Milwaukee Repertory Theater – Page 19 – an intuitive perspective

January 10, 2022

Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Piano Men

You will be entertained.

You will be the entertainer!

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Artistic Director Mark Clements has taken the piano bar and dueling piano motifs and subverted them in the Stackner Cabaret to warm our hearts on cold January evenings. Voila, Piano Men!

Pianists Nygel D. Robinson and Steve Watts share a minimalist stage and their respective pianos…working through song requests submitted by the audience (get there early enough to fill out a request card) and relayed to the stage via a tablet computer. So the show you experience will be different than the one I saw this past Friday.

There is a very comfortable camaraderie between the two men as they take turns fulfilling those requests…and a bit of underlying competitiveness as well. And it all adds up to good fun. And as they develop and select their playlist there is an easy patter between them and some anecdotes and stories to be shared with you! (you might hear some complaints about Milwaukee weather)

Some of the best bits are songs that they both play along with, sometimes with counterpoint from their keyboards, alternating the vocals on verses, or taking a verse and handing off the chorus.

You may sing along. Nay, you will be encouraged to sing along! You will be required to sing along. You will be the entertained and the entertainer!

And the stage was perfectly suited to the performance. Two baby grands facing each other before an aged brick wall with ‘graffiti’. And I am sure the acoustic properties of brick helped bring out the sound of dueling pianos just exactly right.

But be ready for the lightening round last 15 minutes or so when Mr. Robinson and Mr. Watts put away the pads…and try to identify songs that they know from the ones you shout out from the audience!!!!!

This is the Stackner Cabaret. So I encourage you to make reservations and have dinner before the show. AND the show is 90 minutes with no intermission, so make sure you have your beverage of choice and any dessert or snack in front of you before the lights go down.

Piano Men is at the Stackner Cabaret from now until February 27, 2022. As I said above it runs about 90 minutes without intermission.

One last thing: Mr. Robinson will be replaced by Colte Julian starting February 8, 2022.

December 28, 2021

PSA: Milwaukee Repertory Theater Cancels Remaining Dates For “Dad’s Season Tickets” .

Yesterday the Milwaukee Repertory Theater announced that the remaining dates for “Dad’s Season Tickets” have been canceled. Here is the announcement from social media:

As a result of COVID-19 cases with vaccinated members of the “Dad’s Season Tickets” cast, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the remaining week of performances to safeguard the health of our artists, staff and audiences.

Our COVID health and safety protocols have been robust and our ongoing testing protocols with our cast and staff did exactly what they were designed to do – detect COVID-19 prior to it being able to spread.

Our Ticket Office will contact those who purchased tickets to one of these performances, all tickets will be refunded in full.

Although a sad circumstance for the Rep and those of you anticipating seeing this delightful play, I have to give the Rep credit for making the tough and correct decision. Best wishes for a healthy continuation of their theater season as new plays start to open after the first of the year.

December 2, 2021December 2, 2021

Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s 2021 Edition of A Christmas Carol.

Yes it’s been two years since the last time the Milwaukee Repertory Theater opened their annual holiday run of Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol. And even though it was a Tuesday school night the audience was ready for some theater magic! And once again the Mark Clements adaptation of this Dickens classic delivers!

But before we get to the actors, lets talk about the action a bit. The most amazing and under appreciated part of the Rep’s Christmas Carol is the stage! Again and again, the stage rotates and resets on turn tables or giant lazy Susans if you will to present us with Scrooge’s office, London Streets, the Cratchit home, Belle’s home, more London Streets, Mr. Fezziwig’s shop, and the myriad sites that our various ghosts take our beleagered Scrooge to! It seems so effortless and natural but I can’t imagine the effort to make it all work just so!

And of course this year we have the long awaited return of Lee Ernst as Scrooge. He was after all meant to fill the role last year but was pandemic diverted to play Marley in the Rep’s streaming presentation of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol instead.

And Mr. Ernst did not disappoint! So completely made up for the part, he delivered the cantankerous Scrooge on the streets of London and in his offices, easily delivering the fearful Scrooge with his encounters with Marley’s Ghost and the Ghost of Christmas Past, to the somewhat belligerent and fed up Scrooge with the Ghosts of Christmas Future and Present, to the transformed and very human Scrooge post re-awakening.

And I had heard that there was a new ghost and was concerned that my personal favorite, long time Rep member, Mark Corkins wasn’t returning. But I was relieved to see his name in the playbill and I relaxed when he made his appearance as Marley’s ghost! Probably his scariest Rep role (well except for maybe his appearance in Endgame) and he’s taken full ownership of the character!

But there is a NEW ghost of note! Kevin Kantor is the Ghost of Christmas Past! Scary? Yes scary but not in the usual ugly or menacing way of a ghost or monster. But instead, behind a costume of white and glitter and dreadfully black lipstick, they control and manipulate Scrooge through the events and visions that will eventually touch his soul. And in such a fluid and elegant manner that you wouldn’t find it at all threatening out of context. !!

Now in my little section of the audience, there was a wave of noticeable energy every time Tiny Tim appeared! When you purchase a single ticket you never know who you will find yourself seated next to…but Tuesday night I was seated amongst the Cratchit family! The Crachits? Well not really, but the parents, grandparents, and extended family of Lainey Techtmann, who plays Tiny Tim this season. I almost got invited to the family holiday party…almost…sigh! What a wonderful bunch of people!

If you go: A Christmas Carol runs through December 24, 2021 at the Pabst Theater! Give yourself some extra time before the show because you will need to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at the door. And masks are required!!!

And I think I heard the Pabst Theater yield a short satisfied sigh when the snow started to fall on the audience once again.