Photo Credit: Jennifer Brindley
Prometheus Trio
Local theatrical productions this week are headlined by The Depths by Quasimondo Physical Theatre and music by Prometheus Trio performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2 and Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (“Quartet for the End of Time”).
THEATER:
The Depths
Andrew Parchman has spent most of his life working in live theater, whereby he has done lighting design, sound design and even puppet work for a number of productions. Parchman—who also works as a freelance art teacher in Milwaukee-area community centers and schools—has likewise put his artistic side to work in creating poster artwork for many Quasimondo productions. As for puppetry, he’s created puppets for Love and Cthulhu, Animal Farm, Halloween Legends and Lore and Giraffe on Fire for Quasimondo Physical Theatre; his newest project: The Depths, which he has both written and will direct.
The title refers to the extreme depths of Earth’s Marianas Trench—the very deepest part of which (the Challenger Deep) is some 35,760 feet below the surface; that’s almost seven miles down. It’s in exploration of this terra incognita that we find aquanaut Lilith Hooper who, with the assistance of experimental drugs and software designed to stimulate her senses and comprehension, has been mapping the sea bottom for some 31 days.
Described by Quasimondo as “a supernatural sci-fi thriller” and “a collision of puppetry, movement and multimedia,” audience members are invited “to investigate a primordial ecosystem where terrestrial lives, corporate interests and the mysteries of Nature vie for dominance.”
Dec. 2-10 at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets, visit quasimondo.org.
The Bartender
“This is The Bartender’s third run at The Alchemist Theatre,” says the company’s Aaron Kopec, “and it always sells out fast.” Such will likely be the case this time around, then, for the show “is an eclectic trip through the ‘whys,’ ‘hows’ and ‘how comes’ of eight classic cocktails.” Perhaps adding to its popularity is the fact that, yes, the audience gets “good-sized” samples of that cocktail octet.
Featuring Randall T. Anderson (who also wrote the play), The Bartender is “part instructional show-part storytelling-part drinking,” Kopec explains, “taking its audience through war-torn Europe, the Big Easy, early New York City and other places far and wide—as well as then and now.” The production will feature a vast array of changing, robotic lights as well as video and audio multi-media elements.
Dec. 1-22 at Alchemist Theatre, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. For tickets, visit thealchemisttheatre.com.
MUSIC:
Beethoven and Messiaen
The Prometheus Trio (violinist Margot Schwartz, cellist Scott Tisdel and pianist Stefanie Jacob) continue their 18th season as the resident chamber music ensemble at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music with two very different pieces of music from men in quite different places in their lives.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2 (1809) was written during his magnificent “Middle Period,” when the composer was in Vienna and had just put the powerful Fifth and pastoral Sixth symphonies under his belt. It was composed for Countess Marie von Erdödy in gratitude for her support and hospitality.
The second work on the program is an enormous, eight-movement quartet, for which the Prometheus Trio will be joined by clarinetist Benjamin Adler. This is French composer Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (“Quartet for the End of Time”). He wrote this piece while in Stalag VIII-A—a Nazi POW camp in which Messiaen was imprisoned (he was captured as a French solider during the German invasion of his country in 1940. The work premiered, in fact, in the prison—performed there by three prisoners and Messiaen, himself, at an old piano.
Dec. 4-5 at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 1584 N. Prospect Ave. For tickets, call 414-276-5760 or visit wcmusic.org.
MORE TO DO:
‘Portraits of Divinity’
The Concord Chamber Orchestra performs sacred music—or rather, classical instrumental and choral pieces inspired by Bible stories—in a most appropriate setting for such. Composers featured include Giuseppe Verdi, George Frideric Handel, Jules Massenet, Camille Saint-Saëns and more. The CCO is joined by the Milwaukee High School of the Arts Choir. Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Basilica of St. Josaphat. For tickets, call 414-750-4404 or visit concordorchestra.org.
The Florestan Duo
This instrumental duo, consisting of cellist Stefan Kartman and pianist Jeannie Yu, presents a recital of fine chamber music pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Samuel Barber. Kartman and Yu are no strangers to one another; together, they perform as the Florestan Duo locally, nationally and internationally. Sunday, Dec. 3 at UW-Milwaukee Music Recital Hall, Room 175. This concert is free and open to the public.
‘Tales of Hoffmann’ Showcase
Inspired by Jacques Offenbach’s immortal opéra fantastique The Tales of Hoffmann—the sine qua non of French light opera of the late-19th century—as well as an upcoming Skylight Music Theatre-Milwaukee Opera Theatre collaborative production of the full work, UW-Milwaukee Opera Theatre Department students present a “Tales of Hoffmann” Showcase—renderings of their semester-long research that will include French-language excerpts and student-devised scenes. Saturday, Dec. 2 at UWM’s Music Recital Hall, Room 175. This event is free and open to the public.
On Display
Catey Ott Dance Collective has performed more than 100 works at various venues in both New York City and here in Milwaukee. Members of the company—with direction from New York City-based Heidi Latsky Dance and in collaboration with the Haggerty Museum of Art—will be quite literally “on display” as the performance artists embody very slow-moving statues. On Display, which Heidi Latsky Dance describes as a “deconstructed art exhibit-fashion show and commentary on the body and society’s obsession with body image,” takes place Saturday, Dec. 3—the U.N.’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Haggerty Art Museum, Marquette University Campus. This event is free and open to the public.
Glitter Girls
“This play has been a delight to direct,” says Scott Sorensen, director of Village Playhouse’s world premiere production of Mark Dunn’s Glitter Girls. “I have a strong cast of committed actors who have given life to words from Mark’s hilarious play. I can’t help but laugh during every rehearsal.” Dunn says that his new play—with its mostly female cast and Southern story—may be largely comedic, but “there are some serious topics that get addressed” as well. Dec. 1-17 at Inspiration Studios, West Allis. For tickets, call 414-207-4879 or visit villageplayhouse.org.
Major Barbara
Written by the great George Bernard Shaw and directed by UW-Milwaukee Theatre’s Rebecca Holderness, Major Barbara is a dramatic comedy that examines middle-class values and derides how society addresses income inequality and classism. In slice-of-life realism, the play satirizes the issue by pitting an opinionated, politically active daughter against her traditionalist father. Dec. 6-10 at the Arts Center Gallery, UWM Theatre Building, Room T228. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit uwm.edu/arts/event/major-barbara.
