It’s a weekend of love, indifference and occasional schmaltz, and the choices here offer the Valentine’s ethos from all angles. For those of you interested in stepping off the beaten track, the Philomusica String Quartet plays another of Tchaikovsky’s rare forays into chamber music (the Prometheus Trio played his Piano Trio, Op. 50, a few weeks ago), the string quartet known as “The Accordion.” And if you’re itching for little more adventure, Soulstice Theatre offers Bare: A Pop Opera, which dramatizes the trials and tribulations of five seniors at a Catholic boarding school. And Woodland Pattern presents a concert of three experimental music soloists—Jessica Pavone, Rob Lundberg, and Amanda Schoofs.
#5: Early Music Now presents Les Délices at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Why? Because long before Whitney belted that she “will always love you,” and Mr. Lennon kindly requested to “do it in the road,” French court composers approached the love song with a little more delicacy and elegance. The Cleveland-based quartet offers a tasting menu of songs by Gabrielle Batailled, Josephe Chabanceau de la Barre and others in a concert that explores six sides of the romantic equation—everything from la douceur (sweetness) to le desespoir (despair). Carrie Henneman Shaw is the vocalist.
#4: Marvin Hamlisch Tribute with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Marcus Center.
Why? Because nobody did it better than Hamlisch, who was the MSO’s Principal Symphony Pops conductor when he died in 2012. Three Broadway stars—Donna McKechnie, Jodi Benson and Doug LaBrecque–will join conductor Larry Blank and the orchestra in a tour of Hamlisch’s career, from Broadway to Hollywood. And there’s a lot of ground to cover, from The Sting to The Way We Were to They’re Playing Our Song and A Chorus Line.
#3: The Florentine Opera’s From Vienna to the Great White Way at the Marcus Center.
Why? Because they don’t really write them like they used to (Marvin Hamlisch aside, of course), and this survey of love songs by the Florentine’s Studio Artists offers a tasty sample of high romance in song. From Viennese operetta all the way up to the Great American Songbook, expect this quartet of accomplished vocalists to set more than a few hearts aflutter.
#2: Compagnie Marie Chouinard at Alverno’s Pitman Theatre.
Why? Because you should forget about Anastasia and Christian and all those neckties and various shades of gray. The sexiest show this weekend is courtesy of the flesh-and-blood dancers of this Montreal-based dance troupe, which Alverno brought to town in 2009. This time, they’ll perform two pieces. Gymnopédies, set to the music of Erik Satie. And Mouvements, inspired by the iconographic drawings of Henri Michaux.
#1: The Amish Project at the Milwaukee Rep’s Steimke Theatre.
Why? Because two of Milwaukee’s finest theater artists have teamed up to bring Jessica Dickey’s powerful drama to town. Dickey’s one-woman show explores the aftermath of a singular tragedy: In 2006, a man walked into the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and took ten girls hostage, eventually killing five of them and himself. Unlike other “documentary” theater artists (Anna Deveare Smith, Moises Kaufmann), Dickey didn’t interview anyone associated with the incident, but she finds rich lodes of truth and meaning in her characters, and in her portrait of a community that responded to the shooting with immediate calls for forgiveness. Deborah Staples stars and Leda Hoffman directs.
