In March, Milwaukee made its mark on the international world of Irish dance competition when two students from the Milwaukee area competed in the 38th annual World Irish Dancing Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Maggie Dunn, 19, of Whitefish Bay and 15-year-old Riley Seiler from Greenfield...

Jesus Christ Superstar was a first at many levels when it debuted on stage in 1971. It began as a double album in 1970 with staging to follow a year later and coined the term “rock opera”; it brought worldwide attention to its young composers Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics) and it depicted the son of God as a human being full of doubts and uncertainty about His predestined fate. The Shorewood Players are finishing up their 78th season with a production of the opera that, despite some problematic choices, points out the strengths of the music and lyrics built around the last seven days in Christ’s mortal life.

PianoArts of Wisconsin has come a long way in the eight years since its first competition. With the 2008 National Biennial Piano Competition and Music Festival running this week June 20-24 in the Milwaukee area, PianoArts has attracted some serious young talent. The 10 finalists hail from six states, including homelands of China, Singapore and Japan to compete for over $18,000 in prize money including scholarships. But as stiff as the competition is to make the Top Ten, so are the requirements, which this year include raising the contestants’ ages to 15-19 to allow for college students to compete. In addition, the Competition’s three finalists will perform . . .

Just in case you were worried, the spirit of punk is alive and thrashing, thanks in part to the eclectic collective Gogol Bordello. The group stormed the stage at the Turner Hall Ballroom last Wednesday, while a solid turnout of punkers, college kids and boomers (reliving their mosh-pit days) showed that punk marches on, even when mixed with a multi-ethnic sturm und drang.

For young Percy Talbott and the folks of Gilead, Wisconsin life is not a physical journey out of the small town. In their case, it’s a new way of looking at life within as they rediscover all that’s good about their close knit community. It takes an outsider like Percy to show the insiders where the dormant joys lie buried, waiting to be rediscovered. And life in Gilead centers around The Spitfire Grill, the homey diner crossroads where everyone knows, or tries to know, one another’s business. Based on the 1996 film of the same name, the stage musical version tells the story of Talbott . . .

The Milwaukee Ballet brought its season to an exuberant end with a finale that showcased the depth and breadth of the talent in this company, ranging from the classical to the modern, surefooted every step of the way. For sheer visual fun, Antony Tudor's take on the Moulin Rouge, "Offenbach in the Underworld" literally provided a glimpse of the "under" world of the can-can dancers (along with their frilly undergarments) as the different social classes meet up in an 1870s café, rife with jealousy, flirtations and ensuing brawls. Drawing upon the music of Jacques Offenbach, Tudor . . .

It’s that “perfect period” in the mid-20th Century circa 1959: Eisenhower was president, Ed Sullivan was introducing a nice young man by the name of Elvis Presley to millions of viewers glued to the new medium of television, and kids, for the most part, still listened to their superiors—parents included (the ’60s are just around the corner). Perfect timing for 12-year-old Rudy Pazinski to question his catechism teachings—and life in general—at the hands, literally, of the militaristic Sister Clarissa.

They are called Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, or translated, “The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices.” As enigmatic as the name sounds, they are best known for the incredible sounds they produce, particularly when singing the multi-choral folk songs of their native Bulgaria. Composed of 26 performers, this all-female a capella ensemble is touring for the first time in 18 years, making a rare appearance at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, Friday, May 16. And the music they make is exceptional. Originally known as the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, Le Mystere was first “discovered” . . .

Sue Scott remembers it well. As a veteran performer on “A Prairie Home Companion,” she was preparing for the start of another live radio broadcast (Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Sundays noon to 2 p.m. on WUWM 89.7 FM). But this time something was wrong—specifically, the script. Everybody on stage, including host Garrison Keillor, had the wrong script. “Garrison is live on the air and he’s literally hugging [performer] Tim Russell, writing lines in the margin of Tim’s script as Tim is speaking,” she recalls. “Garrison’s got his black Sharpie out—he must have stock in those Sharpies since we have cases backstage—and there’s no time to bring out a new script.