This week, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents Jeeves at Sea, Margaret Raether’s fourth adaptation of the classic P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves stories.
Theater
Jeeves at Sea
Jeeves at Sea is Margaret Raether’s fourth adaptation of the classic P.G. Wodehouse “Jeeves” stories. Throughout the past nine years, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre has been bringing all of Raether’s adaptations to Milwaukee, and this is the very latest in the series. As C. Michael Wright, MCT’s producing artistic director, says, this play “takes us on a playful journey back to the 1920s, allowing us a little escape from any current woes. It’s a celebratory toast, with a bubbly holiday cocktail, to the incomparable wit of P.G. Wodehouse.”
Happy (and wealthy) bachelor Bertie Wooster, his valet, Jeeves, and Bertie’s chum, Sir Percival Everard Crumpworth (aka Crumpet), are reveling in life aboard the fetching Lady Stella Vanderley’s yacht off the coast of Monte Carlo. That is, until Crumpet discloses that he may—or may not—have murdered a prince! In the immediate wake of such a startling announcement, Bertie’s masquerading as a romance novelist, Crumpet’s posing as his own long-lost twin and a foreign count is challenging Bertie to a duel.
In honor of the holiday season, MCT will host a donation drive to benefit Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative (MHVI) throughout the run of Jeeves at Sea. Founded and run by veterans, MHVI’s mission is to help homeless and at-risk veterans reach and maintain their highest levels of independence. A list of needed items can be found on MCT’s website, and donations can be dropped off at the theater during any performance. (John Jahn)
Nov. 22-Dec. 22 in the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit chamber-theatre.com.
The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Live!
The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Live! is a new, live, stage version of the two-time Emmy Award-winning TV show of the same name (sans “Live!”); this will be the show’s world premiere, which precedes its national tour. Adapted and directed by Griffin Theatre Company artistic director William Massolia, it brings to life the world-changing innovations featured on the TV program and preserved in The Henry Ford museum’s archives.
“Griffin Theatre is thrilled to work with The Henry Ford to produce this important play for young audiences,” Massolia says. “It’s filled with entertaining and educational stories about yesterday’s and today’s visionaries and innovators, highlighting major turning points both past and present that influenced the fields of science, technology, engineering, math, the environment and social justice. The young, as well as parents and grandparents, will find the show inspiring and entertaining.”
The production showcases such luminaries of the past as Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver, among many others. Their achievements will be highlighted and reflected by showing examples of present-day innovations. The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation Live! is recommended for ages 10 and older. (John Jahn)
Nov. 23 and 24 in the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.
