2006-12 Vital Source Mag – December 2006
A Cudahy Caroler’s Christmas
By Russ Bickerstaff Stasch, Pee Wee, Zeke, Nellie and the rest of the Cudahy Carolers return again this Christmas as In Tandem Theatre presents another holiday season of regional musical comedy with A Cudahy Caroler’s Christmas. Having been unduly bounced out of the intimate performance space at the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, In Tandem launches the hit holiday musical in the much more luxurious space that is the Marcus Center’s Vogel Hall. This year’s Cudahy Caroler Christmas is the same show that Milwaukee audiences have come to know and love in a substantially bigger space. However, the same show Anthony Wood wrote nearly half a decade ago struggles a bit to fill a bigger auditorium, suffering some small amount from the extra space. Lost somewhere in the transition to Vogel is the sense of immersion in musical comedy that is far bigger than the space it fills. While the auditorium has changed, the show’s content hasn’t. The show features all the old favorite Cudahy Caroler songs with the same old story. Chris Flieller returns to play old Stasch Zielinski who sets aside his differences with former best friend Pee Wee (the returning Joel Kopischke) to get the many estranged Cudahy Carolers back together for one more concert to be televised on local access cable. Other welcome returns to the cast include Kristen L. Pawlowski as Nellie,the lovely, aspiring Tommy Bartlett water ski queen and Ken Williams as as big, shy Zeke who has a tremendous, mildly perverse crush on her. As with previous seasons, the show sounds distinctly different than it has in the past as several new faces lend their voices to this year’s production. Linda Stieber makes a thoroughly enjoyable In Tandem debut as lonely stylist caroler Wanda. Far and away the most impressive is Alison Mary Forbes in the role of young, alcoholic librarian Trixie Schlaarb. The character always seemed to be the weakest one in the entire cast. A prim and nervous librarian who gets extremely wild when she gets drunk feels like something of an uninspired comedic space-filler. This is not Anthony Woods at his most inventive. However, Forbes takes Wood’s weakest character a lot further than she deserves to go. Forbes’ performance of the “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” parody is one of the more memorable performances from this year’s production. Wood gave the librarian some of the least funny moments in the musical, but Forbes manages to be staggeringly funnier than the material she’s given to perform here. Vogel Hall itself (its interior bearing some resemblance to the set of a 1970’s game show) seems slightly out of step with the production onstage. Chris Flieller’s set, which worked so well for so many years on a smaller stage, doesn’t work as well in Vogel. The set of rotating walls represent a number of different locations, but here they point forward at skewed angles, revealing other locations just as clearly to people near the far edges of the auditorium. Most of the […]
Dec 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Dickens In America
By Russ Bickerstaff As respected as authors are onstage, they are rarely thrown directly into the spotlight. When they are given the stage, the results can be disastrous. It may be a bit extreme and overly dramatic to say that lead actor James Ridge has to achieve the single best performance of the 2005 – 2006 Milwaukee theatre season in order for Dickens In America to be any good at all, but I just did. (And he does.) Seeing as how Ridge is the only actor performing in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s mid-season show, he has to be entertaining enough to carry an entire production. The fact that he’s playing Charles Dickens means that Ridge also has to live-up to the stature of a literary legend without looking exceedingly foolish. Ridge manages both of these feats, almost single-handedly providing a substantially hipper holiday alternative (or supplement, if you will) to the Milwaukee Rep’s annual mega-production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Written by accomplished actor/playwright James DeVita, Dickens In America is a touching bit of historical drama surmising a public performance by the famous author in Milwaukee on his last tour of America. Nathan Stuber’s set is a lush, mid-19th century theatre setting. Red curtains and glass chandeliers reminiscent of the Pabst Theater adorn the stage. Footlights provide a striking effect as thick curtains draw back to reveal Ridge, buried somewhere beneath the distinctive hair and beard. Hovering visually somewhere between himself and his character, Ridge resembles a somewhat gaunt, hauntingly intense image of Dickens – the kind you’d see after reading a tattered copy of A Tale of Two Cities all night for a high school literature class. Ridge’s personal charisma as an actor fuels the performance. His eyes dart around the audience, drawing deep and disparate attentions to him with a gentleman’s charm. He recites Dickens’ work with an authors’ passion for and pride of his own work. He pauses at nearly perfect moments to affect intensity. Ridge delivers Dickens’ love of storytelling and theatrics in with infectious passion. There really isn’t anything that fans of Dickens aren’t already familiar with, but it’s a great pleasure to sit back, tilt the head, squint the eyes and picture that Ridge really is Dickens giving one last performance before he retires from the stage. Ridge brings a panoramic range of different British accents to the stage as he plays the theatrically inclined Dickens performing scenes from Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and more. Ridge plays Dickens performing a rather large cast of distinctly different characters, as well. There may not be enough plot development in any given scene to provide Ridge the opportunity to portray much depth in any individual character, but the real accomplishment here is that none of them blur together. As with any show, however, some characters are more memorable than others. When Ridge performs bits from A Christmas Carol, clever ears may hear something familiar in Ridge’s portrayal of Scrooge. It may be coincidence or fanciful hearing […]
Dec 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
A Christmas Carol
By Russ Bickerstaff The Milwaukee Rep returns to another Christmas season with yet another production of Charles Dickens’ popular classic A Christmas Carol. With a cast of over 20 and enough scenery and props to comfortably furnish a rather large home, A Christmas Carol is an annual theatrical event attended by far more people than any other single show in Milwaukee. This is the Rep’s fourth outing with the shiny, new million dollar production that first graced the Pabst in 2003 and things are looking every bit as sharp as they did three years ago with a pacing that feels just a bit more streamlined than it was last year, even if they didn’t drop a single thing from the script adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and Edward Morgan. In her third year of directing the show, Judy Berdan is at the head of a fine tuned theatrical holiday behemoth. Everything seems just a bit more polished this year than it was in 2005. Even Marjorie Bradley Kellogg’s dark, moody set for Christmas Future with its dramatically forced perspective seems to have lost some graffiti since the last time it was lowered. Milwaukee Rep Resident Actor Lee Ernst resumes the role of the tight-fisted, old Ebenezer Scrooge whose cold emotional detachment was brought about by psychologically damaging formative events he experienced as a young man when he looked a lot more like Gerard Neugent. It’s probably all in my head, but the difference between Neugent as young Scrooge and Ernst as old Scrooge seemed particularly drastic this time around. Neugent comes across with energetic, youthful hard work being tempered into cold ambition. Ernst comes across as miserly old age come overcome by its own comedy. The years between youth and old age have clearly not been very kind to old Eb. Mark Corkins resumes his role as Jacob Marley, the ambitious, brutally efficient businessman who draws Scrooge into an addiction for wealth so strong that a host of spirits are forced to stage a spectral intervention in order for him to regain the slightest shred of human generosity. Corkins’ stage presence is every bit as powerful as Marley’s ghost, aided by Barry G. Funderburg’s haunting sound design. As far as individual characters and performances go, this year’s production isn’t substantially different than any other in recent memory. Those who can’t make it this year are only missing out on yet another performance of an old holiday classic. The cast hasn’t changed much in the past three years, but there are always a few differences each December. For the first time, Melinda Pfundstein joins husband Brian Vaughn this year to play husband and wife Fred and Catherine. Eva Balistrieri returns for her ninth consecutive year with the show but this year’s performance as Martha Cratchit will be her last, as she is going off to college next year. Rep interns Donte Fitzgerald and DeRante Parker pick up small parts around the edges this season’s production. Laura Gordon returns to play Mrs. Cratchit […]
Dec 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Many Times, Many Ways
By Amy Elliott Let’s face it: the holidays can be tough. It takes stamina to make it through the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s with one’s sensibilities intact. But even with all of the off-the-rocker relatives, the shrill children, the sugars and saturated fats and the pushy crowds everywhere from Macy’s to Ace Hardware – there’s something genuinely nice about the holidays. Something warm, peaceful and pretty. Here, then, is VITAL’s holiday events guide, your roadmap through the evergreen forest of Milwaukee’s winter festivities. From champagne brunches to basketball games to the finest of the fine arts, everyone from the preternaturally merry to the utterly contrary will find some way to greet the season. Turn your frost-bitten sneer into some holiday cheer. Kick back with some hot chocolate, put on some slippers and enjoy the time of year with us. Slice of Ice Red Arrow Park Beginning Dec. 1, weather permitting 414-257-6100 www.countyparks.com Free skating, plus skate rentals and warm refreshments. 99.1 WMYX Santa’s Mailbox Presented by East Town Association Cathedral Square Park Through Dec. 15 www.99wmyx.com www.easttown.com Drop off a letter to Santa and receive a personalized letter from the jolly old elf himself! Concord and Choirs at the Basilica for Christmas Basilica of St. Josaphat Dec. 16, 8 pm 414-628-6018 www.concordorchestra.org Te second installment of the Concord Chamber Orchestra’s concert series entitled “Les Beaux Arts,” a tribute to musical repertoire related to other art forms. Dickens in America Milwaukee Chamber Theatre Through Dec. 17 414-291-7800 www.chamber-theatre.com An evening with Charles Dickens in the Milwaukee premiere of this new play by Wisconsin playwright James DeVita. Cedarburg Festive Friday Eves Cedar Creek Settlement, Downtown Cedarburg Through Dec. 22, 5-9 pm Live holiday music, luminarias, wine tasting, a winter cookout, and free cider & cookies. A different theme each Friday! Breakfast with Santa The Pfister Hotel Saturdays through Dec. 23, 10 am 414-390-3804 www.thepfisterhotel.com A holiday breakfast with jolly old St. Nick himself. A Fireside Christmas Fireside Dinner Theatre, Fort Atkinson Through Dec. 23 1-800-477-9505 www.firesidetheatre.com Fireside Theatre’s 14th annual Christmas spectacle promises to entertain with singing, dancing and holiday stories. A Christmas Story First Stage Children’s Theater Through Dec. 24 414-273-7206 www.firststage.org The classic holiday treat tells the story of the young Ralphie Parker, whose dreams of getting an air rifle for Christmas are repeatedly deferred. Candy Cane Lane West Allis Through Dec. 28 www.maccfund.org The West Allis neighborhood bounded by Oklahoma and Montana Avenues and 92nd to 96th Street is transformed into a winter wonderland with proceeds going to the MACC Fund. Honky Tonk Holiday Revue Apple Holler, Sturtevant Through Dec. 30 1-800-238-3629 www.appleholler.com Songs by country legends like Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn in a holiday dinner theater musical revue. A Cudahy Caroler Christmas In Tandem Theatre Through Dec. 31 414-273-7206 www.intandemtheatre.com This wildly popular holiday show returns with a hilarious tale of beer, bowling, friendship and forgiveness and the quest to reunite the beloved Cudahy choir. 11th Annual Christmas in the Country Grand […]
Dec 1st, 2006 by Amy Elliott
Too close to call
By Matt Wild When our country’s top film scholars inevitably get together at the neighborhood Olive Garden to discuss cinema’s greatest artistic breakthroughs, a certain achievement that’s continually – and criminally – overlooked is contained within 1977’s masterpiece, Smokey and the Bandit. Starring Jackie Gleason, Sally Field and the irrepressible moustache of Burt Reynolds, Bandit features a landmark innovation that still manages to stir the hearts and souls of audiences today: a theme song, written and performed by co-star Jerry Reed, which helpfully explains the plot. Confused as to what’s going on in this Byzantine tale of Coors bootleggers and bumbling, boorish cops? No problem; just listen to the lyrics of Reed’s feel-good ditty, “East Bound and Down,” a song that’s featured at least 178 times throughout this 96-minute movie: “The boys are thirsty in Atlanta / and there’s beer in Texarkana / We’ll bring it back no matter what it takes.” What about Smokey, you ask? Does he have his ears on, and is he indeed hot on Bandit’s trail? “Old Smokey’s got them ears on / He’s hot on your trail / and he ain’t gonna rest ‘til you’re in jail.” Therefore, to both honor this cinematic achievement as well as guide readers through the following music and poetry-filled column (sadly, there’s little-to-no bootlegging involved), a few helpful lyrics will be provided before each major section. Well these kids made a call / to good ol’ Darling Hall / to see a rock show scheduled there for 9… Decked out in Romper Room / thrift store-chic, Darling Hall (601 S. 6th St.) is one of those small and homely spaces that only seem to grow larger and warmer the more packed with bodies it becomes. It’s during the first bitterly cold night of the year that I find myself crammed inside its walls. South Side barber by day, Darling Hall regular by night, Jose the Barber (natch) starts the evening out on a classy note, singing in a strong, confident tenor (Hank Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart” is a particular standout). Milwaukee’s The Flying Party is up next, a group that harkens back to when you were 19 and every band you loved seemed to feature an adorable Asian girl playing a Moog. Though derivative to an incalculable degree, their set is pleasant enough. Plus their drummer is the goofball that posted that phony terrorist plot to bomb football stadiums online a few months back. Summing up the next two acts quickly: I’ve covered The Trusty Knife in these pages before (VITAL April 06, August 06), so I’ll only say that – once again – they’re by far one of the best rock & roll acts in town. Seriously. As for Kansas City’s Davan, I can only warn future house-party and basement-show attendees throughout the Midwest to stay far, far away from this band. Again, seriously. Flash forward now to Circa / like a whisky drinkin’ ghost / Yes, we’re gonna’ git uncomfortably close… A few days later I […]
Dec 1st, 2006 by Matt Wild
Beck
No artist is ever completely unpredictable: patterns form and grooves are worn. Some have no need to pull themselves away from the paths they’ve already beaten. Sometimes, like Björk or Beck, they simply realign, rearrange, rethink. At its most functional, The Information is a rethink of Beck’s creative relationship with producer Nigel Godrich (now highly acclaimed for his work with Radiohead and Paul McCartney). Here, Godrich usually finds – or at least allows Beck to enter – a reflective mode, as heard on Mutations and Sea Change. Started before and completed after last year’s Guero, The Information naturally features some refraction of Guero’s compilation-like tendencies. The easygoing hip-hop of “Elevator Music” segues into the (deliberately?) “I Feel Fine”-like treble of “Think I’m In Love,” which falls into the street-corner robot dance and muffled beatbox that activate “Cellphone’s Dead.” The Information also maintains Beck’s dedication to craftsmanship, which tightens the art without restricting it. Godrich, for his part, keeps getting better at adapting his own considerable sensibilities to the artist at hand. On Thom Yorke’s solo album, The Eraser, he shrink-wrapped Yorke’s paranoia; here, he’s like a near-telepathically responsive DJ, slapping down the right sounds to match Beck’s multitudinous moods. The overall vibe on The Information is pleasure. It’s not encoded in the lyrics; keep in mind that Beck can write entire albums, like Midnite Vultures, of near-total absurdity. Nor is it right up front in the tunes, but rather a pleasure that Beck and Godrich take in making music, a satellite orbiting each track, receiving and transmitting information. VS
Dec 1st, 2006 by Jon Gilbertson
