Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 11

'Be the hero in your story and the world will be yours....' Edward Bloom consistently uses these words to inspire his son Will while he was growing up. Defining what a hero is, for Edward and his son Will, plays an epic role in First Stage's Big Fish. This shortened World Premiere for Young Audiences production retells the 2013 Broadway musical adapted from a 1990's Daniel Wallace novel with stunning results. Milwaukee's legendary Jonathan Gillard Daly becomes a theatrical hero when he transforms into Edward Bloom, husband, father and master storyteller based upon the musical's book and film written by John August.

s three a crowd as he familiar adage claims? Fate, friendship and the calamities in passing a popcorn box collide at In Tandem Theatre this spring. Without one word of dialogue, the 1999 musical Little By Little revisits the intricacies to falling in and out of love when three childhood friends grow up and out into the world.

A larger than life, show-stopping Broadway production arrives at First Stage this May. In Milwaukee's Todd Wehr Theater. Big Fishdelivers big theatrical energy because John Whiting, who worked as Associate Director for the 2013 Broadway show, now directs and choreographs this World Premiere for Young Audiences and a one act version adapted from the original musical.

What's a star catcher? Theatrical magic, music and serious 'Starstuff' conjure a stunning evening on the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater to answer that very important question. To end their season, Milwaukee Rep presents Peter and the Star Catcher, a prequel to James M. Barrie's 1904 story of the beloved character living in Neverland, Peter Pan. In the multiple Tony Award-winning production written by Rick Elice, Peter Pan's origins take the audience on a star-crossed journey, complete with super-sized crocodiles, sneering pirates, swaying mermaids and mollusks-who dance Busby Berkeley style to Wayne Barker's clever music. What an adventure to put a twinkle in the eyes of any audience over the age eight!

Five names the magic number. For the past 50 years, Milwaukee Rep has supported the Artistic Intern Program, a rarity throughout the country. In another 5th anniversary worth celebrating, The Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble presented a cohesive, fascinating evening in homage to the theater during their Short Play Festival held in the Stiemke Studio this April. Actors stood in the tiered stands amid the audience and asked: "Think of all the characters you love."

Tucked on the lower level in the reception room at Plymouth Church (2717 East Hampshire), Mark Bucher's Boulevard Theater presents the Midwest Premiere of RX. The classic arches and pillars adorn the church's intimate space and provide a satisfying back drop to Kate Fodor's 2012 play about drugs, death, determination and an American culture fascinated by finding relief from unhappiness by popping any colored pill form possible. When an experimental drug being developed by Schmidt Pharma, SP925--named Thriveon--promises to relieve workplace anxiety for employees who hate their jobs, confusion for Meena and Phil future ensues..

That debonair, delectable English butler Jeeves returns to Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's (MCT) Cabot Stage for the final installment with Margaret Raether's Jeeves Takes a Bow at Milwaukee's Broadway Theatre Center. On opening night, the cast and crew from the former two productions-Jeeves Intervenes and Jeeves In Bloom-were invited to return for the evening's celebrations. Toast the impeccable talents of actor Matt Daniels, who recreated the role of Jeeves for each MCT production in his elegant, inimitable style.

Science, religion, creationism. evolution--A debate where faith versus confirmed fact constructs a classroom drama touched with humor tiled Ten Questions to Ask your Biology Teacher about Evolution. Milwaukee's Next Act Theatre presents a World Premiere production written by Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte in his two-act play centering on a science teacher Miss Kelly and her rather conscientious religious objector to the curriculum, a young man named Ray. While both characters struggle with loss and tragedy in their lives, their opposing cultural contexts help minimize their pain--Kelly quotes scientific statistics while Ray quotes Biblical scripture.

First Stage's World Premiere LUCHADORA! introduces the world of lucha Libre, or Mexican sport wrestling, to Milwaukee this spring in an exciting play were the thumps and bumps against the ring ropes thrill the audience. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios relates a multi-layered story based on the cultural heritage and legacy of the Mexican phenomena lucha Libre where the wrestlers behind individually created face masks and costumes become human super heroes for legions of fans.

On on March weekend just after spring arrived, the Milwaukee Ballet opened one of the oldest ballets- Giselle-to an appreciative audience. By adapting Jean Corelli's and Jules Perrot's original choreography, with Adolphe Adam's musical score arranged by Gavin Sutherland, Michael Pink in collaboration with Christopher Cable delves deeper into the human existence through their interpretation integrating traditional and contemporary choreography to retell one of the most romantic ballets in the art's repertoire. Another ballet where every year through Pink's remarkable storytelling the audience anticipates his revelation of art and beauty, grace and strength through dance.

After two years ruminatin in the imagination and in the writing, Artistic Director Dale Gutzman in collaboration with John Angelos adapted the classic Homer legacy in their production of ODYSSEY : A Warrior's Journey Home for Milwaukee audiences. The city's downtown, very intimate Off the Wall Theatre (OTWT), conjures magic from Gutzman and his actors, stage technicians and assistant directors who become heroic in their own right almost every production with merely four men: Gutzman, David Roper, Lawrence j. Lukasavage, and Jeremy C. Welter, and for this production, an additional Patrick McCann.

This winter to spring, Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) at Stage Door Theatre Company brought award-winning playwright David Mamet's Oleanna to Sturgeon Bay. A provocative, mercurial three act, no intermission play premiering in 1992, Mamet portrays two unlikely opponents in a battle over their futures--a struggling college student Carol trying to make the honor role to gain admitance into graduate school who asks for help from a professor seeking tenure after multiple years of serving the university, John.

"After growing up with three sisters, and three half sisters--while being raised by two sisters-all strong women,' Alvaro Saar Rios begins, "LUCHADORA! continues that personal tradition with a story of Vanessa, and her Nana Lupita, who entered the Mexican world of masked wrestlers."

Reaching from a music tradition founded near the turn of the 20th century, the All-American Blues "brings out the boogie" at Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret. Their lusty revue Low Down Dirty Blues features "Big Mama" Felicia Fields, Chic Street Man, Sugaray Rayford with the trio accompanied by jazz pianist Robert Stephens.

Number 1, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and a currently in office 42--these numbers represent five presidents and two portraits placed in a holding pen, a room, before Richard Nixon's (37) funeral on April 18,1994 in Yorba Linda, California. The men often identify each other by numbers instead of their names in Milwaukee Rep's World Premiere of Five Presidents.

The mystical world of dragons and fantasy casts a thought provoking spell in Milwaukee this Spring. Skylight Music Theatre presents the magical World Premiere of The Snow Dragon in the Cabot Theatre with striking simplicity and stunning stage design, which reveals the startling world of child abuse.

Road trips take their travelers into and through unknown territory. In Tandem Theatre's current World Premiere production Come Back presents an unusual road trip, figuratively and metaphorically penned by Milwaukee playwright Neil Haven. Haven's comic yet often poignant journey through love, loss and death features two women, Sky and Erin, in a battle of wits just after Erin has died from a rare blood cancer.

Rock out with First Stage this March when BIG NATE: THE MUSICAL blasts through the Todd Wehr Theater. A dynamic young performer cast recreates Lincoln Peirce's popular cartoon characters set in Kristen Ellhert's magical stage design where lights flash, videos display Nate's drawings and sets swing from classroom to home in mere seconds.

A master playwright, Athol Fugard, presents one of his mastepieces at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Midwest Premiere of The Train Driver. When the 2010 play opened this weekend in the city's Studio Theatre, the intimate stage created an intense conversation between the audience and two astounding actors, American Players Theatre's David Daniel and Chicago's accomplished Michael Torrey. These veteran professional masters bring Fugard's darkest revelations buried in his script to the surface of the human conscience.

Milwaukee's Off the Wall Theatre stages a pared down production of a 2009 Tony Award winning play--God of Carnage. Yasmina Reza originally wrote the script in French, which Christopher Hampton then translated for British and American audiences, a popular production until this day. The four person cast streamlines the performance to two sets of parents attempting to reconcile their sons after a physical playground incident knocks 'two incisors' from one of the boy's mouth.