Coming up in Milwaukee’s performing arts world are Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Danceworks on Tap’s performance Tapology and SueMo: A Dance Experience’s fifth anniversary show, FI(V)E.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily
Victorian socialite and celebrated actress Lillie Langtry finds herself being blackmailed by an unknown man, and there are but two people who can help her out of this fix: her dear friend, Oscar Wilde, and super sleuth Sherlock Holmes. The extortion is based on an illicit affair Langtry once embarked upon with the Prince of Wales. Such is the heady stuff of Katie Forgette’s engrossing mystery play, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, produced by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Forgette’s script draws inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes stories and from the mercurial life of playwright Oscar Wilde. She intermixes real-life people—including Langtry (a famous British American actress) and Abdul Karim (a confidante of Queen Victoria)—with fictional characters seamlessly. Though thoroughly English in milieu, the play boasts some of Milwaukee theater’s most noteworthy actors, including Kay Allmand, Brian J. Gill, Ryan Schabach and Rick Pendzich. (John Jahn)
Aug. 10-26, at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com.
Tapology
“This is not your ordinary tap show,” says Amy Brinkman-Sustache, founding artistic director of Danceworks on Tap. “I say that every year, and sometimes it’s more ordinary than others, but this year it’s less ordinary than others. All the pieces are ‘-ologies.’ Most are real, but a few are made up.”
So fields of study cue tap experiment in this year’s concert, starting with Brinkman’s “Ethnomethodology.” “That’s the method,” she explains, “by which people understand where they are socially.” In its two parts, the 10-woman company will represent via tap that “what we do in life is imitate others until we find our own voice; and then we find out if we belong with this group of people or that group of people or with both groups.” Later, in darkness with hand-held flashlights, the company will dance Brinkman’s study of light, “Photology.” And 14 members of her eight-week summer tap performance workshop will present “Rhythmology,” their graduate thesis, so to speak.
Other longtime DOT artists translated diverse fields of study into tap language. Annette Grefig examined “Cardiology” (intricate heartbeats), “Somnology” (sleepy tappers) and “Psychology” (split personality). In a duet, Kelly Kotecki and her 10-year-old daughter tackle the mysterious implications of “Genealogy.” The thesis of Nikki Platt’s “Swingology” would seem a foregone conclusion since she’s using seven different versions of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.” Tap scholars Bob Balderson and Lamont Johnson, specialists in contrasting methods, will present the results of their co-research. (John Schneider)
Aug. 11-12, at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-277-8480 or visit danceworksmke.org.
FI(V)E
This is the “Vth” anniversary performance of SueMo: A Dance Experience, the vibrant contemporary dance company of Melissa Sue Anderson and Morgan Williams. For the fifth summer, SueMo will present a signature concert in the Marcus Center’s Wilson Theatre. This year, the emphasis is on the repertory nature of the company with its growing performance-ready body of work, consistent dance ensemble and solid aesthetic. The show will close with company member Christa Smutek’s Roman-inspired piece “Reliqui Victis,” about the fall of an empire; hence, the title’s featured Roman numeral.
Two additional works by Smutek will be revived: “He Gives” for a quartet of young women; and “Broken Chord,” a comic dance for two couples to Frédéric Chopin played live on piano. Co-founders Anderson and Williams are polishing early works for this concert. SueMo II, the terrific young company, will also perform. The show will open with Leila Henry’s “Fair and the Weak,” the dance that opened the company’s very first concert. Seen very recently in Danceworks’ hip-hop showcase, it’s a knockout, a feminist protest that goes deep.
All the works—comic, serious, abstract, narrative—in SueMo’s repertory fuse contemporary ballet, hip-hop and show dance in various ways. All the dancers are seasoned professionals and trainees and perform as an impeccable ensemble while remaining individually striking. “Every year we get stronger,” Williams says. “We get better. More people take us seriously as a professional dance company, as Milwaukee’s premiere repertory dance company. That might sound arrogant, but I do believe it.” (John Schneider)
Sunday, Aug. 12, at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or
visit marcuscenter.org.
MORE TO DO:
Town Hall
With notable lyricism and poetic strength, Obie Award-winner Caridad Svich created, in Town Hall, a play-conversation piece exploring both who we are and who we might be. Presented as a public meeting, Svich’s play confronts many of the issues our society is dealing with every day—violence, race, sex, identity, hatred, political, social and economic polarization—doing so with depth of soul and power of language. Offered as part of the Friends of the Charles Allis (FOCA) “Sarah’s Salon: VOICES FREED! 2018 Summer Reading Series,” the performance will be held on Monday, Aug. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Charles Allis Art Museum, 1801 N. Prospect Ave. For more information, call 414-278-8295 or visit charlesallis.org.
