Review: The Rep's GUYS ON ICE Warms the Heart with Door County Humor at the Stackner Cabaret

Every time Guys on Ice takes to the stage writer and lyricist Fred Alley's spirit soars again. Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret presents this unique musical for the holiday season directed by Northern Sky Theater Artistic Director Jeffrey Herbst and also Alley's boyhood friend. Music Director and composer James Kaplan mans the keyboards along with Bo Johnson. Played out on the intimate cabaret stage, up close and personal for Milwaukee audiences, Lloyd, Marvin and Ernie the Moocher revive the age old Northern Wisconsin tradition--Ice Fishing-- with several humorous and poignant 'twists.

In the now iconic roles of Lloyd and Marvin, because the musical was first commissioned in 1998 by The Rep, Steve Koehler and Doug Mancheski respectively bond in an ice shanty on the frozen tundra of Green Bay water. Here they share their lives and loves as fishermen and football fans have shared for centuries, or since the Scandinavians settled Door Peninsula, which was officially founded in the mid 1850's. How curious throughout the performance Lloyd and Marvin relate numerous Swedish jokes to mark that storied history.

The musical originally researched by Frederick Heide and the late Fred Alley (both co-founders of the original American Folklore Theater, that recently changed to Northern Sky Theater), was based on the lore and stories surrounding the region where inhabitants have lived for 11,000 years, and grew as more people traveled to the area from the 1700's forward. After the story collecting, Alley and Kaplan added their warmhearted magic, winsome melodies and the myths of the legendary Green Bay Packers, who are renowned throughout the country. With lyrical prose that touches the funny bone, Guys on Ice places personal relationships against sports fans, which can be reinforced by friendship.

Koehler and Mancheski exemplify, literally inhabit, these characters reprising these roles numerous times, and remain endearing as ever. The beauty of live theater allows every performance to play slightly differently, and the two actors connect on a deep level. Herbst patiently paces the production so each facial expression, gesture and line lingers over the audience--- As if to replicate the actual time of ice fishing, which requires immense patience over a day in the shanty. Jason Fassl's lighting design illuminates the actors movements as well and this allows the humanity of Lloyd and Marvin, their bonding over beer (Leinenkugel's, of course) and revering check out girl Bonnie at the Pick 'n Save who hides a Green Bay Packer tattoo somewhere sexy on her body, to shine through.

The musical melodies charm with haunting longing or hilarity, as in "Ode to a Snowmobile Suit," now infamous on on You Tube. To see this song performed live on stage is a tiny miracle-as is the song "Fish is the Miracle Food." When Koehler's Lloyd sings the touching "The One That Got Away" he speaks to his lost love, at least until the very last scene. Hebst subtly tinkered with the production to deepen the emotional resonance, yet the Stackner audience was in stitches the entire evening and laughter flowed like water under ice through the cabaret.

Bo Johnson, featured as the comical Ernie and who accompanies Kaplan, reprises the 'Half Time" Show, an improvisational question and answer audience game. The prizes, including a pickled egg, were passed through the Stackner Cabaret tables, and one winner gobbled up her pickled egg pierced on a fork to the applause of the audience.

When the day on the ice is done, Lloyd and Marvin return to their homes redeemed and rejuvenated realizing life can be more than football games, and relationships, whether as friends or partners, appear more valuable than those enclosed box seats at Lambeau Field. The performances will surely change slightly depending on the Packer's schedule, because incredible talent and time allows these actors to ad lib lines and actions with deft ability.

The Stackner's marvelous Guys on Ice handsomely and humorously endures, lures the audience into thinking what is one day worth? While "life only lasts for a moment, love needs to be in the ticker when the bait in the bucket is gone."

Fill the ticker for the holidays, and treasure this enduring and heartwarming musical full of fishing lines, laughter and love. Generously applaud The Rep and Northern Sky Theater for reprising the marvelous Lloyd and Marvin, their endearing toast to friendship and football, and keeping Fred Alley's inimitable vision of Door County life alive and well.

Milwaukee Rep presents Guy on Ice in the Stackner Cabaret at the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through January 17, and opens A Christmas Carol at the Pabst Theatre on December 2. For further information, the season schedule or to purchase tickets, please call 414.224.9490 or visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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