Jenny McKight, Grant Goodman and Cassandra Bissell in Sarah Ruhl’s
In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. Phot by Alan Simons.
#5: Milwaukee Symphony at the Marcus Center
Why? Because violinist Caroline Goulding is a verifiable phenomenon, thrilling audiences and critics at an age when most people are worried about prom dates or getting through AP History. Now nineteen, Goulding has been performing with major orchestras since she was seventeen (the year she also received a Grammy nomination), and is consistently celebrated for her virtuosity and warmth. Here she’ll play the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the German conductor Jun Märkl at the podium. And try to steal some thunder from the second half of the program, Tchaikovsky’s hyper-romantic Fourth Symphony.
#4: Vijay Iyer at Alverno College’s Wehr Hall
Why? Because Iyer’s accomplished trio wowed the Alverno Presents audience a year ago, and AP’s David Ravel couldn’t resist having him back. This time, Iyer performs solo, at the more intimate Alverno venue, Wehr Hall, just the thing for his dense and melodic expressionist explorations. He’s playing just as his trio recording, Accelerando, is being released, a follow up to his Historicity, which was declared the best jazz recording of 2009 by both Downbeat and the New York Times. He should be flying high.
#3: UWM’s Unruly Music at Vogel Hall
Why? Because it is now time to praise John Cage. Not that Christopher Burns and his congregation of contemporary composers would be the first. But on the occasion of the one-hundredth birthday of one of the 20th century’s great thinkers, Burns is certain to find the way to give Cage his due. The Cage tribute (Friday night) is the centerpiece of the three-day festival that also features contemporary music from other composers and performers that will make you, as the festival saying goes, “listen.” On Saturday, Unruly presents the group Dal Niente performing a multimedia piece that explores the emptiness of the Mojave Desert—a Cagean effort if there ever was one.
#2: Daddy Long Legs at Skylight Theatre
Why? Because you could “get in” on the ground floor to the next big musical. And by “big,” we don’t mean Phantom overkill. John Caird and Paul Gordon’s chamber musical has already been recorded and made the rounds of several theaters in the U.S. And the word is good. Based on Jean Webster’s 1912 novel, it charts the relationship between a young woman and her anonymous benefactor as she leaves the isolation of an orphanage and enters college. Caird is, of course, the man behind Les Miserables and other shows of excellent pedigree, so it’s no surprise this production has its eyes on the Big Apple.
#1: In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play at the Milwaukee Rep
Why? Because when Sarah Ruhl’s play debuted in New York 2 ½ years ago, the New York Times called her “one of the most gifted and adventurous American playwrights to emerge in recent years.” We agree. While Milwaukee audiences are accustomed to Ruhl’s blend of the quotidian and the fantastic (seen in productions of Eurydice and The Clean House), this play is firmly rooted in history—based on the treatment of “hysterical” women in the 1880s. But since the treatment is sexual pleasure induced with electronic vibrators—it’s no less fantastic. Accomplished director Laura Gordon leads a cast that has already wowed audiences at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Here, we expect flying sparks and moans of pleasure in all the right places.
