Photo credit: Colin Brennan
Black Violin @ Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center on Sat., Oct. 28
Sex with Strangers? Reformation-era music? A cat’s personal biography? All that and more on Milwaukee stages this week!
THEATER
Sex with Strangers
Renaissance Theaterworks opens their 25th season with Laura Eason’s Sex with Strangers, directed by Mallory Metoxen and featuring local actors Marti Gobel and Nick Narcisi. Even more than that, however, Renaissance has brought together 14 Wisconsin-based authors to present a two-day book fair during the second weekend of the play’s run.
“Sex with Strangers is about a brilliant novelist, who finds herself in an unlikely romance, caught between desire, the struggle for fame and the evolution of ambition in the digital age,” remarks Renaissance’s Izetta Rees. “Given the subject matter of the play and our mission to advance the careers of women in theater, we’re excited to feature the published work of local women authors during the book fair.” As for the latter, the Broadway Theatre Center’s lobby will be brimming with the works of Wisconsin authors before, during and after Sex with Strangers’ performances on Oct. 28-29.
Eason is surely no novice author. An Illinois native and graduate of Northwestern University, Eason’s output features both original and adapted works. Sex with Strangers premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, in 2011; within a few years it was presented Off-Broadway and has since become one of the most-produced plays in the country. (John Jahn)
Oct.20-Nov.12 at the Studio Theatre of the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit r-t-w.com.
MUSIC
Cappella Pratensis
Early Music Now brings the male vocal octet Cappella Pratensis all the way from the Netherlands for a concert featuring some undoubtedly very early music. It’s titled “Missa Lutherana: The Beginnings of Lutheran Church Music.” Cappella Pratensis are specialists in the performance of polyphony; such talents will be put front and center at this concert.
Several classical music ensembles are recognizing the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation these days, and Early Music Now is no exception. Indeed, music from that long ago is literally their raison d’être. Composers on the program include such notables as Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517), Johann Walter (1496-1570) and Josquin Desprez (1450-1521)—the latter of whom Martin Luther called his favorite composer. (A seemingly odd choice; Desprez was not a reformist composer.)
Concertgoers will hear a variety of works in Old German and Latin—mass excerpts, hymns, plainchant and so forth. Together they depict a fascinating time in music history: when long-held traditions were gradually giving way to new sounds from different voices. (John Jahn)
Saturday, Oct. 21, 5 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 1209 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-225-3113 or visit earlymusicnow.org.
DANCE
Dancing on the Ceiling—solos by women of a certain age
The good news is that we have a rare chance to see two of Milwaukee’s best-loved dance artists, Simone Ferro and Debra Loewen, dance their own compositions. Ferro, the chair of UW-Milwaukee’s dance department and a former classical ballet soloist whose career spans both American continents and Europe, had the idea three years ago to assemble an evening of original dance and physical theater performances by mature women artists of international stature. Her friend Sara Hook of the University of Illinois’ dance department and a former member of the famous Nikolais Dance Theatre quickly signed on, as did Loewen, founder and artistic director of Milwaukee’s seminal Wild Space Dance Company.
UW-Madison dance department’s Li-Chiao Ping, another major influence on dance in the region, was an immediate yes, as were Charlotte Adams of the University of Iowa’s dance department and Beth Corning of the Pittsburgh-based CORNING WORKS, each an award-winning founder of an internationally acclaimed dance company. The six women range in age from 53-66. Each performs an original solo. Milwaukee is the second stop on a Midwest tour. The Iowa premiere, Ferro said, was a resounding success. (John Schneider)
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 21 and and 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 22 in UW-Milwaukee’s Mitchell Hall Studio 254, 3203 N. Downer Ave. Call 414-277-8480 ext. 6025 or visit danceworksmke.org/performances/guestconcerts.
MORE TO DO:
Black Violin
The violin-playing duo of Wil B. and Kev Marcus are classically trained musicians who have grown up amid modern urban hip-hop cultural touchstones. Just as centuries-old composers and instrumentalists dabbled in the music of the people and cultures of their time, so do the members of Black Violin. They’ve shared concert stages with Kanye West, Aerosmith and the late Tom Petty; they appear courtesy of Black Arts MKE and the Marcus Center for their own concert. Saturday, Oct. 28 at Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
Stars and Stripes: American Icons
The Concord Chamber Orchestra presents a concert rich in American heroes, legends and idealists. Composers and works are truly iconic, themselves: Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa and more. Saturday, Oct. 21 at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church, 2366 N. 80th St. For tickets, call 414-750-4404 or visit concordorchestra.org.
Seasons in Song
Mastersingers of Milwaukee opens its season with “Seasons in Song.” The program’s notable highlight is Morten Lauridsen’s 1980 composition, Mid-Winter Songs, a five-movement suite of choral works based on poems by Robert Graves (1895-1985). Lauridsen’s work, appropriately enough, contains a finale titled Intercession in Late October. Saturday, Oct. 21 at North Shore Congregational Church, Fox Point; Sunday, Oct. 22 at St. John Lutheran Church, Brookfield. For tickets, visit mastersingersofmilwaukee.org.
Stories in Brass
Founded in 1985, Milwaukee Festival Brass has been our city’s premiere brass ensemble that gathers members from all over southeastern Wisconsin. They describe their next concert, “Stories in Brass,” as containing “a high-energy and highly entertaining program” that will show off various brass instruments’ multiple ways of telling stories through music. Saturday, Oct. 21 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 20275 Davidson Road, Brookfield. Tickets will be available at the door.
Simple Gifts … A Collaboration
The Waukesha Choral Union’s next concert features Daniel Elder’s Three Nocturnes and Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs. The collaborative effort referenced in the concert’s title refers to the WCU’s pairing with Lake Country Children’s Chorus and New Berlin High School A Cappella Choir. Saturday, Oct. 21 at Lohmiller-Sutherland Theatre, New Berlin. For tickets, visit choralunion.ticketleap.com/simplegifts.
Serenade and Swan Songs
Philomusica Quartet open their season with three lovely quartets from giants of classical music. They’re celebrating their 10th anniversary together this season, and this is a good way to kick things off. Works on the program are Joseph Haydn’s “Hoffstetter” Quartet, Felix Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 and Gabriel Fauré’s E Minor Quartet. Monday, Oct. 23 at Schwan Hall of Wisconsin Lutheran College, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, call 414-443-8802 or visit wlc.edu/box-office.
The Burials
Cardinal Stritch University theater students present an unfortunately timely story of a family torn asunder in the wake of a school shooting. The play debuted a year ago at the Steppenwolf Theatre’s Young Adults program. This production will be directed by Mark Boergers and presented in collaboration with the University’s “Common Read” program exploring the epidemic of gun violence. Oct. 20-29 at Stritch’s Black Box Studio Theater. For tickets, call 414-410-4171 or visit stritch.edu.
Esperanza Rising
Written by Lynne Alvarez and based on a book by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Esperanza Rising is something of a riches-to-rags story wherein a young Mexican girl from a well-to-do family, through several misfortunes, ends up struggling just to stay alive. Milwaukee Youth Theatre’s production stars child actors as well as stage managers. Oct. 19-20 at the Lincoln Center for the Arts. For tickets, visit milwaukeeyouththeatre.org.
Indoor/Outdoor
This catty comedy by Kenny Finkle may not be Cats, but it does include them! Cat Samantha shares her story and those who inhabit it—her doting owner, her pet therapist and her, perhaps, purr-fect romantic interest, alley cat Oscar. Seen through the eyes of our furry feline friends, perhaps we can learn something, too, about life and love. Oct. 20-Nov. 5 at Racine Theatre Guild. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
