THEATRE
First Stage’s Timely, Barebones ‘Animal Farm’
There were many onthe far left who thought that Soviet Russia might offer a new way to live inpeace and brotherhood. What a crashing disappointment it became, however, whenit devolved into a ruthless personality cult built around the mass murderer, JosephStalin. Among those thoroughly disenchanted and disillusioned was Britishauthor George Orwell, whose allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) eviscerated Stalinist Russia.
“Animal Farm affords some great trainingopportunities for the Young Company,” says First Stage Director Matt Daniels.Such opportunities present themselves through actors “physicalizing animalbehaviors” and as they “devise innovative solutions to theatrical puzzles” thatarise when confronted with barebones, scripted stage directions such as “Therevolution takes place.” First Stage’s production of Animal Farm is a version that was adapted for the stage by IanWooldridge.
May 12-21, Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325W. Walnut St. For tickets call 414-267-2961 or visit firststage.org.
Joseph and the AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat
With a cast of morethan 40 and crew of 25, this production’s a major undertaking by Racine TheatreGuild. The first of many collaborative works by Andrew Lloyd Webber and TimRice that have become worldwide successes, Josephand the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, loosely based on Bible stories,premiered in 1970. (Interestingly, its own genesis was as a cantata recordedfor a Decca Records concept album in ’69.) This family friendly musical, muchlike its successor, Jesus ChristSuperstar, combines many music genres into a thoroughly enjoyable whole.
May 12-June 3, Racine Theatre Guild, 2519Northwestern Ave. For tickets call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
MUSIC
The Power of Love
Love is the commonsentiment that runs through this Concord Chamber Orchestra concert—especiallythe tragic kind. Three different composers’ takes on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are on the program:Piotr Tchaikovsky’s late-Romantic fantasy-overture, Romeo and Juliet, the lovely interlude Walk to Paradise Garden from Frederick Delius’ opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet and excerptsfrom Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.Finally, the Concord Chamber Orchestra plays three pieces from John Williams’touching score to the film Schindler’sList.
7 p.m., May 13, St. Matthew’s EvangelicalLutheran Church, 1615 N. Wauwatosa Ave., Saturday, May 13. For tickets visit concordorchestra.org.
Music for the Last Queen
Harpsichordist,fortepianist and Great Lakes Baroque founder Philippe LeRoy, violinist AllisonEdberg Nyquist and cellist CraigTrompeter invite us to Marie Antoinette’s court for music she would have heard(maybe even while eating cake). Some rarely heard 18th-centrury works are onthe program including music by Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, NicolasSéjan and other rarely heard French masters of the late 18th century
7 p.m., Friday, May 12, North ShoreCongregational Church, 7330 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Friday, May 12. For ticketsvisit greatlakesbaroque.org.
Spellbound
Bel Canto Choruspresents the Wisconsin premiere of a new work by Kile Smith: Canticle, a piece for chorus, cellos andpercussion. Smith, whose works tend toward the religious in both ambiance andinspiration, is composer-in-residence at Philadelphia’s Church of the HolyTrinity. Bel Canto also performs three short pieces arranged by Latviancomposer Ēriks Ešenvalds: O SalutarisHostia, Only in Sleep and thetraditional and beloved Amazing Grace.
7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 17, Wilson Theaterat Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets call 414-273-7206.
Requiem for the Living
As Chant Claire’sTim Backes says of the choral ensemble’s next concert: “Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living puts a twist onthe traditional requiem structure. The intent with his piece is to pray for theliving as well as the dead. The themes…focus on the struggles of life and thepains of mortality while also celebrating everything our earthly lives hold forus.” Surely no hints of gloomy and alarmist “judgment day” concerns in that.Other pieces by Max Reger, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others round out theuplifting program.
7 p.m., May 13, St. Sebastian CatholicChurch, 5400 W. Washington Blvd. General admission seating is free, but a $10donation is suggested.
DANCE
Hyperlocal MKE—Easement
The 13th performanceof the dance group Hyperlocal MKE is called Easement,a completely improvised dance and music show. Co-directors Tim Russell andMaria Gillespie formed the group three year ago to be a very experimental andimprovisational troupe that would perform at all sorts of venues throughout ourarea; in Easement’s case, theperformance will be in a Milwaukee sculpture garden.
3 p.m., May 14, Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145W. Brown Deer Road. Admission is free to members or with admission to thegarden.
