Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 15

What happens when someone "lives long enough to see everything you liked and loved crumble before you?" Playwright Henry Murray confronts the question of aging within the context of marriage, conceived completely in an intriguing contemporary format.

Milwaukee's tiny black box Off the Wall Theatre seats approximately 40 people for their innovative production of William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet (R&J). While small in size, the theatre company offers huge rewards for anyone who attends their performances. The company's Artistic Director Dale Gutzman continually probes the intricacies of theater, often reinventing timeless stories including the classics, into avant garde productions on a miniscule budget that his audiences marvel at and revitalize a play's evocative power.

An understated, sensitive presentation on bullying and how a family faces their broken relationships appears in the current First Stage production Crash. Prolific playwright's Y York's adaptation of Jerry Spinelli's young adult novel by the same title arrives at the Todd Wehr Theater courtesy of Mark Hare's scenic design where the main character, John 'Crash' Cougan, lives. A two-story frame house constructed in fragments, jagged holes for windows and roof, pieces broken apart, similar to the challenges Crash's family faces.

Bullying¾when did society become consumed by the bully and the resulting destructive tactics, especially with children and young adults? When will society be able to control or stop these behaviors? In a young adult novel that explores the dynamics to bullying, Milwaukee's First Stage dramatizes author Jeffrey Spinelli's young adult novel Crash on their Todd Wehr Theater stage this spring.

Jivin' Jazz---What else does an audience need to raise the roof of The Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret in their red hot revue opening this March: Ain't Misbehavin': The Fats Waller Musical Show. Sultry and red-hot aptly describes the entertainment these five multi-talented dancers/musicians/singers energize the cabaret with for two hours, literally keepin' the audience jumpin' for the entire evening.

"One raindrop begins the universe…" writes Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in his revolutionary literary collection "HOWL." Only one word begins a poem. Only one note begins an opera. One step begins a journey, especially in the 2013-3014 season at the Skylight Music Theatre towards that has amazed audiences with an exciting collection of productions towards their theme of revolution. Artistic Director and Music Director Viswa Subbaraman presented another cultural and personal revolution of two great artists by staging the work of composer Philip Glass and poet Allen Ginsberg in the compelling production Hydrogen Jukebox.

If ever there were a play to illuminate the theater's power to relate human truth, this could be An Iliad. If ever there were an actor to relate Homer's ancient story through poetry, this surely could be James DeVita. Place this pair in The Milwaukee Rep's Quadracci Powerhouse where An Iliad opened this past weekend, and in 60 years of The Rep's illustrious legacy, almost 42 which has been seen by this ticket holder every season, this stunning production ranks of as one of the top ten.

Blessing, Chesapeake. Daniels. These three words follow each other with the comfort and perfection of naming B, C and D when reciting the alphabet. Last weekend at In Tandem Theatre on their Tenth Street Theater stage, Matt Daniels presented his incredible one-man performance of Chesapeake, a fantasy play written by the award winning playwright Lee Blessing.

Fantastique! Magnifique! Milwaukee's First Stage garnered these praises from the audience after their World Premiere musical Anatole opened in the Todd Wehr Theater last weekend. Set in Paris, the City of Light, the classic children's stories written by Eve Titus with illustrations by Paul Galdone illuminate the themes of friendship, honor and integrity so one can be the person, or in this instance, the heroic mouse one was meant to be.

The human spirit can supposedly thrive on strength and courage, and perhaps this is mistakenly assumed possible during any tragedy. In a poignant tribute to human resiliency, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presented the Midwest premiere of October, Before I Was Born, a new production funded by the company's Montgomery Davis Play Development Series iand written by Wisconsin playwright Lori Matthews in the Studio Theater at the Broadway Theatre Center .

Milwaukee's First Stage produces another world premiere musical for young audiences with an adaptation from a classic children's book: Anatole. The Caldecott Medal winning picture authored by Eve Titus and illustrated by Paul Galdone has captured the hearts of children for more than 50 years. First Stage transforms the story of the honorable French mouse who overcomes obstacles to become a first class cheese connoisseur while he sings and dances his way through 12 original songs.

What can be defined as slavery? In multiple ways, slavery continually exists and humans can all be slaves to someone or something. At the Stiemke Studio this past February weekend, The Milwaukee Rep opened The Whipping Man. The 2006 award-winning Off Broadway play written by Matthew Lopez returns three men, the owner's son and two of his slaves, to their family homestead in a complex and riveting American Civil War drama set a few days before the assassination of President Lincoln.

This February, The Boulevard Theatre stages a refreshing, smart comedy by Steven Dietz, one of the most produced playwrights in America. His 2008 comedy Shooting Star ranks as a recent piece from his more than 40 adaptations and plays in his repertoire.

What does the public or young people remember about slavery---pre or post Civil War? Last weekend, James DeVita's poignant play A Midnight Cry returned to First Stage at the Todd Wehr Theatre after premiering in 2003. A young Missouri slave, Lida June Anderson, must escape through the Underground Railroad while leaving her family behind, although she discovers other people willing to help her along the way to freedom.

“I miss being loved,” the legendary Judy Garland sighs in The Milwaukee Rep's first Quadracci Powerhouse production of the year, End of the Rainbow. Peter Quilter's “play with music” highlights the star's last few weeks of her extraordinary successful yet troubled life and the title refers to the song that often defined Garland. The “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” the theme from her iconic film The Wizard of Oz that catapulted the young actress into the spotlight.

Born in 1912, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was often better known as the hobo poet from Oklahoma, Woody Guthrie. The musician named after an American president protested against capitalism, consumerism and commercialism, which portrays a witty irony in all that he did and the music he based his songwriting on. With this as the background, The Rep's Stackner Cabaret presents the captivating revue Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie, a traveling show first produced at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe by the Melting Pot Theatre.

The truth in a story can move an audience to powerful reflection. The Skylight Music Theatre presents a brief production run of El Cimarron in the Studio Theatre to open 2014. A stage where the uncomfortable truth of slavery unfolds through the trials of a runaway Cuban slave, Esteban Montejo, and then comes to poetic life through the contemporary and modernist music of Hans Werner Henze's opera. Directed by Artistic Director Viswa Subbaraman and under the accomplished vision of Stage Director Eugenia Arsenis, El Cimarron mesmerizes the audience with virtuosity on multiple levels.

While 'visions of sugarplums' may appear fantastical, Artistic Director Michael Pink presents these marvelous performance delights for the city this December. Under Pink's direction and choreography, The Milwaukee Ballet presents Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker for another holiday season. While Pink's revisions have created treasured memories for the past decade during his tenure, various other versions along with live music from the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra have transformed the ballet into reality in Milwaukee for almost 40 years.

??Milwaukee's very own Christmas story come to the stage courtesy of Mary MacDonald Kerr. Next Act Theatre presents the second edition of her adaptation of a holiday classic film in. It's A Wonderful Life: Live Radio Show. The reprise production features all the cast members from last year who positively glow on stage in this vintage story of George Bailey's tribute to the everyday working man that reminds the audience of Old Milwaukee's marketplace..

To capture the long standing tradition of The Milwaukee Rep's adaptation of A Christmas Carol that opened last weekend at the Historic Pabst Theater, many families or friends crowd around the grand Christmas tree adorned and standing in the center of Milwaukee's Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex. They punch the button on their smart phones; take pictures of these memories withstanding the test of time, an annual event to be cherished. The Rep's production of A Christmas Carol has run consecutively each December for 38 years, a holiday present waiting to be opened again and again.