MILWAUKEE, WI THEATER REVIEWS

Forget what might be known or understood regarding Richard Wagner's epic The Ring Cycle- a legendary series of four complete operas he composed over 26 years ( 1848-1874) that requires more than 18 hours to perform. Instead enjoy The Skylight Ring, Skylight Music Theatre's cheeky, slightly irreveren...

The age-old story of a cinder girl disdained by her step family but destined to change her life to glitter and gold arrived at the Milwaukee Ballet's when Cinderella closed the season. This enchanting fairytale envisioned by Artistic Director Michael Pink captivated the audience with romance and s...

'Be the hero in your story and the world will be yours....' Edward Bloom consistently uses these words to inspire his son Will while he was growing up. Defining what a hero is, for Edward and his son Will, plays an epic role in First Stage's Big Fish. This shortened World Premiere for Young Audience...

s three a crowd as he familiar adage claims? Fate, friendship and the calamities in passing a popcorn box collide at In Tandem Theatre this spring. Without one word of dialogue, the 1999 musical Little By Little revisits the intricacies to falling in and out of love when three childhood friends grow...

What's a star catcher? Theatrical magic, music and serious 'Starstuff' conjure a stunning evening on the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater to answer that very important question. To end their season, Milwaukee Rep presents Peter and the Star Catcher, a prequel to James M. Barrie's 1904 story of the bel...

Five names the magic number. For the past 50 years, Milwaukee Rep has supported the Artistic Intern Program, a rarity throughout the country. In another 5th anniversary worth celebrating, The Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble presented a cohesive, fascinating evening in homage to the theater during their...

Tucked on the lower level in the reception room at Plymouth Church (2717 East Hampshire), Mark Bucher's Boulevard Theater presents the Midwest Premiere of RX. The classic arches and pillars adorn the church's intimate space and provide a satisfying back drop to Kate Fodor's 2012 play about drugs, de...

That debonair, delectable English butler Jeeves returns to Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's (MCT) Cabot Stage for the final installment with Margaret Raether's Jeeves Takes a Bow at Milwaukee's Broadway Theatre Center. On opening night, the cast and crew from the former two productions-Jeeves Intervenes ...

Science, religion, creationism. evolution--A debate where faith versus confirmed fact constructs a classroom drama touched with humor tiled Ten Questions to Ask your Biology Teacher about Evolution. Milwaukee's Next Act Theatre presents a World Premiere production written by Canadian playwright Ste...

First Stage's World Premiere LUCHADORA! introduces the world of lucha Libre, or Mexican sport wrestling, to Milwaukee this spring in an exciting play were the thumps and bumps against the ring ropes thrill the audience. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios relates a multi-layered story based on the cultural ...

After two years ruminatin in the imagination and in the writing, Artistic Director Dale Gutzman in collaboration with John Angelos adapted the classic Homer legacy in their production of ODYSSEY : A Warrior's Journey Home for Milwaukee audiences. The city's downtown, very intimate Off the Wall Theat...

Reaching from a music tradition founded near the turn of the 20th century, the All-American Blues "brings out the boogie" at Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret. Their lusty revue Low Down Dirty Blues features "Big Mama" Felicia Fields, Chic Street Man, Sugaray Rayford with the trio accompanied by jazz...

Number 1, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and a currently in office 42--these numbers represent five presidents and two portraits placed in a holding pen, a room, before Richard Nixon's (37) funeral on April 18,1994 in Yorba Linda, California. The men often identify each other by numbers instead of their names ...

Disney's Beauty and the Beast opened Tuesday Night at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. True to the lyrics of "Beauty and the Beast", this production offered up the classic "tale as old as time"....

The mystical world of dragons and fantasy casts a thought provoking spell in Milwaukee this Spring. Skylight Music Theatre presents the magical World Premiere of The Snow Dragon in the Cabot Theatre with striking simplicity and stunning stage design, which reveals the startling world of child abuse....

Road trips take their travelers into and through unknown territory. In Tandem Theatre's current World Premiere production Come Back presents an unusual road trip, figuratively and metaphorically penned by Milwaukee playwright Neil Haven. Haven's comic yet often poignant journey through love, loss an...

Rock out with First Stage this March when BIG NATE: THE MUSICAL blasts through the Todd Wehr Theater. A dynamic young performer cast recreates Lincoln Peirce's popular cartoon characters set in Kristen Ellhert's magical stage design where lights flash, videos display Nate's drawings and sets swing f...

A master playwright, Athol Fugard, presents one of his mastepieces at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Midwest Premiere of The Train Driver. When the 2010 play opened this weekend in the city's Studio Theatre, the intimate stage created an intense conversation between the audience and two astounding acto...

Milwaukee's Off the Wall Theatre stages a pared down production of a 2009 Tony Award winning play--God of Carnage. Yasmina Reza originally wrote the script in French, which Christopher Hampton then translated for British and American audiences, a popular production until this day. The four person ca...

Milwaukee was transported from its gloomy, snowy space to a warm Grecian island on Friday when the national tour of Mamma Mia rolled into town. Directed by the brilliant Phyllida Lloyd (who directed both the film version as well as the critically acclaimed film The Iron Lady), the feel good musical ...

Most musical theater ends with a simple curtain call with the audience expressing their appreciation for the performance they had attended. Mamma Mia, though, ends with and explosion of music, bringing the audience to it's feet for an encore where the cast invites the audience to sing and dance alo...

September 13, 27, 29 and October 2, 2006. These forgotten dates inherit new meaning when Milwaukee Rep stages Jessica Dickey's The Amish Project in the Stiemke Studio. Each of these four dates represents a school shooting--and one occurred in a tiny Wisconsin town-- while debut playwright Dickey foc...

An elegant genesis for dance happened throughout the past February weekend, and particularly on one Friday night. Here in the heart of Milwaukee's theatre district, finely dressed small girls or teenagers accompanied by their parents together with grown girls attached to their equally interested par...

A dynamic feminine duo illuminates Next Act Theatre this winter. The company's Midwest Premiere of Nilaja Sun's No Child transports the audience to the Bronx, New York under tjhe direction of Mary MacDonald Kerr and inspired by actor Marti Gobel. Inside the 'high risk' Malcolm X High School, teachin...

Discover an Island--an island overflowing with dreams for a enchanting oasis this February at the Skylight Music Theater. In a reprise of a Skylight 1998 production, the musical paring the award-winning Lynn Aherns and Stephen Flaherty, Once on This Island returns Milwaukee to the French Antilles se...