This week, you can enjoy livestreams of the Hip Hop Nutcracker, The Music of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Performed by The Commercialists and Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show or see Professor Pinkerton's Christmas Caravan travelling the East Side.
Thursday, Dec. 17
Norm Lewis - Christmastime is Here Livestream, 7 p.m.
Hosted by Marcus Performing Arts Center, Norm Lewis and his holiday shows at Feinstein's/54 Below have become a New York City tradition over the past five years and this year will be no different as Broadway's acclaimed leading man returns to perform a very special concert this year online.
Friday, Dec. 18
Hip Hop Nutcracker Livestream
A holiday mash-up for the whole family, directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber, “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” recorded live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Hosted by Marcus Performing Arts Center this Nutcracker is a contemporary dance spectacle set to Tchaikovsky’s timeless music. A unique and joyful event, this evening-length production is performed by a supercharged cast of a dozen all-star dancers, a DJ, a violinist, and MC Kurtis Blow, one of hip hop’s founding fathers, who opens the show with a short set. (Also Dec. 19.)
Professor Pinkerton's Christmas Caravan Travelling the East Side @ 4 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 19
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker Christmas Stream @ 7 p.m.
Presented by #ReviveLiveMKE Live Stream, Tchaikovsky’s two-act ballet that premiered in 1892 has become an event of the Christmas season. “The critics were not kind after the first performance of The Nutcracker ballet in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia,” according to the Washington Post’s Marylou Tousignant.
“The battle scene was called clumsy, the costumes were described as dull, and the Sugar Plum Fairy was dissed as chubby (our word, not theirs). Even the composer found the premiere ‘rather boring.’” Yet the music got rave reviews, and somewhere along the way, seeing The Nutcracker became a holiday tradition.
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The Music of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Performed by The Commercialists Livestream, 7 p.m.
The music of Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” never seems to wear out its welcome. To anyone who grew up watching the animated holiday television special based on Charles M. Schulz’ comic strip Peanuts, the jazz soundtrack offers a Proustian flashback.
Presented by The Pabst Theater Group, The Jazz Estate and Creative Northern, The Commercialists (Anthony Deutsch, Clay Schaub, & Patrick Morrow) recreate the holiday classic.
(Also, Dec. 23 and 24.)
Monday, Dec. 21
Milwaukee Jazz Institute Quintet @ Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts (3270 Mitchell Park Dr. Brookfield), 7:30 p.m.
Get jazzy just in time for the holidays with a Winter Solstice Celebration, with some of Milwaukee’s finest jazz musicians: Jamie Breiwick (trumpet), Lenard Simpson (alto sax), Mark Davis (piano), Jeff Hamann (bass) and Dave Bayles (drums). This one-night concert featuring a range of holiday standards and quintessential jazz favorites.
Livestream and in person in the Harris Theater with seating limited to 25% capacity.
Tuesday, Dec. 22
ACA Live - Joe Policastro Trio Livestream, 7 p.m.
The Joe Policastro Trio is a Chicago-based jazz trio led by bassist Joe Policastro featuring guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery. While firmly rooted in jazz, the band’s open-minded, inclusive nature also brings rock, soul, funk, Brazilian and free jazz to the surface while keeping the aesthetic of an acoustic jazz trio intact.
Their 2019 album Nothing Here Belongs, showcases the trio’s body of original music, while also including characteristically bold arrangements of songs by Bruce Springsteen, The Talking Heads and Santo & Johnny.
Wednesday, Dec. 23
Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show Livestream, 8 p.m.
Image via Blind Boys of Alabama
For this special holiday streaming show, the Blind Boys of Alabama will feature songs from their 2014 Talkin’ Christmas! album as well as the band’s previous Grammy-winning Christmas recording, Go Tell It on the Mountain, along with Blind Boys’ gospel classics and other gems from their 70-plus-year career.
