Photo by Focal Flame Photography
Madison - State Street at night
Madison: State Street at night
Madison has long been described as “33 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality,” a term originally coined by former Wisconsin Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Milwaukee native and clearly understood the difference between the Capital City and the rest of the world.
Such distinction helps make Madison the perfect spring weekend getaway, especially for fans of the arts. Here is a list of arts opportunities coming up this season for those who decide to make the 90-mile trek west. It’s the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.
Ars Gratia Artis
Photo by Focal Flame Photography
The Chazen Museum of Art
Madison: Chazen Museum of Art
Madison is home to a host of artists, multiple galleries and two excellent art museums. Time spent at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW campus and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), adjacent to the Overture Center for the Arts, will be among the most rewarding time of your trip.
In February, the Chazen launched re:mancipation, a collaborative project based on the reinterpretation of “Emancipation Group,” sculptor Thomas Ball’s now troubling statue of Abraham Lincoln holding his hand over a kneeling former slave. A copy of Ball’s statue has been on display at the Chazen since 1976, and a consortium led by the museum, Black sculptor Sanford Biggers, and others reevaluate the work and its meaning. There’s also a documentary film and social justice website as part of the exhibit. On display through June 25.
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MMoCA kicks off the spring season in April with Sertraline Dolls, a first-person single-player video game by Chicago new media and performance artist Ava Wanbli that “merges multiple formats of the artist’s body in a meditation of self-production through sexual expression and consumption of the body.” If this concept, set in a cyberpunk futuristic wasteland, sounds appealing, stop in any time after April 1 and try your hand. The exhibit runs through August 20.
Admission to both the Chazen and MMoCA is always free.
Classical Gas
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Madison - Opera in the Park
Madison: Opera in the Park
Thanks to the UW’s Mead Witter School of Music, Madison is blessed with an abundance of classical musicians, all of whom have personal performance as part of their educational mission. The city’s spring classical scene is vibrant because of it.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) kicks off March at Overture Center with its “Beyond the Score” series featuring an unusual performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 – Heaven or Earth, including the composer’s back story performed by actors from American Players Theatre. The season continues with performances of Britten, Brahms and Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor performed by guest soloist Blake Pouliot and ends in May with a thunderous performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra wraps up its indoor Masterworks series starting in March at Overture with the Spanish guitar of Mabel Millán performing Ponce’s Concierto del Sur for Guitar and Orchestra, with works by Bartok, Boccherini and Halftter filling out the evening. In April, WCO continues the Spanish theme with a performance of Copland’s El Salón México in a free family concert at Madison West High School, concluding back at Overture in May with guest pianist Michael Mizrahi performing Beethoven’s Piano Concert No. 1 and assisting with the composer’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral. The Suite from Edmonia ends the season and caps off composer Dr. Bill Banfield’s two-year residency with WCO.
Curtain Call
Madison - State Street
Madison: State Street
Madison’s theater scene is not quite as vibrant as that of Milwaukee, but there are still some interesting productions coming that may be worth your time.
Forward Theater is the city's foremost Equity theater group. In April, the company hosts the world premiere of Artemisia, playwright Lauren Gunderson’s meditation on Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated—and today least known—female painter of the 17th century. Forward’s season ends in May with Out in This World, its annual Monologue Festival, during which 12 storytellers offer travel tales from both far away and closer to home.
Four Seasons Theatre, which shares space in The Playhouse at Overture Center with Forward Theater, kicks off March with Makin’ Cake with Dasha Kelly Hamilton, Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate and Milwaukee’s 2021 Artist of the Year. Supported by two on-stage bakers, Hamilton considers issues of race, culture and class in new and interesting ways, with a cake reception following the performance.
Madison also is home to community theater groups, all of whom call the Bartell Theatre, just off the Capitol Square, home. In March, you can enjoy the Madison Theatre Guild’s Bad in Bed (A Fairy Tale) or Sondheim on Sondheim; Stage Qs’ production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and maybe even Mercury Players Theatre’s Escape from Happiness, with more to come later in spring.
All That Jazz, Etc.
Photo by Focal Flame Photography
Madison - Live music at the Capitol
Madison: Live music at the Capitol
In Madison, music of all kinds tops the charts of things to do. From large on-campus concerts to intimate east side clubs, you can pretty much find what you want. Here is the March schedule for just some of the city’s most popular venues.
Barrymore Theater: Chapel Hart, March 26; Ryan Adams, March 28; Old Gods of Applachia, April 8; Chelcie Lynn, April 13; Paul Reiser, April 14.
Orpheum Theatre: Indigo Girls with Kevn Kinney, March 21; Aly & AJ, April 7; Drew Lynch, April 14; The Mavericks, April 15..
The Sylvee: J.I.D & Smino, March 23; Nick Cannon’s Next Superstar Tour 2023, March 24, Andrew Bird, April 5.
Overture Center for the Arts: One Night of Queen, March 17; Red Hot Chili Pipers, March 18; YAMATO the Drummers of Japan, April 2; Magic of Isaiah, April 15.
There also are numerous bars and clubs featuring music of all types. Take the drive, get into the scene and have a great time.
