It’s a relatively quiet weekend of openings, but there is quite a feast in music and dance for dedicated post-modernists.
#4: Milwaukee Symphony Pops’ Do You Hear the People Sing at the Marcus Center.
Why? Because nothing gets the Broadway blood pumping like an anthem from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, especially when it’s played full-tilt by a symphony orchestra and huge symphony chorus. That’s exactly what’s on tap for this edition of MSO Pops, with conductor Dale Rieling leading the orchestra, a quintet of soloists, and Lee Erickson’s magnificent Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. There is sure to be a hefty helping of the duo’s revoluationary show, Les Miserables, and a good sample of their other big hit, Miss Saigon. But you might even catch a few numbers from their lesser-known shows, The Pirate Queen, and Marguerite.
#3: Trisha Brown: In Process at the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts.
Why? Because it’s been a Trisha Brown year in Milwaukee, starting with her company’s appearance at the Lynden Sculpture Garden this summer (courtesy of Alverno Presents). Since then, the influential postmodern choreographer, who retired from dancemaking due to health reasons in 2012, has been much on the minds of UW-Milwaukee students. Last month, dance students performed her celebrated dance, “Set to Reset.” And here, Deborah Loewen and Amanda Schoofs curate a selection of student work of all genres, inspired by Brown and her ideas.
#2: Danceworks Performance Company’s Breathe at Next Act Theatre.
Why? Because Janet Lilly created a tribute to her colleague Ed Burgess a year after he died in 2011. But it was performed at her new home at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. DPC’s Dani Kuepper brings it home this weekend, and the company creates a program of works by Danceworks members. Read my story about Lilly and her dance here. And read my review of the performance here.
#1: Joe Westerlund as Grandma Sparrow & His Piddletractor Orchestra at Alverno Presents.
Why? Because trying to describe Joe Westerlund’s alter ego and performing persona yields a string of musical non-sequiters: Beach Boys, Charles Ives, the Beatles, etc. But just as a “Piddletractor Orchestra” doesn’t really create a firm musical vision in ones mind, it is pretty much futile to try to describe Westerlund’s creation. You had a taste if you attended Alverno’s “Nick Sanborn: Lend Me Your Song” in 2013. But Grandma Sparrow demands to be experienced in a heaping helping, and Alverno promises to give you just that.
