THEATRE:
The Wizard of Oz
Nominated for six Academy Awards, it won but two (Best Original Song; Best Original Score). On a then record-breaking budget of $2,777,000 for MGM Studios, it barely scraped together a profit on total box office receipts of $3,017,000. In production, it went through four directors and severely sickened one of its lead actors, Buddy Ebsen, who had an allergic reaction to his makeup and had to be replaced. Doesn’t sound auspicious, does it? But that movie, 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, based on fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, became legendarily one of the world’s most beloved films.
No surprise, then, that the Miller High Life Theatre plays host to a staged musical theater production that derives directly from the ’39 movie classic. The Wizard lands in Milwaukee via a national touring production with direction by Dean Sobon (director of national tours of Fiddler on the Roof and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) and choreography by Amy Marie McCleary. As Prather Entertainment’s Denise Trupe states, “This magical production is a celebration of the 1939 MGM movie and will be presented with breathtaking special effects that will sweep audiences away from the moment the tornado twists its way into Kansas.” The Saturday afternoon performance features a pre-show “Tea with Glinda” at the theater’s Kilbourn Hall; Sunday afternoon’s show is preceded by a family friendly DJ set from Kids Boogie Down, games, coloring stations and more.
Dec. 29-31 at the Miller High Life Theatre, 500 W. Kilbourn Ave. For tickets, call 800-745-3000 or visit millerhighlifetheatre.com.
Waitress
Inspired by Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film of the same name and with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, book by Jessie Nelson, choreography by Lorin Latarro and direction by Dianne Paulus, the musical Waitress made history on Broadway by having its four top creative positions filled by women. (Costume design and musical direction were likewise by women.) As singer-composer and six-time Grammy nominee Bareilles recalled, “It was really fun to be an example of the way it can look. We were a bunch of women who were deeply committed to finding a way to build a unified vision.”
Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a waitress, mother-to-be, unhappy wife and expert pie maker, who dreams of bigger and better things. An upcoming baking contest—and the arrival in town of a new doctor—may influence her plans, as may the input Jenna gets (wanted or not) from her fellow waitresses. But ultimately, it’s Jenna herself who has to gather the fortitude and resolve to rebuild and redirect her own life.
Waitress is currently on its national tour, which started in October after having debuted on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in April 2016. (John Jahn)
Jan. 2-7, 2018 at Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org/show/waitress.
