UW-Milwaukee Theatre’s upcoming show, Little Women: The Musical, is part of the program’s Five-O-Eight Series, which is devoted to projects where the performers are the focus. The intimate space itself is a performance lab and features a spare approach to visual elements.
“Little Women was chosen because it is a character-based musical. It’s about the story and the individual journey, so it fits well in this environment,” says the show’s director, Rebecca Holderness. Little Women: The Musical, based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel and produced on Broadway several years ago, is a heartwarming coming-of-age story about the four March sisters during the Civil War era. Holderness says, “The show is full of wonderful emerging musical talent and features some very beautiful songs about growing up, about being an artist and about facing and overcoming the challenges that life brings us. For us, unpacking the history of the story has been exciting in the sense of retrieving the core story of love and hope in the face of war from what may have become a sentimentalized view.”
Little Women runs March 4-8, at 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit arts.uwm.edu/tickets. A sequel titled Slightly Bigger Women: What Happens When “Little Women” Grow Up?, which reflects on the classic novel from a contemporary point-of-view, will follow this production April 22-26.
Theatre Happenings:
■ UW-Parkside Theatre’s next Main Stage production is Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. See Puck, Bottom and the rest of the show’s memorable characters in this comedy March 6-14 at The Rita, 900 Wood Road, Kenosha. For tickets, call 262-595-2564 or visit uwp.edu.
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■ Alchemist Theatre’s ambitious New York Stories Trilogy—a season-long project consisting of three distinctly different shows that explore the Warhol scene, CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, Studio 54, artists, musicians and monsters of New York City during the 1960s and ’70s—begins March 12 with Another Tale of Eddie by Adian Zix, a “gritty tale of con artists, grifters, deceit and love” that revolves around Eddie Valentine moving to New York City to follow a woman. This first play runs through March 28 and will be immediately followed in the coming months by the second and third segments at 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. For tickets and more information, visit thealchemisttheatre.com.
■ The Nerd by American playwright/actor Larry Shue was first premiered in 1981 at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and, after a successful run in Great Britain, moved on to Broadway in 1987. Deemed one of the funniest plays ever written, this two-act comedy is about a dinner party interrupted by a “nerd” who cleverly (and annoyingly) outstays his welcome. Show runs March 12-29 at Sunset Playhouse, 800 Elm Grove Road. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.
■ The Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre presents Avenue A by David Steen, an urban exposé on the American dream featuring an ex-con and the story of his rebirth amidst urban decay. Show runs March 12-29 at Studio G, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, call 414-702 0392 or visit thequasimondo.com.
