THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC ALL AROUND US Coming to The Rep's Stackner Cabaret in January

Milwaukee Repertory Theater's Stackner Cabaret will resound with American voices in The Beautiful Music All Around Us, featuring Grammy-nominated performer Stephen Wade who has delighted audiences from the White House to Broadway. Fusing a deeply personal story with virtuosic musicianship, Wade lovingly brings to life the music of largely unheralded individuals - domestics, farm laborers, state prisoners, schoolchildren, cowboys, housewives and mothers, loggers and miners - whose music has become part of the wider American musical soundscape. The Beautiful Music All Around Us runs in The Rep's Stackner Cabaret from January 16, 2015 - March 15, 2015 and opens Sunday, January 18.

The Beautiful Music All Around Us brings Wade's near-lifetime exploration of Southern musical traditions to the Stackner. Best known for his long-running one-man show, Banjo Dancing, Wade's newest piece is based on his recent award-winning book, The Beautiful Music All Around Us, that uncovers largely hidden, but surprisingly influential, makers of iconic American folksong. Drawn from the celebrated Library of Congress field recordings of the 1930s and '40s, this exhilarating theatrical concert features spoken word, projected images, and live music-making. The Beautiful Music All Around Us is guaranteed to be a performance unlike any audiences have ever seen.

The stories Wade shares in his book have been described as "compelling, moving, and revelatory" by the Chicago Tribune and as giving "new and vivid life to long-gone performers and their songs." Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal calls the book "a masterpiece of humane scholarship - but one that reads like a detective story." Publishers Weekly says, "It offers an understanding not only of a musical thread vital to American culture, but of America itself."

"I was originally made aware of Stephen Wade from his long-running, one-man show Banjo Dancing that ran in regional theaters across the country for nearly twenty years. But beyond that, he's an internationally recognized American folk music scholar and a legendary musician himself," says Artistic Director Mark Clements. "Stephen manages to combine his extraordinary and unique skills as a music scholar, virtuoso musician and witty entertainer to dazzling effect, and it's a real coup for us to present his new show in the Stackner."

"Within days that The Beautiful Music All Around Us first went into print," recalls Stephen Wade, "I began bringing the book back home. I felt it needful to return to all those persons and places within its pages. At each stop I gave localized programs, playing music and speaking, all the while framing those presentations with slide shows I'd assembled for the occasion. Now this performance takes a new turn here in Milwaukee, a place filled with a storied history and beautiful music all its own."

The Stackner Cabaret Season is sponsored by Sally Manegold.

Tickets for The Beautiful Music All Around Us begin at $40.00. Single Tickets for all of Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2014/15 productions are now on sale and can be purchased by going online 24/7 at www.MilwaukeeRep.com, through The Rep's Ticket Office by calling 414-224-9490, or in person at 108 E. Wells Street. Group tickets are also available for purchase by calling Group Sales Coordinator Morgan Halverson at 414-290-5340.

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