This weekend, two literary adaptations make the journey from page to stage in decidedly different local productions.
On Oct. 14, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre stages Main-Travelled Roads, a musical based on Hamlin Garland’s stories about rural farm life in late-19th-century Wisconsin. A few years ago Door County’s American Folklore Theatre debuted Paul Libman and Dave Hudson’s adaptation of Garland’s stories. This weekend, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre brings the award-winning musical to the Broadway Theatre Center.
The deep family tradition of farm life is mirrored in the production, as Molly Rhode directs these interlocking tales of love and life in the 1880s with the help of her sister, Alissa, as pianist and musical director. Molly Rhode’s husband, Chase Stoeger, will play multiple roles as part of an intimate ensemble of four.
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of Main-Travelled Roads runs Oct. 14-31 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre.
Soon after Garland’s Main-Travelled Roads was published, Scottish author J.M. Barrie introduced the enduring character of Peter Pan. After Pan appeared on the page in 1902, Barrie transferred him to the stage in his 1904 play Peter Pan, which he then adapted into the short story Peter Pan and Wendy. Doug Rand later adapted that story for the stageand it is this latter adaptation that First Stage Children’s Theater produces on Oct. 15.
It’s always a challenge to capture the exhilaration of a swashbuckling fairy-tale adventure on an intimate stage. First Stage is tackling that challenge with a novel approach at its space at the Marcus Center. Actors and set pieces will be manipulated by puppeteers dressed in black in the tradition of Bunraku, a technique that dates back to 17th-century Japan. This could be one of the season’s most visually stunning local productions.
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First Stage’s Peter Pan and Wendy runs Oct. 15-Nov. 14 at the Marcus Center’s Todd Wehr Theater.
Theater Happenings
Next week sees Dale Gutzman open his ambitious two-part musical adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. One ticket allows admission to both parts of the show, in which 18 actors play more than 200 roles. The show runs Oct. 20-Nov. 7 at Off the Wall Theatre.
Those looking for serious drama thisweekend can look to UW-Milwaukee’s Labworks staging of As It Is in Heaven.The story of a nonbeliever in an 1830s Shaker settlement hits Kenilworth Studio 508 Oct. 15-24.
