It's been a while since the Alchemist Theatre visited Jackie Benka's Ripper. An interpretation of the story the popular late 19th century serial killer Jack The Ripper was staged nearly half a decade ago as one of the Alchemist's first Halloween horror shows. The show gets a fresh staging that opens later this month as the first in Alchemist's "Year of Fear" celebration of old Alchemist horror shows.
Renamed with the more formal title The Canonical Five of Jack the Ripper, the production features a hell of a cast in the roles of the victims. Anna Figlesthaler plays Mary Kelly. Libby Amato plays Catherine Eddowes. Liz Whitford plays Polly Nichols. The cast also featuring Wisconsin Hybrid Theatre's Randall T. Anderson and frequent Off The Wall Theatre actress Sharon Nieman-Koebert.
It's a fun show as I recall. And as I recall, I remember overhearing someone comment on being upset that I sort of gave away the ending in my preview piece on that original production. I was only speculating on the plot from the list of characters . . . didn't really expect my speculation to turn out to be giving away the ending. So in the interest of not making the same mistake twice, I won't talk about that here. But it's a fun horror show. And it's got a great cast as it returns to the Alchemist nearly half a decade after it sauntered offstage in late '08.
The Canonical Five of Jack the Ripper runs January 24th - February 9th. For ticket reservations, visit the Alchemist online.
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