'Jealous Revolver' is One Jazzy Crime Drama

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Photo Credit: Ashley Doelger

Cabaret Milwaukee stages another stylish evening of variety with its latest show, The Jealous Revolver Pt. 2. Music, history and comedy mingle cleverly in a period drama staged at the historic Astor Hotel. The ever-jaunty Evan Maruszewski plays Richard Howling, the host of a 1940s radio show. A jazzy mood is set by Joe Makovec on keyboard and Scott Hlevenka on guitar. They are joined by the comic three-part harmony of the Howling Singers: vivacious, liberated Marina Dove, alcohol enthusiast Lindsey Willicombe and proto-goth girl Haley San Fillippo.

Set in a seedily stylized, Prohibition-era Milwaukee, head writer Jackie Benka’s central drama smoothly slides along episodically throughout the program. Michelle White and Casey Van Dam play Viv and Joey: a couple who have come into tenuous ownership of a speakeasy. White bears much of the weight of responsibility as a shrewd business owner. Van Dam is charmingly hapless as a crooner-turned-gangster in way over his head. Dennis Lewis is slyly sinister as a man thought dead at the end of The Jealous Revolver Pt. 1 who has returned for revenge.

Though it’s all centered around the crime drama, Cabaret Milwaukee continues to assemble a well-balanced variety show, including some truly beautiful crooning by a pleasantly magnetic Cameron Webb, tap dance with Danielle Joy Webber and clever period comedy by Laura Holterman. The latter’s repressed housewife character, Mrs. Millie, is an endearingly comic throwback to another era as she dispenses dated household advice from the early 20th century. Co-directors Josh B. Bryan and Amanda J. Hull continue to assemble a really good show that has settled quite comfortably into a classy, historic hotel Downtown.

Through Nov. 17 at the Astor Hotel, 924 E. Juneau Ave. For tickets, visit facebook.com/cabmke.