It will be up to you to decide! But I laughed between bouts of holding my breath.
Murder Girl has been selling out its entire run and as a result has been extended through December 7, 2025. So hint, hint, don’t dawdle! But that fact just added to my anticipation in seeing it at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre!
And what do we have here? A murder mystery or a comedy? Yes! Playwright Heidi Armbruster has provided a magnificent bit of Wisconsinana. I don’t care if that’s not a word, that’s what Armbruster has written! And with a delightful cast of characters that will seem all so familiar to those of us who celebrate our time away from work in the Up North of Wisconsin and dine in nothing but the finest local supper clubs. The one here that is the center of attention is Marty’s Supper Club, but alas Marty is no longer with us…but fondly remembered…and her twins run the place. Well sorta!
Marty’s Supper Club. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Marty’s Scenic Designer Lisa Schlenker knows the Up North supper club by heart. That quaint combination of beer signs, mounted trophies (I mean deer heads and muskies) and the local bric-a-brac that a small town bar is known for. Until we get into the action, it is hard to place Marty’s in a time frame. Much of the decor is so last century as to feel antiquey. Worn wood floors and paneling, totally past their prime bar stools, and the Formica dining table in the corner tell us exactly where we are and maybe why we are here. But then the TV and electronics are fresh from Best Buy! So are we here for the Friday Night Fish Fry or the Saturday Prime Rib? We are here for the murder mystery…ssssh…listen…can you hear the theme music from Murder She Wrote?
L to R: Carrie Hitchcock, Colleen Madden, Matt Bowdren, Bree Beelow, and Joe Lino. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
And the suspense starts immediately as twins Eric and LeeAnn enter a darkened Marty’s separately each thinking that they are alone…and surprise each other with a certain fright. Matt Bowdren, returning the MCT after his appearance in A Doll’s House, is Eric. And Bowdren’s Eric, is sullen, un-trusting, depressed, and a bit jumpy. LeeAnn is portrayed by Bree Beelow as fluid, self-assured, and ready to take control whether Eric approves or not. Both of them are clearly still mourning their mother, Marty, who died in a car accident. Questions still remain about the accident and they are mourning in very different ways, but Bowdren and Beelow both present as people at wit’s end…just at different ends of their wits. Eric is coping by keeping Marty’s alive and just settling for the status quo. LeeAnn has escaped town and found another life, so to speak, but as Eric reminds her, she keeps coming back. So has she actually escaped at all? In her bio notes in the Playbill, Beelow says she hopes to KILL IT on stage as LeeAnn…and rest assured she has done just that.
Armbruster has drawn three more very intriguing and very strong characters here. All denizens of Marty’s but not blood relatives…but given the small town vibe and atmosphere around the supper club…and the way the treat each other, they might as well be.
L to R: Joe Lino, Carrie Hitchcock, Colleen Madden, and Matt Bowdren. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Director Brett Hazelton (also Executive Artistic Director fo MCT) has pulled together a cast that plays very believable as small town service employees. Let’s start with Ted. A gentleman with a bit of background issues himself, Joe Lino gives us the strong silent type, well until all heck breaks loose and then he seems to be the strong anchor in a sea of chaos…often just being the support that everyone else needs. Carrie Hitchcock assumes the ideal caricature of a small town waitress as Charlotte…with a quick imagination, willingness to blurt out her ideas and thoughts, and protective of Marty’s and the staff no matter what the daily chores of the job introduce. And her perfect foil is the Other Charlotte. A really delightful role played by American Player Theater’s Colleen Madden. What incredible fun to see Madden outside of her trusting environment and seeming to be completely enjoying herself in this dark murderous comedy. She shows that she can be very very funny,
The Charlottes! My favorite characters. Left to Right: Colleen Madden and Carrie Hitchcock. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Murder? Mayhem? Yes and there are suspicions, suppositions, conspiracy theories, secrets, and more secrets…but all will be revealed in the marvelous language woven together by Armbruster and the pliant and engaging ensemble put together by Hazelton. Murder? Well there is a missing young woman, Emily, who was a waitress at Marty’s. She may or may not have had a variety of non-supper club relationships or interactions with our other characters. And there is her distraught mother, Jen, also a Marty’s waitress, who only appears as a disembodied voice on the recurring news casts played on Marty’s TV. And there are clues and clues and plenty of opportunities to tumble down a rabbit hole (or two). But the answers to all of this are going to be left between you and Armbruster!
Bree Beelow and Matt Bowdren, Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Run time: approximately 90 minutes, no intermission
Can you bring your family? Well, you betcha! We’d be delighted to welcome your whole crew for this homegrown holiday whodunnit! MURDER GIRL does include some strong language, as well as references to drinking, violence, and death. If this were a movie, we’d call it PG-13.
L to R: Matt Bowdren, Bree Beelow, and Carrie Hitchcock. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
In this Pulitzer prize winner, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has woven a tight two character play that talks about poverty, race, self-awareness, grief, family, mental health, alcoholism, and the humanity of life or the life of humanity. We have two black adult brothers sharing a single room tenement without running water and just one bed and a recliner. Lincoln, the eldest, is crashing at his brother’s place after being kicked out by his wife. Booth holds it over Lincoln that he has the apartment despite Lincoln being the only one of the pair with an income.
About midway through Topdog/Underdog, Lincoln relates to Booth that their father had told him at one time that he named them Lincoln and Booth as a joke. I think that Suzan-Lori Parks named them as such as an omen.
Dimonte Henning foreground and Anthony Fleming III. Photographer: Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Director Gavid Dillon Lawrence has done a marvelous job with a tough play to stage. Despite a single room set, the two characters roil through a number of moods and back. So finding the right actors, detecting the right attitudes for each act, and keeping the relationships feeling real is a major accomplishment. Lawrence’s choice in Anthony Fleming III as Lincoln and Dimonte Henning as Booth, I mean Three Card (later), is absolutely perfect. And there is never a doubt that these two are brothers with all of their feelings of family, brotherhood, competition, and legacy.
Anthony Fleming III. Photographer: Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Anthony Fleming III is an imposing Lincoln as Lincoln the character and as Lincoln the historical figure. So to catch you up, Lincoln the character was a street hustler famous for his three card monte game. But he gave it up to go straight. But the straight job he found was as an Abe Lincoln impersonator at a boardwalk arcade…where customers pay a small fee to use a cap gun to assassinate him. Depending on the moment, Fleming gives us a resigned man who is determined to stay off the street so accepts the irony and boredom in the job. But Fleming also can bring out the humor that the situation provides as well in a very easy entertaining motion. After all, chuckle, it is a sit down job. But then again, Fleming as easily displays some anger or disgust at where he finds himself today.
Dimonte Henning (left) and Anthony Fleming III. Photographer: Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Booth is the younger brother and a ne’er do well who looks up to his brother’s success at three card monte. He is forever practicing the moves and even renames himself, Three Card, to adopt his new role. Dimonte Henning brings a rabid energy to the role, with a sense of entitlement(?) but a lack of self-awareness. Henning also gives us a real sense of anger and disappointment when Lincoln refuses (initially) to help him master the game. Later Henning brings out Booth’s obsession with his ‘girlfriend’ Grace and his lack of sense around the relationship. Henning can easily swing the Grace mood from doubt to braggadocio in a moment…and he can’t help himself when he can dig under Lincoln’s skin about how his wife came to find solace in Booth’s bed.
Dimonte Henning (left) and Anthony Fleming III. Photographer: Michael Brosilow. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
This is not a healthy relationship and both Fleming and Henning exhibit tendencies of love and family and then flip instantly to bullying but they make it all work until: Lincoln loses his job to a wax dummy. And Fleming changes to a Lincoln giddy with success as he’s returned to three card monte cons and then adds on an incredibly persistent mean streak with Booth as the economic dynamic has shifted.
Fleming and Henning are the key here. They both have fully embodied their characters and have found a way to display all of the dynamics inherent in sibling relationships while also trying to deal with the pressures of living in the real world outside their door. And they bond over medicine (alcohol) but get separated by family history.
The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents Topdog/Underdog until May 11, 2025 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee.
editor’s note: my mid-winter vacation prevented me from covering a couple of things that I normally would have written about. And it also meant that I didn’t see two important plays until their closing weekend, The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s A Doll’s House and The Lake Country Players’, The Dining Room. So my apologies as you read my responses, these shows have already closed.
After Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen is the classic playwright that I most look forward to seeing on local stages. But given his place as a father of modern theater, is Ibsen’s work actually classic? Well, absolutely. So here we have the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presenting a new adaptation by Amy Herzog of A Doll’s House!
Herzog’s interpretation leaves nothing behind from Ibsen’s exposure of misogyny and the cultural and societal subjugation of woman in a male dominated society. But she does bring the language to a cleaner and more enjoyable contemporary feel that makes this version flow smooth and more easily understood for the modern audience. Unfortunately we can relate to the story of Nora Helmer as she tries to move from her position as a ‘doll’ to one of a complete and independent human being…as we see start to sense regressions in our current society.
Director Leda Hoffmann has taken full advantage of the new text and has put together a fluid and engaging presentation completely putting front and center the conflict that Nora experiences. Her blocking and timing of the play work perfectly and she pulls out the full implications of the story.
Front and center is Nora Helmer of course…and she is wholly embodied by Jennifer Vosters…who amazingly moves from being the ‘doll’ to realizing how much more life has to offer. Vosters’ Nora is lucid and aware and brings us into her corner immediately and holds us there until that very last door slam. But even in the early scenes where she plays to the ‘doll’ to her domineering husband, you can feel that she is aware that she deserves more in life than this. And given she is on stage for all but a few moments for some simple costume changes, I have to admire Vosters’ stamina and stage presence. Without Vosters as Nora, this play wouldn’t have worked nearly as well.
Josh Krause plays it hard and cold as Torvald Helmer. And despite his continual declarations of love for Nora and the cute nicknames, it never seems to go beyond his own identification of self and his own sense that he deserves ‘her’ and her devotion to him and his family. Krause certainly is able to bring that sense of entitlement to the role…and completely locks Torvald into that entitlement as Nora initiates her new sense of self…again, right down to that fatal door slam.
Matthew Bowden is Nils Krogstad…a loan shark who lends money to Nora and a bank manager with a past who is fired by Torvald. Bowden gives us a Krogstad who wants to find redemption from his past but isn’t quite sure how to do it. He eventually does in a very round about way and through the intervention of Kristine Linde, boldly played by Kat Wodtke. But when he is threatening Nora, I didn’t feel that he was quite sinister enough. And Anand Nagraj is Dr. Peter Rank, a best friend of both Nora and Torvald…and a daily visitor to the Helmer residence. And he has a secret too which is somewhat apparent but I don’t think it quite worked. But I put that to the words that Amy Herzog provided for Rank and not on Nagraj.
Normally I would close with information about tickets and additional information, but instead let me share this YouTube video about A Doll’s House from the actors and director:
