Wael Farouk @ Frances Bedford Concert Hall, UW_Parkside on Sat., Oct. 28
THEATER:
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
There are some works of literature that stand the test of time remarkably well; a highly relatable plot and identifiable characters are usually the main reasons for a work’s longevity. Such is the case with the French Gothic-Romantic novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, first published in 1831. It has it all: love, jealousy, lust, vengeance, obsession, beauty, ugliness.
A sure sign of Hunchback’s success is the fact that it has been adapted for the dramatic as well as the musical stage and, most famously and frequently, film. In fact, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame appeared on the silver screen seven times between 1911 and 1996—the last of those as an animated Disney musical. In 1999, Disney’s theatrical arm produced a stage musical version of their ’96 film in Berlin, where it became one of the city’s longest-running musicals.
It is that musical—in Peter Parnell’s American version—that makes its way to the live stage via Waukesha Civic Theatre. Directed by Mark E. Schuster, the production features Ryan Peter Dziuba as the heroic, deformed bellringer, Quasimodo; Brant Allen as the evil Dom Claude Frollo; and Andrea Ehlinger as the tragic heroine, Esmeralda.
Oct. 27-Nov. 12 at the Margaret Brate Bryant Civic Theatre Building, 264 W. Main St., Waukesha. For tickets, call 262-547-0708 or visit waukeshacivictheatre.org.
Night of the Living Dead
Talk about a profit margin! The 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead was made on a budget of $114,000; it went on to gross $12 million in domestic release and $18 million internationally. While critics disdained its gory bloodletting, the public devoured it. A cult classic, Night of the Living Dead made it onto the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry as a “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” movie; not too bad for a way-low-budget horror flick with a no-name cast.
Night of the Living Dead is the stuff of a puppet show by Angry Young Men, Ltd., which, as they describe, “is a puppet creation-performance collective that has been building and performing puppetry in Milwaukee since 2007.” As for their moniker: “We’re not especially angry, not getting any younger, and there are actually several women in the group. It’s misleading, but what are you gonna do?”
As you might expect, it’s not all dead serious: “The jokes come a mile a minute,” and “the show is considered PG-13—for ‘Puppet Gore’ and an adolescent sense of humor.” Yes, kids are welcome but, as the Angry Young Men say: “Parents be warned! We like to warp minds while they’re young.”
Oct. 26-28 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets, call 414-278-0765 or visit nextact.org/rental-events/living-dead.
MUSIC:
Fall Masterworks Concert
There are, indeed, “masterworks” on the program of the Racine Symphony Orchestra’s next concert, and there is also a master musician. The latter is Wael Farouk, an Egyptian American pianist who has performed on five continents and once gave a highly acclaimed five-recital series in Chicago featuring all of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s solo piano works. He’s appeared with several orchestras around the world as well, including the North Czech Philharmonic, Manhattan Symphony, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and the Saint-Étienne National Orchestra.
Dr. Farouk is the featured soloist for a performance of Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11 (1830), with the RSO under its maestro, Pasquale Laurino. The work is dominated by its Allegro maestoso risoluto first movement and represents a rare foray of Chopin’s into orchestral writing. The acclaimed pianist Martha Argerich has said of the work: “The virtuosity—which is tremendous because it’s terribly difficult—it’s there, but it has to be like an understatement,” and evocatively spoke of “this element of ... a very beautiful, poisoned flower, sometimes.” Also on the program are Ludwig van Beethoven’s dramatic Egmont Overture and Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 86 in D Major, the penultimate work of his so-called “Paris Symphonies.”
Saturday, Oct. 28 at Frances Bedford Concert Hall, UW-Parkside, 900 Wood Road. For tickets, call 262-636-9285 or visit racinesymphony.org.
MORE TO DO:
Bible Smugglers
Morning Star Productions’ Mary Atwood describers her Christian-based theatrical production company’s Bible Smugglers as an “escape game-interactive play” offered “as an alternative to trick or treat,” in which “patrons can dress in 16th-century costumes, and groups that win the escape game will get a traditional ‘treat.’” Given this month’s 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation, Atwood states that Smugglers “will have events from Martin Luther’s life woven into the story.” Multiple performances take place throughout Oct. 28 and 29 at Wooded Hills Church, 777 Highway 164, Colgate. For tickets, call 414-520-4124 or visit morningstarproductions.org.
