Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 16

To capture the long standing tradition of The Milwaukee Rep's adaptation of A Christmas Carol that opened last weekend at the Historic Pabst Theater, many families or friends crowd around the grand Christmas tree adorned and standing in the center of Milwaukee's Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex. They punch the button on their smart phones; take pictures of these memories withstanding the test of time, an annual event to be cherished. The Rep's production of A Christmas Carol has run consecutively each December for 38 years, a holiday present waiting to be opened again and again.

In a reprise of a beloved holiday classic children's story, First Stage features The Best Christmas Pageant Ever on the Todd Wehr Stage at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate December. In this play for anyone who ever felt unloved, the horrible Herdman family returns with Imogene, Ralph, Ollie, Claude, Leroy and tiny Gladys Herdman. to enliven the First Stage production with their unconventioanl personalities. The charming retelling of the ancient Christmas story reminds audiences the wildest hearts can be reclaimed through the power of patience and understanding.

As 2013 draws to a close, is there a world the audience longs to see? A future world where dignity, harmony, freedom, love and peace can exist? Part of this future can be discovered when the Skylight Music Theatre presents their production of Les Miserables that runs through December 29 in the Cabot Theatre at Milwaukee's Broadway Theatre Center.

Milwaukee's First Stage Artistic Director Jeff Frank finally returns to the city for his own holiday celebrations. After spending weeks in Chicago this fall to consult and ready the production Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Musical for the November 16 opening at the Windy City's Broadway Playhouse, Frank can appreciate the restaging of It's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Milwaukee audiences await the opening in the Todd Wehr Theater at the Marcus Center on Thanksgiving weekend.

Love and sex: This dynamic pair of human needs has dominated society's conscious since Eve offered Adam the apple and together they discovered their nakedness. The two subjects frequently intermingle on stage at Spring Green's American Players Theatre for the company's final selection in their 2013 season when APT opened the decadent Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

For never was there a tale of two star crossed lovers more that Michael Pink's adaption of Romeo and Juliet. The Milwaukee Ballet presented the full-length production on Thursday night with dazzling panache throughout the three acts to the audience's appreciative delight.

Four guys, forever classy wearing white dinner jackets, appear in the musical revue Forever Plaid at The Rep's Stackner Cabaret. And when Frankie, Jinx, Smudge and Spanky perform their four-part harmony in the fictional singing group, they exude slightly clueless personalities while, to the audience's delight, their musical talent exceeds expectations.

Get your Shrek on with a set of those tiny, tree like buds the lovable ogre Shrek sprouts on his glamorous green head. Milwaukee's First Stage makes the ears available in their Todd Wehr Theater lobby when the company presents, Shrek,The Musical to open their 2013-2014 season. The fairy tale character Shrek comes to life courtesy of the DreamWorks Animation Motion Picture, a 2001 film still beloved by fans with the book written by William Steig, and the musical brings all the fairy tale creatures to children's theater in professional First Stage style.

A scintillating and sensual evening unfolds for The Rep's first Stiemke Studio production this fall. Award winning playwright and author David Ives presents an intimate, layered portrait of men and women relationships in his Venus in Fur, a play based on Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novella Venus in Furs. While all the publicity might focus on the sadomasochism¾a term coined by combining the names of the Marquis de Sade and Sacher-Masoch¾this production encompasses the great battles between male and female, God and man, antiquity and modernity, and most visibly, love and power.

The Milwaukee Rep embarked on a new journey when Mark Clements presented a resplendent Ragtime to open the company's 60th anniversary season in September 2013. As Clements begins his second term as Artistic Director, this Ragtime production carries the audience for a ride on the 'wheels of a dream' with a lingering presence few will encounter. Every theatrical and musical detail, from the casting, costumes, lighting and stage design rose above any expectations the audience previously envisioned. Opening night for the Rep's 60th season proved awe inspiring, almost angelic, assuring the supreme possibilities inherent in any art performance.

A magnificent revolution arrived when the curtain opened at the Skylight Music Theatre on Friday night. The first night Artistic Director Viswa Subbaraman christened his magical season as the Stage and Music Director for his premiere production in Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio.