Critics Need Love Too

Yes, we do. But don’t take my word for it. Try on one of these events for size, and drop a comment about your reaction and assessment. For now, here’s a list of terrific possibilities for the coming week.

#5: Sound Opinions Live at the Pabst Theater
Why? Because rock critics need love, too. And Greg Kot (Chicago Tribune) and Jim Derogatis (Chicago Sun-Times) have the audacity to think that folks want to spend an hour of radio time every week listening to their opinions about everyone from Lilly Allen to ZZ Top. For their live show, the pair will cover the latest in music news, and spend much of the evening airing and discussing clips from “the greatest rock films of all time.”

#4: The Kids Are All Right at UWM’s Union Theatre.
Why? Because Chris Fuller and Andrew Bujalski are voices of American film’s new generations. Bujalski (at 32) is the elder statesman, with two films under his belt already (Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation). His Beeswax is a charming, no frills look at the intertwined lives of a pair of twin sisters. Bujalski works with friends, not actors, and the story is based on the lives of the people on screen, and it pays off with a kind of easy naturalism that you rarely see on screen. Chris Fuller’s Loren Cass is another story, so to speak. Fuller is only 28, and started work on this debut film when he was only 15. It’s a bleak story of adolescents in suburban Florida that The New York Times called “a tour de force of mood and milieu.”

#3: Milwaukee Symphony at Uihlein Hall.
Why? Because nothing lights up a dreary winter night like a spark of Vivaldi. And because nothing lights up Vivaldi like Frank Almond, who will lead a pared down MSO ensemble to celebrate “The Four Seasons.” Nicholas McGegan will also be there, plucking out the harpsichord part in Vivaldi’s suite, and conducting Schubert’s 4th Symphony later in the program.

#2: MAM After Dark at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Why? Because it’s an entire multi-genre arts experience under one (very impressive) roof. Wander the photographs of “Street Seen” (allowing a good chunk of time for Louis Faurer’s richly off-kilter portraits). See Danceworks Performance Company’s take on the themes and ideas from the show (choreographed by Simone Ferro). Thump along to True Skool bucket drummers and Radio Milwaukee DJs as they engineer a break-dance competition that should wear swirls in the Calatrava’s marble floors.

#1: Duet for One at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Why? Because it’s sure to continue the excellent streak of dramatic duets that have recently graced Milwaukee stages (like Purgatorio and Blackbird). And it marks the MCT Artistic Director Michael Wright’s return to the stage after years of toiling in his cubicle and his director chair. And because Jacque Troy will certainly offer rich insights in this portrait of a cellist (based on the real-life Jacqueline Du Pre) who must give up her music after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.