Tag: Theater

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Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years at the MKERep’s Stackner Cabaret

Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years is a story told by a tour de force of fourteen ballads sung by Cathy and Jamie, and no spoilers here since this comes from the Rep’s website: it is a story of falling in and then out of love…with Jamie telling their story in chronological order while Cathy starts at the finish and brings us to the glorious start.

Asher Muldoon and Grace Bobber. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep.

Brown is known for a number of full scale musicals including Parade and Bridges of Madison County and is in full love ballad mode here giving Cathy and Jamie a full range of emotions.

Grace Bobber is an enthusiastic and enthralling Cathy and throws herself into the character. And Brown has given her a number signature songs to use to work through her excitement and her dejection. On the other side of the piano shall we say, is Jamie as played by Asher Muldoon. Jamie is a bit more laid back most of the time and Muldoon covers all of the nuance between lover, creative writer, and practical businessman. A far more reserved character than we see in Cathy. In what would appear to be a love affair of substance, Brown has written around the edges and after a while I started to wonder why this couple was together and the inevitable became the inevitable. I just never felt that there was a real connection between them.

Grace Bobber and Asher Muldoon. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep.

Now, although we have an elaborate story here there is nearly no conversation. The entire story is told through Brown’s poetry and music, which presents an interesting problem for the director. How do you move the action and actor who is deep in story telling mode out front and center while keeping the play moving. Well, both Bobber and Muldoon are accomplished pianists, and director Kelley Faulkner deftly moves one or the other behind the keyboard as the principal story teller moves out front. And all of this is helped by the simple yet elegant stage setting with a central piano backed by an arc of stelae with abstract patterns. And of course, Faulkner also sets the changes in tone and time with some simple and quick costume ‘changes’ and instrumentation changes as Cathy and Jamie move from piano to guitars…and the music is stitched together by the efforts of Scott Cook, just off stage left, playing a subdued but key cello.

And this was an audience favorite…a very spontaneous standing ovation capped the evening!

Asher Muldoon and Grace Bobber. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep.

The Last Five Years runs in the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stackner Cabaret from now until May 18, 2025. More information and tickets can be found here! And make an evening of it and make reservations for dinner as well. You won’t be sorry.

Extra credit reading: The Program

Grace Bobber and Asher Muldoon. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep.

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Disney + Pixar’s Finding Nemo @ First Stage Theater

As you start to settle into your seat in the Todd Wehr Theater, you realize that you are now in a new and exciting undersea environment. First you take in the organic stage shapes that define a reef and other underwater environments and then you notice the waving blue lights that depict sunlight streaming through the surface waves and you are transported. So before our musical actually begins, Scenic Designer Kristin Ellert and Lighting Designer Jason Fassl, have put us in the right frame of mind to enjoy Finding Nemo.

There is a large ensemble here and as always there is a core of adult actors that play the major adult roles and then two casts of young people who perform at alternate performances. So if you are looking to see a certain performer, please check the performance schedule. There are links below.

Cast in Disney & Pixar’s FINDING NEMO TYA. First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

The version of Finding Nemo is an adaptation of the famous Disney + Pixar movie so most of the audience is going to be familiar with the story, but maybe not the storytelling! I mean, how do you depict the action of an animated movie, live on stage! Well, with a lot of very enthusiastic and dramatic actors…and a whole ocean of puppets!

Two of the three main characters are played by adults, Jake Horstmeier as Marlin, Nemo’s Dad, and Karen Estrada as Dory, a friend that Marlin meet’s along the way in his search for Nemo. Estrada plays off Dory’s bit of forgetfulness and brings out the happy and determination in the character. And when Marlin starts to give up hope or strays away from the task at hand, she is able to help him focus and stay on track. Horstmeier is a clearly determined and loving father here but shows us the occasional frailty in Marlin as his determination flags a bit from time to time. Horstmeier and Estrada clearly enjoy their characters and just as clearly enjoy working together.

Lainey Techtmann (center) and cast in Disney & Pixar’s FINDING NEMO TYA. First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

But of course the actual star of the show is Nemo! And here is where the split in casts takes command. In the Orange Cast, Lainey Techtmann plays Nemo and in the Blue Cast the role belongs to Simone Gong-Murray. When I attended for the Sunday matinee, Techtmann was on stage and absolutely nailed the role. I was pleased to see her on stage again, having enjoyed her depictions of Tiny Tim in the Rep’s A Christmas Carol.

Now there are a lot of other characters here…and every member of the ensemble played multiple roles. And this is where the puppets come in!

Mara Iligaray (center) and cast in Disney & Pixar’s FINDING NEMO TYA. First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

Rather than elaborate costumes and intense and time consuming costume changes, each actor carried a stunning puppet for each role. Sunfish, starfish, barracuda, sharks, octopi, seahorses, sea turtles, and a tall tall shore bird were all represented by puppets, as well as Nemo, Dory, and Marlin. Most of these puppets were carried on the shoulder of the actor who supported them on a stick near the tail and a mechanism at the head that provided support and the action to make the mouth move. And the bodies are articulated so the actor can make movements with the puppet that resemble swimming. So besides singing, dancing, and speaking their roles, the actors had to remember to swim their puppets and move their mouths to simulate their speech as they told the story. Simply amazing!

And I have no idea who Puppet Designer Jesse Mooney-Bullock managed to produce such a unique array of puppets and teach everyone in their use. I enjoyed this aspect of the production very much. And also special thanks to Directors Jeff Frank and Michael Dean Morgan for making all of this work. Just moving around all of these characters much less making it all work with such precision and grace is amazing.

And I was not the only one amazed. At the end of every performance, the cast assembles on stage and takes a few questions from the audience. Two questions about the puppets came from youngsters in the audience. One wanted to know how hard was it to learn to work with the puppets. And a cast member assured them that it took a lot of work but after a while it got easier but it took a lot of practice. And the second question was why they used puppets instead of costumes, and another cast member stated that it easier to switch to a different puppet for a role change than doing a costume change and moving with the puppet was easier to do.

Disney + Pixar’s Finding Nemo, Theatre For Young Audiences Version, continues at the Marcus Performing Arts Center at the Todd Wehr Theater through April 6, 2025. Additional information and tickets can be found here.

Run time is about 75 minutes with a brief intermission and Finding Nemo is recommended for ages 5 and older!

Extra Credit Reading: Playbill! and Enrichment Guide!

Cast in Disney & Pixar’s FINDING NEMO TYA. First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
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Every Brilliant Thing Enthralls With Insights, Hope, And Sharing

This is a very intimate play…featuring one actor as storyteller who engages the audience in the telling. And the Goodman Mainstage at the Milwaukee Youth Art Center is the ideal intimate venue for the telling of this tale. We all become family here.

Yes, we only have one actor/character on stage. The character does not have a name and begins their story with a monologue that explains what the term Every Brilliant Thing means and where it originated. And at this point it is important to mention that this is a play about mental illness and suicide. And our actor is a youngster when we first meet and we get to share their growth and awareness and thoughts through a decade or better. And at first Every Brilliant Thing is a list to help their mother heal…a simple list of Brilliant Things! But eventually it becomes a coping mechanism as our actor struggles through their life as well…and obviously suffers from a reluctantly acknowledged mental health issue of their own.

Elyse Edelman. Photographer: Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Director Molly Rhode as taken a risk here…and instead of casting a single actor for entire run…Rhode has cast Milwaukee favorites James Carrington and Elyse Edelman on alternating evenings. Which opens up a new question that I hadn’t considered before…what effect on the story will gender have? Will a female character seem more sympathetic? Will a male character be perceived as weak? ??? Edelman held the floor when I attended on Sunday March 2 and just mesmerized the audience. She is a grand story teller!

James Carrington. Photographer Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

But even without the dual casting this story will evolve differently at each performance. There are roles for the audience to play, as the actor selects audience members to play a vet, school counselor, and father. So bring your best actor voice and face when you attend. Depending on the actor and the audience member selected, the story will deviate from performance to performance and there will be a fair amount of ad lib activity on everyone’s part.

Elyse Edelman. Photographer: Ross Zentner.. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

But there’s more: There’s the actual Every Brilliant Thing List! When a new audience member found her seat next to me, I exclaimed, what great seats! And she replied, yes they are as long as I don’t have to be in the play…at which point Edelman came over and recruited my neighbor to participate…simply reading a line when her number was called: “Really Good Oranges!” There is some fun when a volunteer has forgotten their number and fails to respond on the first cue.

James Carrington and audience member. Photographer: Ross Zentner.. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Yes, the topic is mental health and some sad life events. So there are moments of feeling choked up with tight throats and teary eyes. But there is an incredible amount of hope and happiness here and laughter that make this play feel full circle and complete…despite the unusual format.

I’d appreciate hearing from any of you who experienced James Carrington in this role. I have seen him in a number of other plays and I am sure he nails this!

Every Brilliant Thing continues at the Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (just north of the Deer District in the old Schlitz Brewery area) through March 16, 2025. Run time: approximately 75 minutes, no intermission​

Additional information and tickets available here. If you have druthers on whether you see Elyse Edelman or James Carrington, the dates of their performances are listed.