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February 26,2017
by Wisconsin Gazette
A large, half-opened parachute dominates the background of the set for Grounded, which opened at the Milwaukee Rep’s intimate Stiemke Studio on Feb. 24. Behind and in front of it are a number of large monitors. The floor is an expertly crafted — and authentic-looking — series of small sand dunes etched with tracks made by military vehicles.
The lights go up on a young fresh-scrubbed woman....
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February 24,2017
by Michael Muckian
Director Baz Luhrmann set his film Romeo + Juliet in modern-day, gang-ridden Verona. Ian McKellen created a memorable Richard III as a 1930s-era mustachioed fascist dictator. And even the 1956 sci-fi potboiler Forbidden Planet is considered an interplanetary retelling of The Tempest.
But no one ever recast anything by William Shakespeare in 19th-century Hawaii at a time when the Hawaiian monarchy....
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February 14,2017
by Michael Muckian
StageQ, Madison’s LGBT theater company, changed the dates for its popular short play festival, seeking to attract more interest and involvement from participants and audience members.
Queer Shorts 2.1: Queer Love will run for six performances Feb. 10–18 at the Bartell Theatre, just off Madison’s Capitol Square. Ten new plays 5-10 minutes in length comprise the program, a series now in its 1....
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Classical Music and Arts,
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February 11,2017
by Michael Muckian
The mark of great theater piece is the show’s ability to take ordinary lives and make them extraordinary. Madison Opera’s production of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, unfortunately, leans a bit in the opposite direction.
The 100-minute work by composer Daniel Schnyder and librettist Bridgette A. Wimberly chronicles 48 hours at the end of the life of jazz giant Charlie Parker (Joshua Stewart),....
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February 10,2017
by Michael Muckian
Cut into a cross section of the American psyche and you will find at least a little bit of loneliness in everyone. However, the absence of human connection is rarely as deeply felt as it is in the loneliness of the long-distance trucker.
Award-winning playwright and out author Samuel D. Hunter captures such loneliness — and despair, anger and even a bit of humor — in The Few.
Milwaukee C....
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Tracking Trump
February 06,2017
by Associated Press
A new British stage adaptation of George Orwell’s chilling dystopic novel 1984 is coming to an America where issues of “newspeak” and surveillance are quite relevant.
Producers Sonia Friedman and Scott Rudin said the play will open in June at the Hudson Theatre. Nominated for an Olivier Award, it was created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan. No casting was revealed.
First published ....
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January 30,2017
by Michael Muckian
If the waitress has dirty ankles, Al McGuire liked to say, then the chili in the restaurant should be good.
Such an oblique bon mot was typical for McGuire, who led the Marquette Warriors (now the Golden Eagles) to an NCAA victory in 1977, the last season of his 14-year coaching run at Marquette University.
A street kid and son of an Irish saloonkeeper from Queens, New York, McGuire in 1964 bega....
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January 13,2017
by Michael Muckian
Every two years, the American Association for Community Theatre stages a competition for the best community-produced plays in the nation. A Milwaukee troupe hopes to bring home top honors in 2017.
Village Playhouse is debuting Facing the Finding: A Mirror in Three Acts, an original play written by two area residents that juxtaposes timely political themes with historical precedents.
The play....
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December 28,2016
by Joey Grihalva
By Joey Grihalva
I’ll never forget the time I saw comedian Hannibal Buress open for Louis C.K. at Caroline’s in New York City. Or Ron Funches open for Reggie Watts at Helium in Portland. Or South Milwaukee’s own Jackie Kashian open for Maria Bamford at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
In each instance it was my introduction to the opener and I instantly became a fan. Comedy (and....
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December 23,2016
by Associated Press
Our politics is often reflected in our pop culture, and vice versa — especially in an election year. That relationship seemed closer than ever in 2016, when a TV personality was elected president, reality shows and beauty contests were referenced in presidential debates, and even a Broadway show ignited partisan sparring.
At times, it seemed like the election overshadowed everything, but of c....
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