Author: Ed Heinzelman

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Music and Mystery Produce Magic In The MKE Rep’s ‘Prelude To A Kiss a musical’

Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Michael Brosilow photographer.

At the end of last season I was about musical’d out so I cautiously approached the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s opening musical. But not any longer, I am sold on Prelude To A Kiss!! This is a world premiere directed by Kenneth Ferrone. Prelude To A Kiss was developed in partnership with the South Coast Repertory and after being performed there is now being presented at the Rep.

With music by Daniel Messe and lyrics by Messe and Sean Hartley, writer Craig Lucas has adapted his play to a musical. And they have given us a bit of a gem in contemporary musicals. My favorite Rep musical since In The Heights. The story, briefly, features Peter who is searching for something, not quite sure what, and is ready to leave for environs unknown, until his best friend Taylor introduces him to a neighbor, Rita. And then all bets are off and we are transfixed by their whirlwind romance and easy assimilation into each others lives…until they get married…and the mystery begins.

And then comes the story telling. Lucas, Messe, and Hartley present a pretty straightforward attempt at documenting young and older love, its ins and outs and ups and downs, and the models we have for partnership and aging. The characters are clearly defined and fully rounded and we are drawn to each and everyone of them!! And the music follows suit. I really appreciated that few of the songs here are big production numbers where story gets lost or the lyrics are unclear or we seem to be going on a tangent that is good for spectacle while short on actual story. It really works as wonderful theater when you can watch and listen to couples or friends or other pairings as they converse directly in song and we were are able to savor every moment.

And the cast is simply marvelous and obviously are having fun working together. But of course the principals need some particular mention.

Rita and Peter, Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Michael Brosilow photographer.

Caitlin Houlahan is amazing as Rita. Flirty and precocious (yes) and sexy and then later moody and withdrawn. But Houlahan has this confident stage presence that just draws you to her and then she sings with a voice you just want to hear in every song in the performance. I hope that she has the opportunity to return to the Rep in future productions. She was a favorite of mine and very obviously a favorite of the entire audience as well.

Peter is wonderfully worked out by Chris McCarrell. Peter moves through a number of conundrums, first so eagerly giving himself over to Rita just as he was set out to leave town and then trying to figure out her complete change in persona after they are married. Others try to convince him that marriage changes people but he has the fortitude to buck that trend and discover the truth…and then fix it! And McCarrell holds his own in song and brings out the best in Peter and the best in Houlahan as well.

Peter, Rita, Rita’s mom and dad, and a certain banjo. Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Michael Brosilow photographer.

And other favorites are James Moye as Rita’s dad and Karen Ziemba as her mother. They are professionals in their careers but free spirits in their personal lives…and you can feel where Rita gets her own independence. There is a banjo involved (but in Milwaukee an accordion might have been a reasonable substitute). And Keirsten Hodgens’ sarcastic but loving Angie, Rita’s best friend and co-worker is also a stand out performance here.

Julius, Rita, and Peter at the wedding. Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Michael Brosilow photographer.

And a Milwaukee favorite, Jonathan Gillard Daly, makes a first act appearance as a strange unknown man at Rita’s and Peter’s wedding and sets the whole mystery plot in motion…and we later learn that he is Julius and will become an integral part of the happy ending that we all are hoping for.

And we mustn’t forget the orchestra. They are in residence on the second floor of the stage/apartment building and it is wonderful to have live accompaniment here. And the stage set at nearly three stories tall gives us some insight into why the downtown complex is being remodeled. I don’t think this set would have worked there as built.

Because of the extensive remodel of the Rep’s downtown theater complex, Prelude is being performed at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, WI. It runs through October 19, 2024 and additional information and tickets can be found here. There is plenty of free parking at the center and it is warm and inviting and very comfortable!

Angie, Rita, Taylor, and Peter. Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Michael Brosilow photographer.
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Laura Gordon Paints A “Ring Round The Moon” At American Players Theatre

Set for Ring Round The Moon. Photo courtesy of the American Players Theatre. Photographer Liz Lauren.

I don’t know exactly where to start here, it’s a tough play to write about. If I am lucky, this will write itself!

Let’s try this, from the director’s notes to the play from the incomparable Laura Gordon: “Ring Round the Moon is a play that I find difficult to classify. It’s a comedy. It’s a romance. It contains farcical elements, yet it’s not a farce.” I will quibble with this last bit…although a few definitions require horseplay for a farce (and I will maintain that there is a bit here), most don’t, like this one from Merriam-Webster: a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot. So my first review statement, we have ourselves a farce here of grand proportions and I loved every moment of it, in no small part as the result of Gordon’s direction!!!

And I have no idea how Gordon managed to put this on stage. It contains 12 major characters with speaking roles, dozens of entries and exits, as she mentioned any number of characters taking on an alias or two, any number of costume changes, relationship changes, falsehoods and exposures, and one hard put upon actor who had to play twin brothers! I saw it! I admired it! I laughed out loud! Heartily. But even now I am having a hard time remembering every morsel of the action. Yet, it moved and swirled with seemingly no effort…well except our hard put upon actor! Brava!!!

Nate Burger and David Daniel. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photographer: Liz Lauren.

Now, on to the twins! Twin brothers, Hugo and Frederic are of course somewhat competitive with one another in a typical sibling competitive way. And physically, they are identical twins and quite handsome, in a Nate Burger sort of way if you catch my drift. But their personalities are vastly different, Hugo being brash and direct and a bit diabolical, while Frederic is more reserved, maybe a bit introverted, and certainly a respectful young man. They are rich…well as many of the characters here are. And Nate Burger plays both men…very very well. But with their different mannerisms and vocal inflections, I have no idea how he keeps them straight, evokes the correct personality and vocal inflections, or for that matter, how he remembers all of his lines. But he does have a body double of sorts…one Nick Farasey who plays one twin or the other when they need to be seen off in the distance or somewhere about in the next room. But for us the audience, it’s look out, Burger just entered stage left, who is it to be, Hugo or Frederic??

One of the other standouts (no I am not belittling anyone here) is Barbara Kingsley, as Madame Desmortes, the aunt of two intrepid twins. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she isn’t above partaking in a bit of hi-jinks and subterfuge by manipulating the various guests and principals for her own amusement and a result where all ends well!

Phoebe Gonzalez. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photographer: Liz Lauren.

Others who amused above and beyond, Laura Rook as Diana Messerman who is in love with Hugo, I can’t imagine why, but is engaged to Frederic who is marriageable as her plan B. And Phoebe Gonzalez is amazing as ballet dancer Isabelle. Gonzalez easily and believably morphs from a giddy dancer for hire to becoming a bit resistant as Hugo’s pawn, to finally despair as too many things go awry?? Or they just become too fluid to manage?

But the farce here isn’t restricted to the aristocrats on view or the impersonators they bring to the fore, but to the servants. David Daniel takes a hilarious turn as, in the cast list, a crumbling butler, and Elizabeth Reese has mastered the dramatic eye roll as Capulet, Madame Desmortes, ‘faded’ companion!

Colleen Madden and Phoebe Gonzalez. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photographer: Liz Lauren.

Ring Round The Moon was adapted by Christopher Fry in 1950 from Jean Anouilh’s Invitation to the Castle from 1947 (which is described in the literature as a satirical play). But I still hold that in Fry’s hands it is a farce!!

Again, sorry that I am so late into the season, there are only two dates left. But info and tickets can be found here!! Play is just over three hours including two 15 minute intermissions.

Barbara Kingsley. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photographer: Liz Lauren.
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Racing Across The Prairie To Go “Dancing At Lughnasa” @APT

left to right, Maggie Cramer as Chris, Colleen Madden as Maggie, Laura Rook as Agnes, Tracy Michelle Arnold as Kate, Elizabeth Reese as Rose. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

Certainly the American Players Theatre has done this before, but not in my memory. But for Dancing At Lughnasa, the back wall of their venerable main stage in The Hill Theater was open so we could view the bit of prairie in the background. And I wondered why until the play started and a number of the Mundy sisters came running and skipping across the prairie to their shared home at mid-set. And this grand entrance sets the scene for ‘girlish’ frolics and fun, even though our sisters are now young adults. Well all but the eldest sister Kate, who is a school teacher and something of the head of household here…and determined to maintain a home and social standing of decorum and etiquette proper to adult women in rural Ireland.

The Mundy’s live in a small cottage just outside of the fictional village of Ballybeg in County Donegal. There are five sisters in all. Kate, the eldest, is a school teacher. Maggie, the uninhibited soul of the clan, is also the one who has taken on the drudgery of keeping the house. Agnes and Rose earn a bit of cash by participating in the local cottage industry of knitting mittens. And Chris is the youngest, and the mother of seven year old Michael Evans. They are also caring for their older bother, Father Jack who has just returned from a 25 year sojourn as a missionary in an African leper colony. He is home to recover from malaria but there seems to be something more as well. This is both a blessing and a curse.

Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

Director Brenda DeVita writes in her notes in the program, “…I have to confess a tiny bit of pride, a satisfaction rests on my chest. I have a lump in my throat. I love my people. They are the people of this play.” Well, she has also put a lump in my throat and they are my people as well. And there should be more than a tiny bit of pride involved…she has assembled an amazing cast from APT’s 2024 ensemble and she has clearly brought them together on stage with a genuine feeling of joy, angst, and love leaving little doubt that this is an actual family that we are seeing here.

Kate. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

Tracy Michelle Arnold brings us a believable Kate, a school teacher and the eldest sister. She functions as a matriarch of sorts given her role in the community as a school teacher and principal wage earner in the family. Arnold brings to life a bit of her stern nature and sense of Christian devotion but at times easily melts to a softness around her family and particularly Father Jack…well until! And Arnold also clearly depicts Kate’s disquiet around her treatment by the local priest and later her ‘release’ from her teaching duties.

Rose is a bit of a question mark…the most girlish of the sisters in a youthful way…because of apparent developmental issues. Elizabeth Reese portrays her here with all of the ease and joy of the childlike but as quickly shifts to a disquieting and tragic mood when Rose has apparently been taken advantage of my a local man.

Laura Rook’s Agnes is often hard to read at times but Rook provides us with an industrious knitter and yet still a soul that rocks with the family. And she apparently has a bit of a secret interest in the elusive Gerry Evans.

Chris is the youngest but has an older edge because she is raising her son, Michael Evans, her out of wedlock ‘love child’. She helps around the house and watches over Michael, but is still easily distracted by the attentions of Gerry Evans, Michael’s father. Maggie Cramer exudes an incredible energy and joy in life when Gerry is around the house…and as easily becomes moody when he fails to fulfill his promises…because we later learn that he can’t.

And Maggie, dear, sweet, Maggie. Colleen Madden is most often the keystone to any cast that she is in, as she is here. But, she was born to play Maggie Mundy. Madden gives us a Maggie in touch with her soul and is easily expressive of her spirit while quietly, well not always, accepting her role in the household. While working to outdo or overplay her sisters during their intervals of merriment, Madden’s Maggie is also ready to make her point about their reliance on her labors. Even when she wasn’t speaking I couldn’t ignore Madden’s movements about the stage.

James Ridge as Father Jack. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

And the ‘man’ about the house is Father Jack, returned from Africa to recover from malaria but also surrounded by a bit of mystery. A local hero particularly in the eyes of Kate, if you ignore his time spent as a chaplain in the British Army during World War I, Jack has served as a missionary in a leper colony in Africa. James Ridge is a superb Father Jack, providing the shuffling body of a very ill individual and a man seemingly older than his years. And Ridge presents just the right moments of hesitation as he forces himself to remember his sisters’ names and other common English vocabulary words that he’s forgotten while overseas speaking primarily Swahili. But as his physical control returns and his memory improves, we find the reason for the reticence of the local priest to engage with the Mundy’s. Father Jack has gone native and Ridge excitedly and vigorously acts out and vividly describes the various native ceremonies that he’s committed to memory and explains how ‘we’ used them in Africa.

Maggie Cramer as Chris and Nate Burger as Gerry. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

And Gerry? I am not sure exactly how to describe him but he is a cad and a romantic one at that. Nate Burger’s portrayal gives us a very active and somewhat suave Welshman who has romanced Chris and fathered Michael. Is being Welsh a foreign enough attraction for small town Irish girls? But he is footloose in a number ways, popping in and out of the Mundy home with a disdainful irregularity. But each appearance brings new hope to Michael and Chris…a hope that will remain unrequited.

Marcus Truschinski as the narrator, Michael Evans. Photo courtesy of American Players Theatre. Photos by Liz Lauren. 

And our last character is Michael Evans, a seven year old boy in August 1936 when these events take place. But the seven year old does not appear in the play…he is spoken to, looked after, spoken of, and searched for…and obviously loved and cherished by the entire household. But the physical Michael Evans is played by Marcus Truschinski. And this Michael is an urbane and well spoken adult who is the narrator here…and Truschinski slowly materialized on stage from the various wings to give us a succinct and telling narration on the backgrounds, causes, and results of the various events that we witness in Ballybeg. This adult Michael is of indeterminate age in the play, but as presented here, clearly a free agent adult.

One last kudo that I think is very important. I would like to thank Adrianne Moore, the Voice and Text Coach, and Director DeVita for providing for the lilt and melody of the Irish accents here without getting so dense as to obscure the dialogue. Clearly hearing and understanding the text here is very important to understanding the story.

I apologize that my APT season was later than normal this year and that there are only a few dates left to see Dancing At Lughnasa: but Ticket Info and Other Info can be accessed here.