Author : Kirstin Roble

• Classical Music and Arts, EntertainmentJanuary 28,2016by Kirstin Roble

  Milwaukee Symphony plays Bartók and Tchaikovsky’s final works

  At the end of January, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will present a meeting of titans. The final major works by Béla Bartók and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, both expressions of the composers’ maturation and realizations of their mortality, will define this early 2016 program. Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 will be featured in the first half of the concert (after Witold Lutosławski’s Musi.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageDecember 03,2015by Kirstin Roble

  In Tandem gives Dickens’ ‘Carol’ a twist

  In the history of Charles Dickens’ legendary tale of redemption, A Christmas Carol, there has been no shortage of stage adaptations. Perhaps none of them will be as unique as In Tandem Theatre’s take. A Twisted Carol, a musical spoof written by Mondy Carter with music by Nathan Wesselowski, will debut at the company’s Tenth Street Theater this month. The show will tell the same basic st.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageNovember 05,2015by Kirstin Roble

  ‘Handle With Care’ captures a humorous and moving struggle to communicate

  For 30 years, Boulevard Ensemble has delighted audiences by presenting lesser-known works with emerging Milwaukee area actors — and the opening work of their new season continues that tradition. Jason Odell Williams’ romantic comedy Handle With Care launches this anniversary season with a story that mixes humor and pathos with disarming effect. The play follows an Israeli-born grandmother, E.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageNovember 05,2015by Kirstin Roble

  ‘Guys on Ice’ warms up the heart in its return to the Stackner Cabaret

  The concept of Guys on Ice is pretty simple. Two guys. Ice fishing. For one day. Add some music and the show is complete. However, as countless audiences have experienced, the show is much deeper than it sounds. And the Milwaukee Rep will prove it, with a new foray out onto the ice running at the Stackner Cabaret Nov. 15 to Jan. 17. The show was originally produced by Northern Sky Theater (then .... Read More
• Entertainment, MusicOctober 22,2015by Kirstin Roble

  Third annual Composer Institute brings artists of the future to Milwaukee

  For the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s latest concert, every piece on the program will be brand-new — and from some brand-new composers.  Nov. 4 marks the symphony’s third annual MSO Composer Institute concert, the culmination of a multi-day workshop for young and emerging composers. The five composers selected for this year’s event will arrive on Nov. 2, where they will work with MSO sta.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageOctober 09,2015by Kirstin Roble

  Renaissance Theaterworks sings ‘The Ballad of Emmett Till’

  In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till didn’t do anything wrong.  While visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, he spoke to a young white married woman at a small grocery store. Several nights later, the woman’s husband, Roy Bryant, and his half brother, J.W. Milam, took Emmett from his relative’s home to a small barn where they beat him and gouged out an eye before shooting the boy. Aft.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageSeptember 26,2015by Kirstin Roble

  ‘Rumore’ places refugees’ plight center stage

  Turn on the news on any given night of the week and the struggles of the Syrian refuges stare back at you. They are individuals clinging to a hope for survival by crossing the Mediterranean.  It’s a story that seems far away, a world removed from Milwaukee. Theater Gigante hopes to change that. On Oct. 1, the company will present the local premiere of Rumore di Acque, a play that puts the strug.... Read More
• Entertainment, StageSeptember 11,2015by Kirstin Roble

  Fiery, passionate ‘Tosca’ to open Skylight’s season

  Fiery. Explosive. Passionate.  That, in a nutshell, is Tosca, the opera opening Skylight Music Theatre’s 2015–16 season. Cassandra Black (last seen as the titular character in the company’s world premiere opera The Snow Dragon last year) will lead a powerful cast in this riveting Giacomo Puccini opera. Tosca’s story is dramatic on stage and off. In December of 1899, the opera was in re.... Read More
• Entertainment, MusicSeptember 10,2015by Kirstin Roble

  Milwaukee Symphony charms with Mozart again

  The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s production of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni last year was a triumphant success. So it makes sense they’d try to capture lightning in a bottle again — this time, with Mozart’s masterpiece Cosi Fan Tutte. The opera, which translates to “Thus do they all,” is as much a standard of opera repertory as last year’s work. Completed in 1790, the opera pre.... Read More
• Entertainment, MusicAugust 27,2015by Kirstin Roble

  Present Music celebrates Mozart’s modern successors

  Milwaukee’s Present Music ensemble helps kick off another year of fine arts, with a season-opening concert that will bring together the largest ensemble Present Music has ever hosted. It’ll also be bringing together the company’s love for chamber music’s classical roots and its passion for contemporary works. Deceptively titled Mozart?!, this concert features only one work by the legendary.... Read More