Milwaukee Theater Year in Review: 2019

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As 2019 comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at highlights of all the great theater that took place in our city. There were many wonderfully produced productions with career-defining performances as well as both regional and world premieres.

And, sadly, there were also some closings; in particular, In Tandem Theatre, which produced many fine works over the years, especially during the holidays. Just thinking of A Holiday Christmas Caroler and Scrooge in Rouge still brings plenty of smiles. In Tandem thrived and flourished under the astute direction and management of Jane and Chris Flieller. They’ll be missed by many.

Here’s a look at theater in Milwaukee during the past year and some of the many accomplishments.

The city had its share of premieres, including the first Midwest staging at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater of Milwaukee native Ayad Akhtar’s Junk, as well as the world premiere at First Stage of On the Wings of a Mariposa by local playwright Alvaro Saar Rios—also the first of its kind to be bilingual.

The year also brought us definitive productions of musicals such as The Rep’s captivating West Side Story and First Stage’s charming Elf: The Musical. Skylight Music Theatre bookended 2019 with highly entertaining stagings of Five Guys Named Moe and the recent Newsies based on the Disney film. Newsies’ director and Milwaukee native Molly Rhode is proving to be a formidable talent when it comes to directing large casts (think: her excellent staging a few years back of Skylight’s The Sound of Music).

On a national touring level, The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts brought us a newly revitalized production of Fiddler on the Roof, as well as the contemporary musicals Dear Evan Hansen and the excellent Come From Away—the latter based on the 9/11 attacks. And yet another staging of The Phantom of the Opera proved that the disfigured man in the white mask has held up very well since he first emerged from the shadows 33 years ago. And, is it even possible to forgo “the H-word”? Yes. That “H”—as in Hamilton—which set a precedent in Uihlein Hall with 32 performances.

There was—and remains—such an abundance of talented local actors that there were a number of ensemble performances that created a synergy within their productions; ditto West Side Story, Five Guys Named Moe and Newsies. But on the dramatic side, how exciting to see Voices Found Repertory stage William Shakespeare’s Henry V, with all the young actors in a tiny space and set during an undefined time period. It all worked incredibly well, as did the ensemble work in Renaissance Theaterworks’ Photograph 51, with an outstanding lead performance by Cassandra Bissell.

Then, there’s the more intimate four-member cast of The God of Hell as staged by The Constructivists, and two plays with two characters that also merit special commendation: The Rep’s engrossing The Chinese Lady, featuring Lisa Helmi Johanson and Jon Norman Schneider, and Acacia Theatre’s staging of the popular book and film, Tuesdays with Morrie, starring Drew Brhel and David Sapiro.

Next Act Theatre saved some of its very comedic best for the end of 2019 with its stellar staging of funnyman Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, which was perfectly cast under the direction of Milwaukee’s very own Edward Morgan.

In terms of “intimate” theater (read: few actors), there were a number of outstanding shows with career-defining performances. There was Kelley Faulkner as country singer Patsy Cline in Always…Patsy Cline; Bo Johnson as impressionist painter Mark Rothko in Red; Angela Iannone as the feisty, independent mother in The Velocity of Autumn; and Robert W.C. Kennedy and Cheryl Roloff as the long-married farmer couple in The God of Hell. And, once again, audiences were treated to the perfect pairing of Matt Daniels and Chris Klopatek as astute butler Jeeves and his playboy boss, Bertie Wooster, respectively, in the latest installment, Jeeves at Sea.

Two important plays about the Holocaust made their Milwaukee debuts; Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter and The Last Cyclist. Los Angeles-based actor Tom Duggan wrote, acted and directed his one-person show about famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005) in a one-of-a-kind performance held at the Jewish Community Center (JCC).

The JCC also collaborated with the Holocaust Education Resource Center to stage The Last Cyclist at Cardinal Stritch University. The absurdist cabaret piece was written in 1944 but presumed lost until 75 years later. Then, a lone survivor of the Terezín (Theresienstadt) concentration camp recreated it from memory. Director Mark Boergers assembled a solid cast of 12 for the production, which included Randall T. Anderson, Marcie Doherty-Elst, Leslie Fitzwater, Joel Kopischke, Laura Monagle and Nick Narcisi, as well as Stritch acting students Monte Kane and Amanda Richards, among others.

And, as for Milwaukee theater in 2020? One thing’s for sure: Another op’nin’, another show. Stay tuned!