Peggy Sue Dunigan - Page 3

Once again, Anoka's Lyric Arts presents an area premiere for their audiences. This winter, Superior Donuts, a 2008 play written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tracy Letts, arrived for opening weekend. Letts, an ensemble actor at Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre, has recently been in the news for his role in Greta Gertwig's film, 'Lady Bird,' with another Steppenwolf actor, Laurie Metcalf, and newcomer Saoirse Ronan. To learn a bit about Letts, his sense of humor, and his award winning theatrical career, viewing his comedy Superior Donuts provides one perfect place to begin.

For the 2017 season, enjoy the sights and sounds to Have a yule that's cool at Anoka's Lyric Arts. The retro greeting tag line recreates the theater's holiday show titled Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings. Stuart Ross wrote the clever, lighthearted book to this festive musical in 1989, along with numerous composers creating the music and lyrics. The seasonal show delights audiences this December under Director Sean W. Byrd through a kitschy ambiance. Musical Director Bradley Beahen together with Choreographer Lauri Kraft give this all male quartet excellent stage presence for two acts. The four 'lads' who call themselves Forever Plaid deliver the holiday goods while Beahen accompanies on the ivories with Shannon Van der Reck plucking strings on bass,

On stage at Anoka's Lyric Arts, A Coney Island Christmas presents a child's heartfelt dreams to its audiences for the holiday season. One of two theatrical presentations alternating at the venue in December, this play features a flashback to 1930's New York, in the midst of the Great Depression, where Jewish Hanukah meets the Christian Christmas in warm nostalgia.

Anoka's Lyric Arts Main Street Stage returns this summer with the comedic and uplifting Cole Porter, Guy Bolton, PG Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse musical Anything Goes. First produced in 1934, in the beginning of the Great Depression, Porter's memorable musical questions the country's status quo and then, the course of true love. Eighty two years later, the musical resonates with Porter's evocative lyrics from the title song: Good authors, too/Who once knew better words/ writing prose/ now use four letter words/ Anything goes/ truding in nude parties studios / Anything goes/ Why nobody will oppose/ Anything goes.

Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street arrived at the Skylight Music Theatre last weekend to dazzle audiences with the American songwriter's brilliant, exquisite lyrics and melodies complimented by Hugh Wheeler's book.  A story resurrected from an old three penny publication titled 'String of Pearls' adapted from a 1976 Christopher Bond play retells dark, almost demonic yet ultimately redemptive tale revealing the horrors of revenge and the power of love through this award winning musical with songs such as "Johanna," "Pretty Women," and "By the Sea." 

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.

Similar to an actual carved and decorated carousel, In Tandem's musical Carnival circles audiences with the sentiment 'Love Makes the World Go Round.' The familiar song from the 1960's production written by Bob Merrill and Michael Stewart in their book, lyrics and music adapted from a 1950's novel titled 'Lilli' happens outside Paris, circa 1920. Carnivals and circuses played to packed audiences before World War ! and the depression, and in their enchanting story a young orphan named Lilli travels from hr past home when her father dies to search for her future, 'where everyone knows her name,' and of course, true love.

The legendary story of Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847, arrives as artful, contemporary adaption by Polly Teale in Milwaukee Repertory Theater's season ending production at the Quadracci Powerhouse. Director KJ Sanchez follows Teale's lead and delves deeper into the psychology between Jane and Mr. Rochester's uninhibited, possible mad wife Bertha. The two characters, through actors, Margaret Ivey (Jane) and Rin Allen (Bertha) shadow each other throughout the production. In this adaptation, Bertha appears to mirror Jane's repressed Victorian feelings that literally ignite their lives and  English homestead, Thornfield. 

In the seventh presentation of the popular Rep Lab, the short-play festival features the company's Emerging Professional Residents (EPR) in acting, directing and technical theater to showcase their talent. This year, nine one act play along with a devised play written by the Emerging Professionals appeared in the Stiemke Studio for an intriguing evening of theater. Eight actors, seven directors, and four designers comprise the EPR team. In an interesting mix of plays, many examine the angst in relationships: communal, personal and professional within a wide time frame that also embodies considerable emotional range

Violet--The color and time of day named in T.S. Eliot's 1922 epic poem The Waste Land. This color permeates Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) season ending production figuratively and literally in the Studio Theatre titled The Violet Hour. Directed by Artistic Director Suzan Fete, the comedy infused with a surrealist happening sets a scene in 1919, a few years after World War I and before the Great Depression. The story tantalizes audiences with the question that is prophecy, knowing the future, a gift or a curse? Richard Greenberg's 2003 Broadway play explores this dilemma and models the period's hope and optimism after "a war to end all wars," on characters referencing Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and chanteuse Josephine Baker. All celebrities who reached a zenith in their careers, and then ended their lives in some despair. When the audience sits in the theater watching from the 2017 perspective, what do they make of these questions, lives and future?

In an impassioned, almost poetic adaptation of Charles Dickens' masterpiece Great Expectations, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) opened Gale Childs Daly's evocative interpretation in the Cabot Theatre last weekend. Composer Andrew Crowe, premier violinist, added an original score to haunt and mesmerize audiences sitting in the theatre as he waltzed through every scene. Daly's adaptation literally leaps off the pages of the 1861 novel, and the cast under Director Molly Rhode incorporates actual books as props for meat pies or rhythm instruments to miraculous effect each step of the way through the main character Pip's coming of age and maturation.

n an evening to honor women and their contributions to the arts, Milwaukee's Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW) announced their 25th anniversary season while Support Women in the Arts Now, or SWAN, on Monday, March 27, immediately after a Milwaukee weekend dedicated to women in the arts. The month and date's significance mattered. Saturday, March 25 celebrated the 10th International SWAN holiday, and since the organization's inception, over 1500 SWAN events have been held in more than 36 countries. As the www.womensart.org website claims, the ultimate purpose of these SWAN events 'showcases the power and diversity of women's creativity.'

Actor Frank Ferrante begins on Milwaukee's Stackner Cabaret's stage by walking over to a small table, sitting down, and then placing the iconic thick black mustache and eyebrows defining the indomitable comedian Groucho Marx. In the The Milwaukee Repertory Theater's superb production An Evening With Groucho written by Ferrante and directed by Dreya Weber, the transformation from actor to classic comic spirt engages the audience in a collusion of laughter and humor for all audiences.

First Stage invites a recent Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production to Milwaukee for a Midwest premiere: Mockingbird (mok'ing burd). The National Book Award WinnerYoung Adult novel by Katherine Ersking and adapted by Julie Jensen presents the story of Caitlin-a 12 year old challenged by autism. To add to the young girl's life, Caitlin recently lost her brother Devin. This leaves only her father and she to deal with their grief and moving forward in the compelling and poignant production. 

At the intimate theater in downtown Anoka, Minnesota, Lyric Arts presents an absolutely 'pee-popping' version of the 2001 Broadway hit Urinetown; The Musical. When the musical was first proposed, producers initially rejected the comic/tragic satire (A 'sad' musical as the character Little Sally names the production), yet numerous Urinetown performances captured Drama Desk and Tony Awards through 2001 and 2002. The multi-layered musical featured at Lyric Arts presents an equally multi-talented cast who can act, dance and sing, triple threats in theater, with thrilling results. Director Matt McNabb amps up the productions to a hyper realistic state, perfect for todays political scenarios into an entertaining and enlightening theatrical evening.

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater's multi-award winning play Grounded, grounds a pregnant woman fighter pilot while also grounding the audiences in the intimate Stiemke Studio's compelling and complex production. George Brant's contemporary 2013 play demonstrates how drones have transformed both fighter pilots and the 'games of global war' because in the 21st century, drones hover over the skies of foreign countries similar to space ships in a violent video game. Either movement controlled by one person in a solitary cubicle or sitting in front of a tiny screen. Instead of B-15 bombers that fly into the blue manned by pilots, men and women, presently sit in front of huge screens sequestered in silence waiting and watching for any movement so drones may attack from across the world in the name of 'reducing the loss of human life.'

In the inviting ambiance of Plymouth Church, Boulevard Theater's endearing Taking Shakespeare resonates with the heartbeats and sorrow inherent in classic literature, especially William Shakespeare's Othello. John Murrell's recent play presents a new perspective on this iconic tragedy in the church's Graham Chapel, a perfect backdrop for an old apartment where a tenured professor lived for more than thirty years. When she's asked to tutor a new college student, the two character production match wits between the young Murph, Jake Konrath, alongside a women English professor, Amy Callahan.

Enjoy an adventurous trip with First Stage and their singing Troubadour through the 14th century Sherwood Forest. In a collaboration with playwrights Joe Foust and John Maclay, Jeff Frank directs the world premiere Robin Hood--- complete with thrilling stage combat from the legendary anti-hero. This courageous Robin Hood 'asked for donations' from the English Elite at the point of his sword, collected and then contributed to the poor surrounding him in England. Among Robin's following where those, merry men and women who wanted to participate in as Maclay says, 'a rebellion against greed and corruption' in an attempt to right the wrongs in their world. Frank, Foust and Maclay turn the stage into Robin Hood's playground through Jody Sekas' stage design and Melissa Torchia's costume design, which allows an extremely fluid and fast paced production. Geoffrey, a young performer Jeff Burns from the Sherwood Forest cast, sings and strums Musical Director Jeff Schaetzke's original ballads playing the roving troubadour. His idiosyncratic lyrics make the audience laugh, as does the often contemporary, tongue in cheek humor throughout the play-often hilarious. While actor Dominique Worsley embodies a fierce, yet sympathetic Robin, Maclay's Sheriff of Nottingham and Foust's incomparable Archbishop of York stir their own brand of extraordinary humor and strength trying to capture 'the Hood.'

In a play more than 2000 years old written by Euripides titled The Trojan Women, Dale Gutzman's Off the Wall Theater (OTW) reimagines their Women of Troy set in the 1920's. Gutzman worked several years to adapt the play inspired by a Don Taylor translation revealing the aftermath of the infamous Trojan War through a women's eyes, the prisoners and refugees shipped to another city. These were the women who survived when their brothers, fathers, husbands and sons were slaughtered by the Athenians, after the legendary Trojan horse 'birthed blood' that flowed into Troy's streets.

For any two young adults, caring for an infant can be a daunting responsibility. For Karlie and Peter, a young couple trying to kick a meth addiction, an infant can be overwhelming and sometimes forgotten in light of their personal circumstances. Renaissance Theaterworks presents Rebecca Gilman's provocative play LUNA GALE, which relates how the tiny baby Luna Gale is removed from Karlie and Peter's home because of neglect, despite the fact they love each other and their child. On stage in the Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, LUNA GALE asks veteran social worker Caroline to give this couple who want to raise their child another chance while Caroline temporarily places Luna Gale in 'kin care,' a type of foster care that relies on a relative.