#5: The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops On Broadway
Why? Well, because you tried, but can’t get tickets to Hamilton for less than $800 a pop, and you’ve already seen The Rep’s Dreamgirls four times, so why not settle in for some old-fashioned Broadway: Carousel, The King and I, even a little Sondheim and Bye Bye Birdie. Guest conductor Steven Reineke leads the orchestra in classic songs featuring singers Stephanie J. Block and Ryan Silverman.
#4: Any Given Monday at In Tandem Theatre
Why? Because playwright Bruce Graham is one of the hardest working folks in Philadelphia show business. And he has the productions and awards to prove it. His best-known play, Coyote on a Fence, dealt with the dark side of the American psyche—racially motivated mass murder. Any Given Monday, treads a bit more on the lighter side. Doug Jarecki plays a guy whose wife leaves him for a sleazy real estate developer. Todd Denning plays a friend who decides to help him out in an unusual way. Chris Flieller directs.
#3: Theatre Gigante’s Rumore di Acque at Kenilworth 508 Theatre
Why? The Voice. Italian actor Alessandro Renda has a powerful and distinctive instrument: imagine Tom Waits after years of training with the Royal Shakespeare Company, or perhaps a contrabassoon filled with shards of granite, played by a virtuoso. Performing Marco Martinelli’s 2010 monologue, Noise in the Waters, Renda speaks mostly in Italian (director Martinelli has woven Thomas Simpson’s English translation seamlessly into the performance), but his way with the language is so visceral and musical that the words hardly need translating. The “noise” of the title refers to the ramshackle, overcrowded boats of African and Mideast refugees attempting to paddle their way to a new life in Europe. As a generic, uniformed official charged with describing and explaining the scores of boats that never make it, Renda has the swagger of Mussolini and an obsession with the numbers of dead. But he recounts individual stories with heartbreaking detail, with Guy Klucevsek’s mournful accordion compositions adding to the tragic and poignant spirit of the events.
#2: Back of the Throat at Next Act Theatre
Why? Because Yussef El Guindi’s 2006 play was hailed as part of a flowering of post-9/11 writing by Arab-American playwrights. Unfortunately, it’s still quite relevant today. Chris Tramantana plays Khaled, an Arab-American writer who attracts the attention of a pair of government officials (Jonathan Wainwright, Andrew Voss), and the meeting devolves into a nightmarish Kafkaesque scenario. Edward Morgan, former associate artistic director of the Milwaukee Rep, returns to Milwaukee to direct.
Photo by Matthew Murphy.
#1: The Lion at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Why? Because this 2014 Off-Broadway sensation is on “tour,” and the Milwaukee Rep gets a piece of it. Benjamin Scheuer tells his life story with the help of six guitars and a few chairs. But it’s not your usual cocktail party chatter or resume material. It focuses on his relationship with his father, a high-powered academic, and takes some harrowing turns along the way. The production arrives with its high-powered, award-winning production team in tact, including director Sean Daniels and set designer Neil Patel.
