Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 10

On any given Sunday afternoon or weekday evening, Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) presents enthralling theatrical happenings that make audiences crave indoor (and air conditioned) time and space, that relates to the Newtonian.. This July, Sturgeon Bay's year round performing arts center presents a fairly new and contemporary play titled Isaac's Eye that subtly asks the question: "Would you rather be famous for centuries and die alone or have someone who loved you say "I'm happy that you lived?" by delving into the life of Sir Isaac Newton.

n a year when the country tries to discern the truth about numerous politician's pasts, presents and futures, Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband attempts to make some sense of blackmail and corruption in the government institutions and individuals who serve their citizens. American Players Theatre takes their audiences Up The Hill for Wilde's summer visual delight. This fascinating production captivates the eye along with the ear dressing the cast in lavish period costumes designed by Matthew J. Lefebvre amid a cream and golden gilded stage, period rooms, courtesy of Scenic Designer Takeshi Kata.

Long ago and far away in an ice age near the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey, playwright Thornton Wilder placed the supposedly All American Antrobus family-two adults, two children and their luscious looking maid. They survive dinosaurs and disasters in The Skin of Our Teeth, Wilder's Pulitzer Prize Winning 1942 play at Off the Wall Theater (OTW) through July 3. Artistic Director Dale Gutzman assembles an eclectic, extensive cast transcending the floods, hurricanes, war and 5000 years of marriage, a true miracle, to relate Wilder's menagerie of time frames and philosophical journeys on how the human species copes over centuries.

Name one person worth passing through the gates of Hades for while singing a song so sorrowful the stones would weep--A parent? A child? A partner? Perhaps even a true friend? American Players Theatre stages Eurydice, steampunk style in the Touchstone Theatre, recreating Sarah Ruhl's ethereal, surreal play examining love and the lengths someone would travel to serve that love. Based on the Greek myth of lovers Eurydice and musical rock star Orpheus, the child of Calliope and perhaps the God Apollo, Ruhl transforms the myth with a tale in tribute to her own father. Directed by Londoner Tyne Rafaeli, this production acquires a spiritual ambiance drawing the audience into Ruhl's and Rafaeli's underworld where Orpheus searches for Eurydice and literal sobs, tears flowing freely, were heard in the audience on opening day.

Under the stars in Peninsula State Park for the 2016 season, Northern Sky Theater (NST) stages their latest World Premiere, Doctor! Doctor! Milwaukee's Matt Zembrowski, who grew up sitting in the state park audiences since he was 12, dreamed  of writing a musical for the former American Folklore Theater, now Northern Sky, his entire life and this season fulfills that vision. Books, lyrics and music composed and written by Zembrowski, a considerable artistic feat, recommend the play as 'a prescription for laughter,' which the new musical delivered for opening week audiences. NST's talented acting troupe produce lighthearted laughter for an enthusiastic Door County crowd.

Arthur Miller's 1949 Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman might be considered by critics the most influential play of the 20th century. American Players Theatre presents a visceral, gut-wrenching production at the Up the Hill Theatre, the scenery drenched in depression glass colored green.: A green bedspread on a tarnished brass bed, a green ice box stands behind a humble green table and four chairs. Envisioned by Scenic Designer Michael Ganio, did he and veteran Director Kenneth Albers infer Willy Loman suffer from depression, was green with envy for his his brother Ben and friend Charley? Or did this particular hue represent the institutional green characterizing hospitals and mental asylums in the '40's and '50's symbolizing the breakdown between a person's memory and reality that Willy and his family struggle with?

Outside the Touchstone Theatre in Spring Green, American Players Theatre (APT) stages an exuberant African Dance accompanied by the thunder of drums and keyboard. The impromptu performance celebrates the legacy of color about to be admired on stage in a production of Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard III. Set in 1821 New York, the play focuses on actual historical events where a small African-American theater company produced their production of Shakespeare's Richard III on the exact same night  the famous Park Theatre owned by Daniel Price opened their production featuring English actor Julius Booth as the deformed king.

Quite refreshing and revitalizing as a summer breeze, American Players Theater (APT) opened their 2016 Up the Hill season in Spring Green with a wild version of William Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Directed by the well-known David Frank, this condensed Comedy revisits a slight nod to Lewis Carroll's 'The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.' The production plays broadly by quoting  Shakespeare's verse with a tongue in cheek delivery also heightened by Victorian costumes designed by Fabio Tablini.  The imaginative designer envisioned two Dromios which might resemble Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, clothed in wide striped pants, vivid colored jackets and huge straw hats. The story set amid an Ephesus where square marble columns and a great gate placed on the left Up The Hill stage fashioned by Scenic Designer Nayna Ramey, gives Ephesus a rather dream like quality. 

Gilbert and Sullivan returned to the Cabot Theatre when Skylight Music Theatre presented the iconic duo's comic Pirates of Penzance. The popular G&S operetta had opened the curtains nine times at the Broadway Theatre Center, and when directed by Shawna Lucey, a strong feminine element appears in these familiar women--Ruth, Mabel and Major General Stanley's bevy of beautiful daughters. their wits up against Frederic and his 'orphan' band of tender hearted pirates.

If ever a story captured the wonder of childhood dreams and fantasies, then Lewis Carroll's novel 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' travels to this hidden places in the heart and mind. Milwaukee Ballet's absolutely astonishing production of Alice (in wonderland) transports Carroll's magical stories to the stage in captivating theatrical style. Septime Webre's choreography, Liz Vandal's concept and costume design, James Kronzer's scenic design and Clifton Taylor's lighting design recreate Carroll's surreal world with those wonders of wonders completely intact. A ballet conceived for The Washington Ballet in 2012, Artistic Director Michael Pink imported the lush, full length ballet for his brilliant company, the Ballet Program II and students of the Milwaukee Ballet School and Academy.

Twenty years and 21st century technology bring Kevin Henkes' beloved picture book, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse to First Stage this May and June to send their audiences into summer on a brilliant high. In a production combining three Henkes' stories, including 'Chester's Way' and 'Julius, Baby of the World,' Kevin Kling's theatrical adaptation of Henkes' tiny mice tales delightfully portray Lilly, 'Queen of the World.' Stories where Lilly discovers friendship and family carry her through those times when as Henkes wrote: 'Today was difficult, tomorrow will be better.'

How curious and curiouser an English children's fantasy written in 1865 for three sisters has been translated into 174 languages and never been out of print since, never once. Lewis Carroll's surreal tale 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' usually shortened to 'Alice in Wonderland,' appears on stage at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts when Artistic Director Michael Pink and Milwaukee Ballet present their version of Alice in Wonderland, which first premiered at the Washington Ballet in 2012, With this immense production of Alice, MKE Ballet Costume Manager Mary Piering completes 32 years in the company's costume shop at 5th and National to refit the more than 120 costumes for the one weekend only performances. A visit to the shop the week of rehearsals found Piering stitching on a small headpiece, putting the finishing touches on the entire cast's wardrobe.

The popular Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse returns to First Stage for Kevin Kling's theatrical adaptation of Kevin Henkes best selling children's book beginning this May. A picture book written in 1996, Henkes' story features a tiny little girl mouse struggling to be who she is, wearing glitter sunglasses and mismatched outfits--as Lilly called herself, 'The Queen of the World' who liked everything' and in 2016, celebrates 20 years still tucked firmly in children's hearts.

“A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind,” quotes Eugène Ionesco, the author of the Boulevard Theatre's charming and provocative production Bald Soprano.. Ionesco, considered one of the forerunners of absurd/surreal theater, wrote the one-act play (90 minutes, no intermission) at the beginning of his career in 1948. A time in his forties when he first began dabbling in the “anti-play,” an artistic comment on cultural and social conversation and mores, seen from his French perspective that had survived the devastation of Paris and other European countries, including the Nazi invasions and regime during World War II.

Milwaukee Rep closes a successful season in sublime style staging a production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play Fences on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage. Lou Bellamy, who worked extensively with the acclaimed African-American playwright at St. Paul, Minnesota's Penumbra Theatre Company, directed the spellbinding Rep performance. On a stunning, realistic set courtesy of Vicki Smith, the Pittsburgh brownstone with a comfortable wood porch, “lays in the lap of the audience on the thrust stage” according to the Rep In Depth, and places Wilson's flawed characters directly near the seats of the theatergoers, Seats where Wilson's portrait of humanity, seen through the African American experience, exposes compassion and struggle.   

'Life is too important to be taken seriously,' quoted Oscar Wilde, the famous and infamous author who wrote the ever popular 'The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People' in 1895. In Tandem provides an endearing musical version of Wilde's play from an original 1960 production Ernest in Love by collaborating with Milwaukee Opera Theatre. In an adaptation written by Anne Croswell with music composed by Lee Pockriss, the performance had been revived in the early 2000's. on Broadway Director Jane Flieller hits all the right notes with touching humor when she assembled an accomplished, elegant cast to revive Wilde's clever romantic tale of social class and turn of the 20th century society.

On a Sunday morning at Milwaukee's Intercontinental Hotel, First Stage hosted a brunch featuring world premiere Ella Enchanted author Gail Carson Levine. Levine answered questions from her primarily youthful audience alongside Director John Maclay's warm hospitality to the delight of her fans. After a charming duet from the show sung by Taylor Kass and Cole Winston Ella and Prince Char in the Brilliant Cast on stage later that afternoon, the audience eagerly anticipated hearing from Levine.

American's national Mother's Day arrives, Sunday, May 8, and Next Act Theatre presents a heartwarming, poignant and powerful production to close their season at exactly the right time of year titled Motherhood Out Loud. Conceived by Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein, more than a dozen playwrights revisit motherhood through a series of themed vignettes beginning with 'Chapter One: Fast Births' and finishing with 'Chapter Five: Coming Home.' Directed by Milwaukee's acclaimed Laura Gordon, each chapter features four actors--Doug Jarecki, Michelle Lopez-Rios, Deborah Staples and Tami Workentin--who play the numerous mothers/fathers of various ages and stages throughout the evening.

One of the hidden elements entwined in Noel Coward's wry play Fallen Angels becomes the French love song 'Memes les Anges'--which translates the first line to: 'Even the angels succumb to love.' On stage in the beautiful Cabot Theatre,  Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's  (MCT) delightful production of Coward's 1925 play, written when he was in his 20's, use this love song's words combined with the lyrics to Cole Porter's 'Let's Misbehave' to underpin the deceptive meaning of the scintillating humor in Coward's words. 

Antigone--an ancient play first written by Sophocles in approximately 400 B.C.--challenges audiences in the 21st century and centers around strong women, political drama, and difficult moral choices necessary for the characters to choose. This classic play dramatically illustrates that over centuries, humanity changes little with modern circumstances. First Stage Young Company tackles this acclaimed tragedy under Joshua Pohja's direction by choosing modern language using a translation from the prestigious French dramatist Jean Anouilh written in 1943. Anouilh often centered his stories on idealistic youth, in this play a young princess, who fights for a divine and personal morality over royal social compromise. Pohja dedicated the production to young Middle Eastern women, similar to Malala who also raised her singular voice against her adversaries even under threat of death.