Off The Wall’s Perfect 10 may be the only new show in Milwaukee this weekend, but there is a brand new production opening just beyond the county. Tonight the Waukesha Civic Theatre raises the curtain on its staging of Life With Father, the Depression-era Broadway hit. One of the longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history, the Howard Linday/Russel Crouse comedy is based on a 1935 book by Clarence Day Jr. It was a collection of autobiographical short stories that were originally published in the New Yorker. It’s a portrait of upper-middle class life in the 1890’s. The father in question is a Wall Street broker with impossibly high demands for his family in the final days of the 19th century. The retro comedy is an interesting contrast to more contemporary stuff that’s been staged in Milwaukee these past few weeks and should be a really nice trip to the suburbs for those interested in a local production of something with old world Broadway class.
The Waukesha Civic Theatre production of Life With Father runs June 11th – 27th.