lady in Question at 127 East Wells Street until July 29. For tickets or more information, call 414-327-3552 or visit www.offthewalltheatre.com.
Jul 23rd, 2007
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
“I am Lilly. I am Queen. I like everything,” says Lilly as she roller skates on stage to the surprise of her two mouse friends, Chester and Wilson. In Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, which opened May 4 at First Stage Children’s Theater, Lilly is indeed queen of this enchanting, eye-catching production. Kevin Kling, who adapted the play from award-winning author Kevin Henke’s popular book of the same name, has blended timeless pre-school tales into one 90-minute play of Lilly’s mishaps and adventures. In this retelling, a carousel of cotton candy colors and a spectrum of patterns, shapes and textures surround Lilly and the large children’s cast of mice. Stars, checks, polka dots and ribbons fall from the ceiling and saturate the stage. Sarah Hunt Frank and Kristina L. Van Slyke, scene designer and costume designer, respectively, breathe life into Henke’s mice. The children in the audience were mesmerized by the visual array, attentively keeping eyes and ears on the show. Kurt Schnabel, lighting designer of Suessical fame, again delights with technical details and special effects. When Henke’s illustrations are added to some of the sequences, the results affectionately remind the audience of Lilly’s artistic beginnings. But the queen of the performance is Lilly herself, Clarise White, an 11-year-old from the Colby Cast that performed opening night. White bursts on to the stage, making believable this Lilly who likes everything, with charm and chutzpah. Thaddeus Bruno as Chester and Henry Ballesteros as Wilson are credit worthy as Lilly’s friends, forming the central three-some. The entire ensemble creates an animated world that plays like a merry-go-round as Lilly lives through all the missteps and fears of a child, yet continually inspires the viewer with her bravery. Such tribulations include surviving a new baby brother, bullies and a mishap at school with her infamous purple plastic purse. Mr. Slinger, her favorite teacher, helps Lilly overcome her misguided feelings and saves the day, even though Lilly saves Mr. Slinger in her imagination. The script is sprinkled with lovely lines and situations from a child’s point of view, dealing with their often unspoken feelings, that Lilly gives voice to and helps them identify. Children repeated these special phrases very softly, showing that the characters truly connected with them. First Stage Theater’s Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse continues through June 17 and is recommended for those over 3, although anyone who is a fan of Henke’s books will appreciate this entertaining real life version of their favorite stories. Adults will also enjoy some of the layered references used throughout the performance. But the true star is Henke’s little mouse Lilly, undoubtedly Queen of the production, bringing a bit of childlike magic to the stage. And to quote Lilly’s favorite teacher, Mr. Slinger, “All I can say is WOW.” VS Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse continues at the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts through June 17. For tickets and information call 414-273-7206 or visit www.firststage.org.
Jun 1st, 2007
Green Gables
The Green Gables were perfectly pitched on the set of First Stage Children’s Theater as they opened a musical version of the L.M. Montgomery classic novel Anne of Green Gables this past weekend. The book, music and lyrics, all penned by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman, do both literally and figuratively sing on stage from the first notes of “Have you ever seen such red hair?” Milwaukee’s well-known Richard Carsey was musical director along with Alissa Rhode and together the two skillfully integrated the score into the script. The melodies of the songs “Providential” and “A Dress with Puffy Sleeves” are two of the memorable selections, which were all well executed by the ensemble. Easing the beloved Anne Shirley through her teenage years during the 1900s in music is a formidable task, but both the production and the cast carry her with considerable charm. From the moment 14-year-old Jenna Wolfsohn steps on stage as Anne saying, “Anne looks so much more distinguished with an e,” she creates a character to embrace. As she finds her place among the people of Prince Edward Island in Avonlea, the music underscores her trials, including the death of Matthew in the second act. Her outspoken nature is clearly captured. By combining her talents with veterans Linda Stephens (Marilla Cuthburt) and Michael Duncan (her brother Matthew) a family is created during the performance that remains ever true to the love that abounds when an orphan finds a home. The Gables Cast, many of whom are First Stage Academy Students, includes standout performances by Kendall Iris Yorkey as Diana and Alex Miller as Gilbert. The Academy often jump starts the careers of these young actors, as Alex will be heading off to college auditions to pursue a BFA in musical theater. Corinne Kenwood, as Minnie Mae, was thrilled to be making her First Stage debut. The entire ensemble was an asset to the production as they walked the aisles of the Todd Wehr Theater in chorus or executed clever choreography around the outskirts of the delightful set. Members of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra were the distinguished three-piece orchestra, which accompany this polished presentation. Since “Anne of Green Gables” has just entered public domain, now free from copyrights, several versions are in production around the country, including one currently in New York. This two-hour version, adeptly directed by John Maclay, moves quickly and smoothly, enchanting even the smallest members in the audience. At the end the ensemble sings, “Dreams are made of perfectly happy thoughts, and perfectly happy thoughts do come true.” First Stage’s Green Gables is an evening of dreams come true, especially for those children who dream of stepping on a stage. A perfect way to remember the Anne of Green Gables from childhood. VS Green Gables by First Stage Children’s Theater is presented in the Todd Wehr Theater, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts through April 22. Tickets: 414-273-7206.
Apr 1st, 2007
Smokey Joe’s Café
By Peggy Sue Dunigan The sparks on stage opening weekend for Smokey Joe’s Café at the Skylight Opera were more than electric. Every facet of this musical revue was on fire. Celebrating the most prolific songwriting team from the ‘50s and ‘60s, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the review celebrates about 30 of their songs with blazing style. This ground breaking team infused R & B with rock & roll, adding in melodies of jazz and cabaret, and produced 14 #1 hits over four decades. Leiber and Stoller have influenced many songwriters, including Lennon and McCartney, and the duo was inducted into both the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. While the audience will perhaps remember “Kansas City,” “Love Potion #9,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hound Dog,” the revue reverberates through the theater even more creatively on less familiar tunes. The sensual “Trouble,” with a white curtain for a backdrop, and “Don Juan,” which innovatively uses a purple boa, are mesmerizing. Throw in the gospel numbers “D.W.Washburn” together with “Saved” and the staged burned out the fires of hell. The second-act highlights include “Teach Me How to Shimmy,” “I Am a Woman” and the oft immortalized “Stand By Me.” Although every song during the two hour revue could stand-alone. Set in an imaginative post World War II industrial steel framework, complete with a silver catwalk and spiral staircase accented in red, the scenes smoke with creativity. Seamless stage maneuvers and costume changes keep the audience on the edge of their seat while Donna Drake’s compelling choreography and musical director Jamie Johns keep fanning the flames throughout this revue. Stacey Galloway (costume designer), Annmarie Duggan (lighting designer) and Mikhail Moore (sound designer) add their own brand of magic. The six-piece band is a pleasure to watch perform in the background, adding another element of perfection. The talent of each of the nine cast members is also red-hot. Although four are familiar to the Skylight, the remaining five are making their debut to Milwaukee’s delight. Each member has their own individual moment on stage, but alone or together this cast creates combustion every minute of the show, whether slow burning sexy or snap crackling fun. With song or dance, this cast is dynamic and consumes the stage. The audience could barely contain themselves on Saturday night as clapping and cheers combined with lip-syncing in the Cabot Theatre. Afterwards, the free cabaret performance in the Skylight Bar glows with A Nite of 1000 Songs, which includes Ray Jivoff, Liz Baltes, Chris Klopatek and, again, the untiring Jamie Johns at the piano. This becomes a wonderful encore to Smokey Joe’s Café, the high energy, hot ticket in Milwaukee. VS Smokey Joe’s Café is performed in the Cabot Theater at the Broadway Theatre Center through April 1, with the cabaret performance following. Tickets: 414-291-7800
Mar 12th, 2007
The Underpants
By Peggy Sue Dunigan In 1910, when this play was written, “a glimpse of stocking was shocking” and ultimately humorous. On a weekend in 2007, the shock factor may be slightly removed but the comedy continues as RSVP Productions presents a 90-minute version of The Underpants. Originally penned under the title Die Hose by Carl Sternheim, actor and comedian Steve Martin adapted the play, relieving the script of its more biting moments that had led the German government to originally ban the production. Martin infuses the original two acts with his own brand of sophisticated comedic timing and sexual innuendo while still retaining the commentary on class, feminism and fleeting fame. The company’s decision to reduce the play to one act does leave some of the impact, in both comic and social interpretation, behind. But RSVP’s performance, especially the female characters, still connects with the audience. Kelly Simon as Louise is perfect as the pretty “housfrau” who causes a stir by exposing her stockings during a parade in the park. Suddenly Louise is famous for her faux pas, which understand upsets her working class husband, Theo (Ken T. Williams). A striking, if not frightening, similarity to the tabloids today that speak to Britney Spears, sans underwear. Two men who “glimpsed this shocking event” seek to rent a room in the couple’s apartment, wishing to woo Louise as their lover. Louise’s friend and upstairs neighbor, Gertrude (Missy DeIrueste), encourages Louise in her newfound position of power and fashions even more exquisite underwear for her so she is able to optimize her options. DeIrueste’s role as Gertrude is reduced in this version, which is slightly dismaying as the two women, both in character and chemistry, create a strong presence when on stage. And the stage, for a small theatre company, sets the apartment of the German newlyweds quite appropriately giving added dimension to the production. Considering the American appetite and appreciation for lingerie, several elements in this script’s premise remain completely believable on a stage today, although subtly eccentric. Martin’s adaptation, along with the RSVP production, always extends the humor, laughs and smiles with each line. Yet the play consistently reflects, perhaps even in a more timely fashion, on the nature of fame – creating celebrities for the moment concurrent with the public’s fascination for the minuteness of events. VS The Underpants is presented by RSVP Productions in the Astor Theatre at the Brady Street Pharmacy, 1696 North Astor Street, through March 3: 414.278.0765 or www.rsvptheater.com
Mar 1st, 2007
Enchanted April
By Peggy Sue Dunigan Enchanted April opened on Broadway in April 2003 and was nominated for four Tony awards and two Drama Desk Awards, including best play. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Von Armin, and adapted by Matthew Babel, Enchanted April, which opened at the Acacia Theatre Company this past weekend, is the story of four women who plan to escape from war torn England in 1922 and rent a castle in Italy for a “month of heaven, a paradisio.” Each of the four women in the play – Lotty Wilton, Rose Arnott, Lady Caroline Bramble and Mrs. Clayton Graves – have a distinctive reason for running from England, including the continual, depressing rain and the uncertain future. Unhappiness pervades their lives and optimism has dissipated with the aftermath of World War I. Lotty, the woman who plans and envisions this escape wonders: “For every after found, a before must be lost. And loss is, by nature, an unbalancing thing.” Lotty befriends and convinces Rose, suffering her own unique loss, to join her. But to make their escape affordable the pair encourages two other women, Bramble and Graves, to become additions to the Italian holiday. Escaping your husband for an entire month was indeed a formidable risk in 1922 – especially when the landlord of the castle, Anthony Wilding, decides to inhabit the castle during the same month. But the pleasures of the sun and blue sky in Italy transform each of these unique women. All achieve a greater understanding of their own ever after: “How can you go forward when so much is lost?” Lotty explains, “We can’t go back.” Each discovers they can only go forward by experiencing this Enchanted April in Italy. Acacia’s Janet Peterson (Lotty Wilton) and Maureen Dornemann (Rose Arnott) engage the title roles completely. Peterson is a captivating personification of Lotty, balancing her enthusiasm and exuberance with genuine emotion. Anne Miller (Lady Bramble) and Elaine Wyler (Mrs. Graves) are less developed as characters, but compliment Wilton and Dornemann in the cast. The male leads remain in the background, even as actors, letting the four women shine on stage. The stage in the second act, depicting Italy complete with wisteria, is delightful, especially with the reality of snow outside the theatre. Costume designer Marie Wilke also captures England and Italy in 1922. Watching the costume changes for Lady Caroline and Mrs. Graves adds charm to the performances. The evening production has every character uncovering an “ever after” filled with hope, despite the losses coming before and possible rainy days ahead. Lotty and Rose both realize that with risks come rewards. This theme resonates all through an evening in Italy at Acacia Theatre’s Enchanted April, a true reward and respite from winter weather. VS Enchanted April is presented in the Todd Wehr Auditorium at Concordia University by Acacia Theatre Company through March 4. Contact: 414.744.5995 or www.acaciatheatre.com.
Mar 1st, 2007
Third and Oak
By Peggy Sue Dunigan Third and Oak is the third installment of Dramatists Theatre’s 2006-2007 season that is revisiting the work of Marsha Norman. Norman, who was most recently nominated for a 2006 Tony Award after comprising the libretto for The Color Purple, once again observes, as she puts it, “people you wouldn’t even notice in life.” In this two-act play, one set in a laundromat, another in a pool hall, both locations are placed at the corner of Third and Oak. At 3 in the morning, Alberta Johnson, an older woman seeking silence, and DeeDee Johnson, a young newly married woman seeking company, clash as they “suds their duds,” both literally and metaphorically as they wash and talk about the complexities in their marriages. Marilyn White as Alberta is quietly stilted as a grieving wife, while Libby Amato gives DeeDee a hurried, uncontrolled appeal. Although sometimes Amato’s speech is rushed, which gives the audience little time to understand what she is trying to tell Alberta. Norman gives the second act, which revolves around a pool table, weightier dialogue, with more emotion shot with lines of humor. Tony Mozli-Warren, as the father like figure of Willie, and Muhammad Mahdi, as Shooter, relate as if they truly are family. Here Shooter, a late night DJ, tries to settle his score in life as he and Willie discuss his relationships to the hard drinking trio his late father, Willie, and another friend, George, created. The relationship is complicated by the fact Shooter has married Sondra, George’s daughter, and there is no child to carry on the family name. Shooter, who dropped off his laundry before visiting Willie, has also invited DeeDee to join him in the pool hall, as these two characters overlap the two acts. The black box theatre on the fourth floor of the Marion Center, appropriately sparse for both settings, is long and narrow. However, occasionally the dialogue is difficult to hear when the actor’s backs are turned, or above the breaking of the cue balls. But as Shooter says every late evening as he signs off the radio and heads to Willie’s for pool, “it’s 3 in the morning when it’s time to rock your daddy to dreams of delight.” And unknown, this may be exactly the right time to discover the surprises in your dreams, your life and someone to share them with, whether searching for them or not. This play is an interesting addition to this season of Norman’s work, which, as she explains, continues to explore “people having the nerve to go on.” Fortunately small theater companies take these opportunities. VS Third and Oak runs through January 27at Dramtists Theatre on the fourth floor of the Marion Center, 3211 South Lake Drive, St. Francis. Ticket information at: www.dramtiststheatre.com.
Jan 23rd, 2007
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The simple staging Nevermore Theatre adheres to works perfectly for William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark that opened the weekend of January 5. The audience focuses on the play, the verse and prose, where multiple lines of the most quoted and remembered words in the English language are given context. Recognized as perhaps the greatest tragedy written by Shakespeare, the production rivets eyes and ears even at a running time of three hours, which Nevermore supposedly reduced by a third. Not presented on a Milwaukee professional stage since 1959, this performance is a prerequisite for theater lovers. Believed to have been written somewhere around 1600, Hamlet represents the mid-point in Shakespeare’s career, casting variety to his verse, pauses becoming part of the rhythm to his prose and increased strength in his richness of imagery, irony, and intricate plots where war, love, revenge, murder and madness rival each other. Prince Hamlet is resentful that his Uncle Claudius, the King of Denmark, has married his mother, Gertrude, after the death of his father. He suspects his father was murdered, suggested by an apparition appearing to him, and vows to seek the truth, along with the appropriate revenge. To discover if these suspicions are truth, Hamlet stages a play: “The play’s the thing where I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” When performed before the court with lines showcasing murderous actions similar to his own father’s death, Claudius and Gertrude become visibly shaken. Hamlet, tormented by grief and the uncertainty of delivering thisnow known rightful revenge, descends into his own madness, rejects the love of Ophelia and ultimately induces a course of actions and reactions that spiral into more madness and death, sealing his own destiny but restoring righteousness to the crown of Denmark. One of Shakespeare’s most intelligently written characters, Hamlet is a choice performance for Joe Foust who gives the Prince a dry wit and youthful exuberance, not overly undone by his madness. Angela Iannone as Gertrude retains a powerful presence on stage, although a limited role, while Kelley Ristow depicts Ophelia as tender as the flowers she holds after her father’s funeral. Spending three hours with Shakespeare through the eyes of Hamlet sends a message that classical theatre is indeed timeless. The questions Hamlet asks of himself are again asked to the audience with renewed insight and reflection. The complications created by the course of individual human nature are often unpredictable. To accept circumstances as they are, the remnants of grief and suffering, or the reasoning behind chosen reactions to those circumstances that may lead to complex and unforeseen consequences spiraling into unfortunate destruction, remain relevant. And as such, Nevermore Theatre’s production of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, almost fifty years overdue, reminds us that Shakespeare’s words and plays are indeed the most important thing. VS Hamlet, Prince of Denmark runs at the Off-Broadway Theatre through January 21. Ticketsare $20.00, with reduced rates for students. Call 414.278.0765 for information.
Jan 9th, 2007
Guys on Ice
By Peggy Sue Dunigan This wishing hole, found in Marvin’s wooden ice shanty, brings magic once again as Guys on Ice replays in The Rep’s Stiemke Theater for a record sixth engagement. Originally produced by The Rep and American Folklore Theater from Door County in 1998 as part of Wisconsin’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, Marvin and Lloyd’s day on the ice in Northern Wisconsin continues to fish for laughter. Imaginative lyrics by Fred Alley and memorable music by James Kaplan populate the delightful songs, including “Ode to a Snowmobile Suit,” which entertains while Marvin and Lloyd attempt to solve life’s problems attaching flatheads to hooks on a pole. Waiting for a prominent local TV host to capture their ice fishing wisdom on the tube, they wish for Leinenkugel beer and Green Bay Packer games. After Ernie the Moocher delivers shattering news, the two return to the comforts of ice fishing with a revised view of life, including the fact that heaven must be made of ice, with 50-pound perch, no limit. Doug Mancheski as Marvin and Steven M. Koehler as Lloyd retain their on-stage camaraderie that feels fresh even after 500 performances. Mancheski’s comedic timing and facial expressions are priceless, he seems to embody Marvin completely, especially in “The Ice Fishing King: What Elvis was to rock & roll, I’m with the ice fishing pole.” Both voices compliment James Kaplans’s keyboard, visually surrounded with lighted fish, while Lee Becker’s “Ernie” makes quick ad-libs during the slightly too long “half time intermission.” Like so many zips in a snowmobile suit, this cast is hard to resist. Capturing a bit of Wisconsin tradition and wit, Guys on Ice will resonate with all generations. The theater opening night was at capacity, and all ages were represented. This production, complete with charming ice shanty, reminisces Fred Alley’s performances of Lloyd before his untimely death in 2002. Mancheski and Koehler embrace Alley’s vision of upper Wisconsin characters and idiosyncrasies with warmth and affection. Even the lines about Vanna White and Brett Favre remain current. The Rep tours this production through several Wisconsin cities, Cedarburg, Hartford, Baraboo, Eau Claire, to name a few, and Red Wing, Minnesota, after the limited run at the Stiemke. Guys on Ice is a well-spent evening of entertainment, as Lloyd and Marvin become friends worth revisiting a second or third time. Alley’s tribute to ice fishing is timeless fun: “Life is short…winter is long. We all need a wishing hole.” VS Guys on Ice plays at the Stiemke Theater in the Patty and Jay Theater Complex until January 7, then tours from January 18-February 25. Ticket prices, performance times, and tour schedule: milwaukeerep.com.
Jan 2nd, 2007
Mercy of a Storm
By Peggy Sue Dunigan New Year’s Eve, 1945. Snow is falling furiously, it’s almost midnight. George and Zanovia find the two hours preceding 1946 in a Midwest country club pool house to be infinitely colder than the weather outside in Mercy of a Storm, Next Act Theatre’s production that opened November 19. This performance spends a fascinating two hours dissecting a relationship struggling with love’s long awaited fulfillment and how to live with that love, elusive amidst the realities of day-to-day life. Social discrimination, prejudice, and family loyalties are all handled with a touch of humor and wit while this couple storms the pool house with anger and passion. Mary MacDonald Kerr, in her directorial debut, captures all the sexual tension, twists and turns in the script, and the touching, tender love George and Zanovia have for one another despite the events that could destroy them both. As Zanovia so aptly puts it in the second act, “I don’t want romance, I want love.” Romance vs. love. Cold outside (the winter weather) vs. warm inside (the summer pool house). Wealth vs. working class. Old vs. young. Divorce vs. marriage. This play is a study in contrasts that give the play contemporary meaning in a period setting. Jeffrey Hatcher, an accomplished playwright whose work has previously been produced on Milwaukee stages, subtly captures the conflicts of each contrast, with little resolution, through cleverly and passionately written dialogue. Everything is filtered through the personalities of George and Zanovia, both flawed and hurting, as Hatcher creates characters that he and the audience care about. James Pickering, in a welcome return to Next Act, is a wonderful George, displaying a depth in both his love for Zanovia and his daughter, Tootie. His ambiguity is palpable. Following an outstanding performance in the Stiemke’s Half-Life, Pickering again recreates a believable romantic lead through a unique role. Abbey Siegworth, as Zanovia, matches Pickering’s moves heartbeat to heartbeat as their emotions fluctuate between hot and cold. Her sassy sensuality coupled with genuine affection and compassion for George illuminates the stage. Pickering and Siegworth have a chemistry that evolves throughout the two acts. Chemistry is the key word that both charms and challenges in this production: between director and actors, script and performance and a beautifully recreated 1940’s set and the intimate stage. With Wisconsin’s winter weather turning colder outside, George and Zanovia heat up the inside of the Off Broadway Theatre for an exhilarating evening. As the play comes to a close with yet another one of its exciting twists, Zanovia enters the pool house for a final moment, seeking comfort and says, “It’s cold out there.” Next Act Theatre’s Mercy of a Storm ultimately warms the heart with the premise that it can be a cruel, cold world, inside and out, without one love worth fighting for.VS Mercy of a Storm continues through December 17 at the Off Broadway Theatre, 342 North Water Street. Contact www.nextact.org or 414-278-0765 for information or tickets.
Dec 1st, 2006
Give ‘Em Hell, Harry
By Peggy Sue Dunigan Speaking directly, loudly and customarily cursing, Harry S. Truman’s voice and words ring shockingly true and remain relevant in the production of Give ‘Em Hell, Harry that opened at the Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre November 8. The audience in the packed space greatly appreciated those words, generously sprinkled with humor and truth, both of which marked Truman’s life. Moving through the time and space of Truman’s adult years on stage, Don Devona aptly caries the one man show. Dapper in a taupe double breasted suit, Devona appears both presidential and genuinely familiar, although slightly frail. The production builds steam through the second act as Truman reminisces about the “whistle stop” campaign of 1948, ending vibrantly as he struts with his walking cane on the streets of his hometown Independence, Missouri. Opening on the day after an election that witnessed the Democrats making stunning gains, Give ‘Em Hell, Harry surprises with the timelessness of the truths expressed. Truman begins as he describes his first political campaign for county judge of Jackson County (“a new war of words instead of guns” ) after returning from France in World War I. Continuing through to World War II, Truman again reflects on after only 86 days as the 33rd President, thinking, wrestling with the decision to “drop the bomb.” He claims, “Options… didn’t have any options. Thought it was going to end the war. Dropped one. Dropped another. They capitulated. Would do the same damn thing if I thought it was going to end the war. Waiting for someone to apologize for Pearl Harbor.” As it is for politicians today, war was consistently on his mind. And facing war for a third time as he utters these thoughts on Korea: “Damn Korea thing…blowing up in our faces.” Truman again could well be verbalizing current events, such as North Korea’s recent experiments with their own nuclear bomb in 2006. However, it’s the Korean War of 1950 to which he’s referring. “We weren’t there to win. What were we there for? To stop something. Preserve the peace of the world.” Has this been said before? Or is he speaking to the reality of war and “the innocent lives of American men and women are being destroyed. It’s a tragedy.” A tragedy, similar to 1940, 1950, decades later in Iraq; the same truths exist. As the play continues traveling through Truman’s life, whether spewing political or personal wisdom, the audience is left wondering what, if anything, has changed. For Truman addresses corruption in business, dirty politics, racism, falsified bids, public housing and the minimum wage. All timely subjects for any current political arguments. Speaking like a true Democrat to the Republicans 60 years ago, Truman says, “I’m not giving ‘em hell. I’m just telling them the truth to make them feel like they’re living in hell.” VS Give ‘Em Hell, Harry runs through November 19 at the Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre in Bay View. Tickets: $20.00 by reservation. Please call 414-744-5757 for details.
Nov 15th, 2006
