MILWAUKEE, WI THEATER REVIEWS

'Children's Theater' appears to be a misnomer--Instead, the name professional theater produced for children respects the work that First Stage presents in the First Step series for pre-schoolers. Goldilocks and the Three Bears opened this weekend at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a musical creatio...

'Forgive me,' asks the bearded, finely dressed older man appearing on stage. He rests on a red velvet seat in a train compartment during the late 1800's and empties his pockets one by one and mentions, 'A white silk handkerchief brushed with red lips has not been washed in over a year...' Thus begi...

Surprises abound in Milwaukee Rep's Good People on stage at the Quadracci Powerhouse this winter. Pulitzer Prize-winning David Lindsay-Abaire's award-winning 2011 drama features one of the Midwest's favorite actresses Laura Gordon in the title role of Margie Walsh. A single mother living in South Bo...

Passion and intensity flow from historian, folklorist and musician Stephen Wade when he arrives at Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret this winter. On Sunday's opening night, Wade, as writer and performer, carries his work accomplished from more than two decades into this unique performance The Beautif...

Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) might be brushed aside, dismissed by adults who give this professional genre less significance. First Stage proves this preconception about TYA untrue when they opened an adaptation of Jerry Spinelli's 2002 New York Times bestselling novel Stargirl in the Todd Wehr ...

Something wonderful happens in a city when a production captures characters and a niche of suburban culture close to home. In Tandem Theatre at the Tenth Street Theatre developed this crazy charm in the last decade through multiple performances--almost 300 by the end of this current run--of their ...

This December, Milwaukee Repertory Theater relives a 39-year old tradition in the beautiful Pabst Theater: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. In this recent adaptation by Joseph Hanreddy and Edward Morgan, familiar English carols and melodies echo through the theater so the audience believes they ...

Equally enchanting and entrancing in one evening, the Skylight Music Theatre sends Milwaukee audiences to the Emerald City to revisit The Wizard of Oz in grand theatrical style. Over the holiday season, Dorothy and her four friends, Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Man and her beloved Toto, share a journey to ...

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer makes history again. First Stage celebrates the television special's 50th anniversary this holiday season because five decades ago Rudolph 'with your nose so bright' saved Christmas in this magical tale where these Christmastown misfits power Santa's sleigh during a bl...

Mysterious circumstances and the inexplicable spirit of a six feet tall white rabbit revisit the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's exquisite 70th anniversary production of Harvey. Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of Ellwood P. Dowd, a man who imagines the rabbit named Harvery is his best friend,...

Some of the nation's most notorious villains were brought back to life on Sunday at the matinee of Four Seasons Theatre's rendition of Assassins. Stephen Sondheim's history lesson slash musical, like much of his other work, reminds audiences that the world is not black and white. Michael Herold as ...

Abridged, musicized, revised and revolutionized—Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents an innovative version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre by adding a fourth actor to the frequently popular three person production. The...

A hint of a seasonal theme inspires Next Act Theatre's Heresy while adding a political twist on on the holiday spirit. A.R. Gurney's near apocalyptic play places Mary and Joe searching for their rebel son Chris in America's jails, now under protection by Homeland Security. Pontius, a leader with a r...

Man and Sensibilities. Machines and Sciene. Milwaukee's Off the Wall Theatre presents an American premiere of an intellectual Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel more than the horror monsters the novel's name frequently invokes. The company's Artistic Director Dale Gutzman imported an ad...

Lame, rhinestones and sequins shimmer like stars on stage this November when Milwaukee Rep reprises Liberace! at the Stackner Cabaret beginning this November. Every holiday season flashes glitter and gold, and The Rep's Associate Artistice Director Brent Hazelton wrote and directed this inspiring mu...

Poetry. A show that inspires beyond one's capabilities of speech is described as poetic genius. Disney's Broadway hit musical The Lion King is nothing short of pure poetry. Frankly a loss for words is what this critic is suffering from. Julie Taymor's most renowned claim to fame is a show that has...

From Here to Eternity, Gone with the Wind, In Harm's Way, War and Peace…Classic literature and film where war in any century or country divides families, loved ones and nations. Renaissance Theaterworks opens their 2014-2015 season in the Studio Theatre continuing this compelling tradition with th...

How will London be kept safe from crime?---When the illustrious Sherlock Holmes disappears from his daily routine of capturing public enemies in Victorian England, the city wonders if he really was murdered as the death rumor persists. In the First Stage World Premiere production SHERLOCK HOLMES: TH...

Incredible, indescribable, infuriating, inflammatory, intense-These host of words attempt to define the Milwaukee Rep's World Premiere 'after all the terrible things I do' opening at the Stiemke Studio this fall in the Patty and Jay Baker Theatre Complex. Set in a Midwestern town beset with Midweste...

Provocative and prophetic, a puzzle waiting to be unraveled before the audience's eyes similar to a Gordian knot, the Boulevard Theatre on stage at Walkers Point Center for the Arts presents a limited run of Gideon's Knot, a Wisconsin premiere. Artistic Director Mark Bucher stages the play under the...

Live and then love a little more after an enchanting evening at Sturgeon Bay's Third Avenue Playhouse this fall. The world's longest running musical The Fantasticks arrived at the Stage Door Theatre Company on October 1st. After more than 17,000 performances played in approximately 90 countries worl...

n a revival of Alice Walker's bold novel The Color Purple, the award winning musical opens The Milwaukee Rep's 2014-2015 theater season reprising the WOW in entertainment that began with Ragtime in their 60th season. Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning 1982 story arrives in a re-adaptation of the 1985 ...

What constitutes being a 'good' father or parent-before or after a child's conception and birth? These unexpected questions deceptively have their answers woven through Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Midwest second selection of their 40th anniversary season of THE GOOD FATHER opening at the Broadway Th...

The feminine touch explore multiple wounds from war and opens Next Act Theatre's Silver Anniversary season this past September weekend in the Midwest premiere of Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter. Written by award winning playwright Julie Marie Myatt to herald the directorial debut of Milwaukee actor Debo...

Think fairytales can be out of fashion? Please think again. Fairytales represent stories beloved and valued by every culture for untold centuries. So when a contemporary, in high fashion fairytale opens the 2014-2015 Skylight Music Theatre's 56th season bringing Milwaukee 'Fairytales and Fantasy' u...