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Dec

Rudolph Sells-Out (Still Pissed-Off)

Patrick Schmitz’s Christmas Comedy Sold Out At the Alchemist Theatre

Now in its second year, Patrick Schmitz’s Rudolph the Pissed-Off Reindeer has sold out the entire remainder of its run at the Alchemist Theatre. The show, which runs for the next two weekends has quite a few performances remaining. There are late-

Posted at 07:08 PM

Dec

UWM's Midsummer Night in Winter

Theatre Department Stages Shakespeare

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

The current UWM production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the fourth that I’ve seen in a year and a half. American Players Theatre’s production was an interesting big-budget show in a beautiful outdoor theatre in Spring Green with a mod

Posted at 08:29 AM

Dec

Season's Readings

Vanity Theatre's 2 Christmas Readings

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

Vanity Theatre, which recently performed a staged reading of a drama set on a family farm, brings another staged reading to the Tenth Street Theatre next Monday and Tuesday. Yuletide is playwright Erik Ebarp’s take on the holidays follows the story

Posted at 06:31 AM

Dec

In Tandem's Stylish Scrooge

This Year’s Classy Christmas With In Tandem

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

To be honest, the idea of another Christmas Carol spoof didn’t seem all that appealing to me. When In Tandem first announced its season, Scrooge In Rouge sounded kind of dull and formulaic. Then I heard about the cast—In Tandem

Posted at 05:05 PM

Dec

Small Shakespeare In A Small Place

Soulstice Theatre’s Complete Works Of William Shakespeare

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

Soulstice Theatre’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is fun. It may not be perfect. They kind of drop the ball on the physical comedy of Shakespeare’s histories presented as a football game. The Othe

Posted at 05:04 PM

Dec

Who Killed Santa? Again

Indie Theatre Comedy Returns This Year in a New Venue

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

Now in its second year, Neil Haven’s holiday comedy Who Killed Santa? is being staged in separate productions in Milwaukee and Denver, Colorado. The appeal of the play is difficult to define. On the surface, the premise sounds kind of disinterest

Posted at 06:15 PM

Dec

Rudolph The Pissed-Off Reindeer Returns

Patrick Schmitz's Christmas Comedy Enters Its Second Year

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

It’s the little touches that keep an annual Christmas show fresh from year to year. This year, prior to performances of Patrick Schmitz’s Rudolph the Pissed-Off Reindeer, patrons have an opportunity to get their pictures taken with Santa Claus

Posted at 05:46 PM

Dec

Condensed Shakeseare In Bay View

Soulstice Theatre Opens Non-Holiday Show This Weekend

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

Most of the rest of this season’s local live Christmas shows are opening this weekend. (John McGivern’s annual show at the Off—Broadway Theatre doesn’t open until mid-month, just about every other local show opens this weekend.) An

Posted at 07:04 PM

Dec

Scrooge in Quad

This Weekend, Local Stages Will Be Visited By Four Scrooges

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

At 7:30 pm tonight, the Nebraska Theatre Caravan will pull into UW-Whitewater's Young Auditorium to present its production of A Christmas Carol. The show boasts a cast of 27. One of those actors will, of course, be playing Scrooge. Half an hour earlier in

Posted at 05:57 PM

Dec

Christmas Irreverence

This Weekend Two Holiday Spoofs Open A Handfull of Paces Away From Each Other

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

There is something intrinsically irreverent about the holiday season. Christians are quick to point out the commercialism that has hijacked the holy day, leading people astray from the “true meaning,” of the holiday season. They do so having f

Posted at 06:04 PM

Nov

In The Details: A Resounding Thump

The Boulevard Theatre's MARRIAGE OF BETTY AND BOO

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

It’s the little things that make a production. Even in a bad show, there are moments of brilliance that shine through—the little things that can make even a bad show entertaining for a few moments. Thankfully, this is NOT the case with

Posted at 05:27 PM

Nov

Laura Gordon and Ann Landers

Milwaukee Rep's New Mainstage SHow

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

The Milwaukee Rep continues its main stage season at the Quadracci with a production of David Rambo’s The Lady With All The Answers. A one-woman show about Ann Landers would normally turn me off to no end . . . there has been a flurry of one-person

Posted at 01:00 PM

Nov

Again: A Christmas Carol

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

One day after thanksgiving, a respectable crowd attended opening night of Joseph Hanreddy’s last time directing The Milwaukee Rep’s A Christmas Carol as Artistic Director. (And, honestly, there’s a good chance that this is the last time

Posted at 05:48 PM

Nov

The Milwaukee Theatre Holidays Begin

The Rep and First Stage open the Holiday Season

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

The Milwaukee stage holidays begin tonight with a pair of big, iconic openings downtown. Two shows opening about a block apart from each other is far from being the insane flurry of openings next week. The two shows opening this week are however not

Posted at 11:48 AM

Nov

Shut Up About Your Candle Already

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

It’s the morning of Thanksgiving Day and I’m waking-up with a bit of a song from RENT running through my head . . . but not what one might expect. I keep hearing the refrain of Mimi asking Adam Pascal's charcter to light her cand

Posted at 09:05 AM

Nov

RENT returns

Still Waiting For The Skylight's Production . . .

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

The Touring Broadway production of RENT made it into town again last night. I saw it some time ago when the production made it to the Milwaukee Theatre. I wasn’t all that impressed with it at the time. Shoot ahead to just a few months ago an

Posted at 04:22 PM

Nov

Thought Before Another RENT

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

I find myself a little less than an hour away from my first show in over a week. This will be my third time seeing RENT—the second time I’ve seen a touring production of the ‘90’s musical. I’ll be seeing it again when Skyligh

Posted at 05:35 PM

Nov

Miller Drama At Parkside

UW-Parkside stages ALL MY SONS

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

With something like 7 or 8 shows opening locally in the first week in December, it’s bound to be the case that one or two of them may have nothing at all to do with Christmas. This is, in fact, the case. One of the shows in question is Soulstice The

Posted at 06:32 PM

Nov

Upcoming Soulstice Fundraiser

In a flurry of openings, Soulstice Theatre Hosts a Classy Evening's Fundraiser

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

It’s kind of odd having a week without any real theatre openings. For the first time since the first weekend in September, I’m not attending anything. As would be expected from this (and a relatively quiet December ahead) the theatre openings

Posted at 09:15 AM

Nov

The Pink Banana Shorts Return

Next Spring’s Program Celebrates Sex, Drugs and the American Way

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

Pink Banana’s annual Spring One Act show is a little-known tradition in Milwaukee. Every Spring, the tiny theatre company presents a program featuring a disparate group of shorts featuring some of the most promising new and emerging talent in the c

Posted at 06:14 PM

Nov

Under Construction

UWM Presents a reasding of a new play by Laura Jacqmin

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

The process of working out a theatrical script can be kind of a strange journey. Say you're working on a really interesting idea for the stage about a man who can't be killed and a man who won't shut up about it. Then you run across a talented local actor

Posted at 08:05 AM

Nov

Examining the Skull of Yorick

Film, Theatre, Eternity and Immortality: An Idle Rant

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

A little while ago, I ran into a very talented actor while waiting for a bus. The guy hasn’t appeared onstage in a while. Evidently he’s switching from stage to film and video. He starred in a short that recently screened at the Oriental. I

Posted at 07:21 AM

Nov

A Group Of Communities

Milwaukee Reflected in Chicago 20 Years Ago

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

I found myself suffering from the debilitating hazyness of a head cold from hell under the influence of decongestants. And I found myself reading Some Feaks--a 1989 collection of essays by playwright David Mamet. The briefest of the essays was a tiny lit

Posted at 09:34 PM

Nov

A Part In The Complexity

Soulstice Theatre’s Auditions for FLASETTOS

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

This Thursday and Friday, Soulstice Theatre will be hosting auditions for its production of the early ‘90’s Michael Finn musical The Falsettos. It may not have the kind of cache given to its biggest contemporary Rent, but it has a kind of ear

Posted at 06:18 PM

Nov

Holiday Alternatives

A Few Stages Avoid The Coming Avalanche of Christmas Shows

Russ Bickerstaff Curtains

With the flurry of openings this past weekend, local stages are beginning to gear-up for the holidays. There are well over a dozen Christmas shows opening right after Thanksgiving . . . and almost nothing opening this coming weekend, so I have little to d

Posted at 07:04 PM

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