Renaissance Theaterworks presents the Midwest premiere of Irish playwright Nancy Harris’ adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novella of the same name, The Kreutzer Sonata. This one-man drama features James Pickering as the main character Pozdnyshev, as well as pianist Colleen Schmitt and violinist Joe Ketchum, who perform the Beethoven sonata that the novella is named after.
While riding on a train, Pozdnyshev relates the intimate and dramatic history of his relationship with his wife and what we come to discover is quite chilling. Director Marie Kohler, who is also the company’s co-founder and resident playwright, says, “To me, the strongest element of this adaptation is Harris’ acute sense of theatricality. Because of its reliance on live music, we have rehearsed collaboratively. Jill Anna Ponasik, our music director, has led us in a wonderful roundtable approach to the choice of music that highlights, contrasts, distorts and illuminates the text. It’s a fascinating chemistry that is yielding achingly powerful results. This kind of brave, cooperative theatrical collaboration offers up exactly the kind of shifting perspectives the text calls for, so that we are invited to see through, between the words of the narrator to try and uncover the truth.”
Of Pickering’s performance as narrator, Kohler says his portrayal “brims over with a life’s worth of theater experience. His intelligence, seamless technique and artistic courage are a career landmark, I believe, in his performance of this marvelous role. I feel sure that Milwaukee audiences will not want to miss it. His performance will be unforgettable.”
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The Kreutzer Sonata runs Jan. 23-Feb. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit r-t-w.com.
Theater Happenings
■ Sunset Playhouse welcomes you to the psychiatric ward reigned by the iron-fisted Nurse Ratched. She expects her newest patient, convict Randle P. McMurphy, to respect her authority but he instead challenges the status quo and inspires many other patients to do the same. See Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Jan. 22-Feb. 8 at 800 Elm Grove Road. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.
■ Outskirts Theatre Co. presents Paula Vogel’s And Baby Makes Seven, an outrageously dark comedy that grapples with the definition of “family” and makes us question the line between illusion and reality. The production runs 7:30 p.m., Jan. 15-16; and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Jan. 17 at the Underground Collaborative, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, call 262-955-3483 or visit outskirtstheatre.org/tickets.
