Photo credit: Maike Schulz
42FT—A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels
Highlighting this week’s arts’ scene, First Stage presents The Bard’s pastoral comedy As You Like It, and Cirque Mechanics brings A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels to the Wilson Center for the Arts.
Theater
As You Like It
Have you ever uttered “all the world’s a stage?” Or how about the assertion that you can have “too much of a good thing?” If you have, then you were quoting lines from William Shakespeare’s 1599 pastoral comedy As You Like It, which will be performed by First Stage’s Young Company. It has been grist for the artistic mill for centuries, having been produced on stages around the world and adapted for radio, film and musical theater.
When Rosalind is banished from her uncle’s (Duke Frederick) court, she must flee into the Forest of Arden with her cousin, Celia, and the fool, Touchstone. There, they encounter clowns, noblemen and Rosalind’s new love, Orlando—who will need to learn a few things before he will deserve her. One of Shakespeare’s greatest and most beloved comedies, As You Like It is filled with music, love and humor, and it reminds us of those things that are (or should be) most important in our lives. As You Like It is suggested for families with young people ages 12 and older.
March 8-24 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St. For tickets, visit firststage.org.
The Moving Archive—What is Remembered
Fresh from hosting Wild Space Dance Company’s newest premiere, the handsome new art space called The Warehouse will host another experimental dance installation, this one by Maria Gillespie/The Collaboratory. With her dance artist collaborators Joelle Worm and Chanteé Kelly, and composer/cellist Janet Schiff performing live, Gillespie’s piece responds to On Belonging, the visual art exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Nirmal Raja (textile, sculpture, video) and photographer Lois Bielefeld which begins a three-month run at the space. On Belonging is a response to the city of Milwaukee by Raja, a native of India who has made her home here, and Bielefeld, a lifelong resident. Gillespie, who re-located from Los Angeles in 2012 to join UW-Milwaukee’s dance faculty, has added greatly to the city’s dance scene as co-founder of the choreographic and music improvisation group Hyperlocal MKE and now The Collaboratory.
“The performance is a kinetic response to the concepts deeply embedded in and communicated by the works in On Belonging,” Gillespie said. “Themes I am exploring in the choreography—migration, memory and the body as auto-ethnographic archive—are themes in Lois’ and Nirmal's work. The dancers are exploring how memory is constituted in the body.”
7 p.m., March 9 at The Warehouse, 1635 W. Saint Paul Ave. Admission is free but reservations are required. For tickets, visit eventbrite.com or hyperlocalmke.com.
42FT—A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels
Cirque Mechanics was founded in 2004 by Chris Lashua. The troupe quickly established itself as a premier American circus with a unique approach to performance, inspiring storytelling and innovative mechanical staging. Cirque Mechanics, although inspired by modern circus, finds its roots in the mechanical and its heart in the stories of American ingenuity. Its shows are rooted in realism, displaying a raw quality that is rarely found in most modern circus performance companies.
As the Cirque Mechanics website explains, its “stories are wrapped in circus acrobatics, mechanical wonders and a bit of clowning around.” 42FT—A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels is the company’s latest invention. It dares you to leap into the circus ring and experience the timelessness of the evolving circus art form. The show’s unique interpretation of the traditional and its story full of the lore of the historic one-ring circus creates a welcoming place. (John Jahn)
Sunday, March 10, at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 19805 W. Capitol Drive. For tickets, call 262-781-9520, email boxoffice@wilson-center.com or visit wilson-center.com.
More To Do
Secondary Cause of Death
It’s 1939, and storm clouds are gathering over Europe. Having inherited Bagshot House, Col. Charles Craddock has converted the property into a hotel for the discerning visitor. Soon, Inspector Pratt arrives, bearing grim news for Craddock, but that’s just the beginning. Questions soon follow, like who is the strange Polish count? Is Henrietta really an army captain? Where does the flamboyant thespian Cardew Longfellow fit into this picture? Pratt’s visit turns into a chaotic nightmare as the bodies begin to pile up in this Memories Dinner Theatre production. March 8-17 at Memories Ballroom, 1077 Lake Drive, Port Washington. For tickets, call 262-284-6850 or visit memoriesballroom.com.
Dead Shot Mary
A pioneer for females in law enforcement, Mary Shanley joined the NYPD in 1931, quickly becoming a Gotham all-star and tabloid sensation. Making a staggering 1,000 career arrests, she became the fourth woman in history to make Detective First Grade and then nearly lost it all. In Robert K. Benson’s Dead Shot Mary, this one-policewoman show features Rachel McPhee as Mary Shanley, the legend, trail blazer, maverick and true New York original. March 7-9 at Over Our Heads Theatre’s Sixth Street Theatre, 318 Sixth St., Racine. For tickets, call 262-632-6802 or visit overourheadplayers.org.
An American Requiem
The Bel Canto Chorus continues its 88th season with Richard Danielpour’s An American Requiem at St. Monica Parish in Whitefish Bay. The concert will pay tribute to American veterans through patriotic songs, narrative by veterans themselves and a color guard to post and retire the colors. A performance of the new, gripping, choral-orchestral work An American Requiem is the featured item on the program. Danielpour’s work is inspired by and dedicated to the American soldiers, featuring contemporary poetry, jazz and gospel music alongside traditional Latin Requiem texts. “This performance allows us to welcome our veterans, to listen to their stories and to salute their gallantry and sacrifice,” says the chorus’ music director, Richard Hynson. Sunday, March 10, at 3 p.m. in St. Monica Parish, 160 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay. For tickets, call 414-481-8801 or visit belcanto.org.
