It’s a very busy week for theater companies, including many groups that might not be on your radar. Some are launching Halloween-themed shows, and others are offering one-night-only events. So I’m officially declaring this “Try a New Theater Company” week. So in addition to the Friday Five, why not visit a new theater space, see new theater people. ever seen before, or perhaps have never even heard of. Cooperative Performance Milwaukee turns Shaker’s Cigar Bar into a maze of chills and rhyming couplets with its Poe’s Ghosts. For Alchemist Theatre’s legendary Halloween show, Aaron Kopec offers an original play, Suicide Sleep. In a less-ghoulish vein, talented director-performer-educator Alvaro Saar Rios works with UWM students to create Milwonky Too!, a look at college life. And for one night only! Uprooted Theatre presents Against Type, a variety-show/fundraiser that features scenes and songs with unlikely matches between characters and performers. And Soulstice Theatre goes “against type” as well, upending the Shakespeare-era practice of all-male casts with its all-female staged reading of Midsummer Night’s Dream.
#5: Isn’t It Rich? Songs about Love by Stephen Sondheim at Next Act Theatre.
Why? Because Stephen Sondheim is an American treasure, and when Linda Stephens talks about him, she’s not just idly dropping names. When the Kennedy Center mounted a tribute to the composer in 2002, they asked her to join other Broadway legends in performing Sondheim’s music. More recently, she sang one of Sondheim’s iconic songs, the beautiful “Children and Art,” in Chicago Shakespeare’s acclaimed revival of Sunday in the Park with George. Here, she’s joined by pianist Jack Forbes Wilson for a tour of Sondheim’s stellar career, focusing on his beautiful and often painfully truthful love songs.
#4: Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars at First Stage.
Why? Because when you think of Arthur Conan Doyle, you think of Holmes—Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Robert Downey, Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, maybe even Jonny Lee Miller. But you might not think of the Baker Street Irregulars, the group of youngsters often employed by Sherlock to keep him posted on the nefarious doings of the London streets. But Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood know them, and have created a hit collection of graphic novels to tell their stories. Award-winning playwright Eric Coble takes it from there, creating a world-premiere play based on the comics, and First Stage has assembled the usual troupe of superb adult and child actors to bring it to life. Jeff Frank directs a cast that includes Todd Denning, Marcella Kearns, Mark Corkins and Chike Johnson.
#3: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Marcus Center.
Why? Because there’s always room for Peter Illych, even if the dish is one of Tchaikovsky’s only modestly celebrated symphonies (the Fifth). But the highlight of this weekend’s MSO program should be the rarely heard Piano Concerto of Witold Lutoslawski, one of the landmark composers of the 20th century. With a life enmeshed in the turmoil of the 20th century—including the Soviet revolution and World War II—Lutoslawski’s music is a heady and often stunning blend of serenity and chaos. MSO Associate Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong leads the orchestra with soloist Christopher Taylor, a Madison-based pianist with a sterling international reputation for contemporary music. Lecce-Chong opens the program with a short piece by Grażyna Bacewicz, one of the few women composers to achieve prominence in 20th-century Poland.
#2: Alverno Presents’ Smith Uncovered at Pitman Theater.
Why? Because you’ve read Just Kids (maybe more than once), listened to Horses, (many, many times), and even air-guitared to Because the Night at the Senior Prom (hopefully just once). But the musicians behind Smith Uncovered are betting you still don’t know poet, writer and rock-‘n’-roll icon Patti Smith. Alverno Presents continues to blaze new trails with its tributes to iconic American musicians. This time, it’s lead by Testa Rosa’s Betty Strigens, who was also on hand for AP’s Stephen Foster celebration a while back. She’s joined by Die Kreuzen, Hello Death, Mark Waldoch, Nineteen Thirteen and others.
#1: Renaissance Theaterworks’ Amelia at the Broadway Theatre Center.
Why? Because Alex Webb’s play is ostensibly a Civil War love story, telling of one woman’s journey north to find her husband and bring him home. But it is also an evocative portrait of the American landscape during that challenging time, as Amelia meets characters from all walks of life during her perilous journey. Webb is a longtime member of the Aquila Theatre Company, and played the challenging male role (who portrays dozens of characters) when Amelia premiered. Here, that job falls to the very capable Reese Madigan, who we last saw in a very different stage duet, Venus in Fur. He’s joined onstage by Cassandra Bissell (last seen in Renaissance’s The Understudy), and directed by the sure-handed Laura Gordon.
