Category: Theater

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The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza AND We Get One Too! A WORLD PREMIERE

Over the past several years I have probably reviewed more than a dozen big stage musicals presented by First Stage, but I have never experienced an audience who were so fully engaged in the action…answering questions asked by the characters of one another…shouting or groaning when there was a controversy…or swaying and waving along with the cast in the big production numbers. It was incredibly heartwarming to feel the intensity and excitement from these young theatergoers. And once again, I was at a loss, since I didn’t have the backstory on the Pigeon, but I obviously am not in on the ‘joke’.

Are you ready for a song?

YES! This is after all a big stage musical and the music flows joyfully and easily tells the story rather than just illustrating it, in remarkable solos, duets, and ensemble pieces that just resonate through the Todd Weir Theater. AND I forgot to mention this is a WORLD PREMIERE. Oh I guess it’s in the title.

This is a holiday extravaganza but isn’t just about holidays. There are I think, three stories here. Pigeon feels lost and a bit outside the community and searches for meaning in life and his place in the world. Elephant and Piggie extol the virtues of BFF (best friends forever), and then things start to get squirrelly, with a whole cast of squirrels representing community engagement and social involvement. All incredibly brought together with the thought of a holiday extravaganza.

Kailey Azure Green in The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

Let’s start with the star of our show, The Pigeon! The Pigeon is played by Kailey Azure Green, not in costume, but as the vehicle for a pigeon puppet. Our pigeon rests on Green’s forearm while one hand activates the bill and the other the wings of the pigeon. Although deftly handling the puppeteering chores, the most fun is watching Green themself as they voice the pigeon and sing the parts and emphatically displays the pigeons emotions in their body language, voice, and the expressions of their face. A lot of fun and joy in their actions.

Now, none of the other actors are dressed in costumes or represent their characters in puppet form despite portraying any number of animals…because their feelings and actions are just so peoplely.

James Carrington and Rachael Zientek in The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

And our best friends? They are James Carrington as Elephant Gerald and Rachel Zientek as Piggie. Carrington and Zientek are obviously fan favorites since they got a spontaneous round of applause on their first appearance on stage. I have seen Carrington in a number of First Stage productions now and he embodies the spirit of what First Stage is all about. And he and Zientek have a very very engaging chemistry on stage…this is the third time they’ve worked together reprising their roles of Gerald and Piggie. And they have their own little drama as they are sure they have picked out precisely the perfect gift for their friend until they are overcome with a dread that their friend might not like it. Songs and drama ensue…and a little humor as well. They are simply delightful to watch!

So that covers the three adult actors in our big holiday extravaganza, and here’s where things start to get squirrelly! All of the other roles are filled by young people!

Adyson Ries (front) and cast in The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

And it seems we have a squirrel for every occasion. Our main team is planning the extravaganza…a lot of excitement and a lot of energy…and great plans get planned and great plans go awry…until In-Between Squirrel sparks an idea and the day is saved. Some highlights include the trio of Catchy Holiday Squirrels who sing a festive holiday song and appear to reprise it a number of times during the play. It becomes an ear worm for the Pigeon but is a delight for those of us in the audience who hear snippets of traditional holiday songs stolen or satirized in the song…until smack in the face…there it is: a pigeon in a pear tree! And watch for Defining Squirrel, a real fan favorite with the young audience, who enters the stage with a placard for ‘bigger’ words and their definition. The trope itself is funny on its face but there is bigger humor later in the play that I won’t spoil by revealing it here.

But everyone comes together in the end and a holiday extravaganza is enjoyed by all and I guarantee that you will enjoy it too. And Santa’s sleigh and an unnamed reindeer make cameo appearances.

Cast in The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! First Stage, 2025. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.

This is a challenging musical to stage because of the number of actors involved and the number of songs involved but director Michelle LoRicco has done an incredible job of bringing it all together. And as always the sets and lighting is first rate First Stage quality which stands on a par with any theater group in town.

I didn’t mention the young actors because First Stage always uses two casts of young actors. I saw the Hotdog cast and they stole my hearts…but from my experience, the Cookie cast will do the same. But keep in mind that there are two casts. So if you are hoping to see a particular young performer check the listings for which day their cast will perform when buying tickets!

But I do have one question that perplexes my aging brain. So if one of our young readers could fill me in. Why did the pigeon walk to the North Pole? I mean, one cool thing about being a pigeon is being able to fly.

The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza runs about 65 minutes plus a short intermission and is being presented at the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Performing Arts Center through December 28, 2025.

Recommended for families with young people ages 4-14 and festive celebrators of all ages

Ticket information and further details can be found here:

And extra credit readings: the Playbill and the Enrichment Guide

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The Milwaukee Rep’s 50th Anniversary Production of A Christmas Carol!

Fifty years is quite a noteworthy accomplishment that The Milwaukee Rep should certainly be proud of. But, you the audience, should be proud of this anniversary too, because without your love and support of A Christmas Carrol, it couldn’t have run all of these years. It has certainly become a family tradition with grandparents and parents sharing it with their grands and children…and I imagine that will continue for years to come.

Pictured: The Cast of A Christmas Carol. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

Over those fifty years, the Rep has presented a number of different adaptations and all of their popular actors have played the important roles at one time or another. I don’t remember how many versions I have attended. It certainly hasn’t been fifty, but I could have if I had If I had been so inclined (yes I am that old). The story is certainly known to us all and the characters remain the same, but no matter how many times you have seen A Christmas Carol, there is always something new to discover or a something that you forgot about to re-excite you or a new bit of action that further illustrates the story. Sit back and take it all in and reach out to your seven year old self as the interlocutors suggest when they are introducing the play and Mr. Charles Dickens, himself!

But this season’s presentation was somewhat in doubt for more than a few moments. In the wake of the Great Flood of 2025, the set for A Christmas Carol and most of the Rep’s off site workshops were destroyed in the flood. Amazingly, the set was rebuilt and re-imagined on the stage of the venerable Pabst Theater. So as in several previous years, we are again graced with Director and Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements’ adaptation and the streets of London appear and disappear as we watch, the spirits broadcast dread and awe as they vex and re-educate Scrooge and we again feel the timeless and timely joy in this story well told. So this season is more that a celebration of the salvation of Scrooge but the resurrection of a cherished season tradition in Milwaukee.

This year feels a little different. There seems to be more joy on stage. The cast seems to be feeling the story more, they seem more invested in their characters than in the past. And I just had more fun this year than I remember from recent seasons. Is that a result of the close call via the floods and the cast realizing what an opportunity they have to bring joy and solace to their audience one more time? I think that might be it…and I mentioned that to Mr. Clements on the way out on Friday night and he seemed to think so as well.

Pictured: Matt Daniels and Mark Corkins. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

And who is this marvelous cast? Well Matt Daniels is once again Scrooge. And he easily portrays the cranky irascible old miser in the early going…he clearly identifies as that Scrooge. And Daniels just as easily becomes the fearful timid old man in the face of the spirits and the ghost of Marley mid-play. But then he also amazingly transforms into the dancing giddy happy human being the story brings about in Scrooge. Daniels is certainly the Scrooge for this adaptation of Dickens’ story.

Pictured: Matt Daniels and Kevin Kantor. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

And our ghost and spirits? Mark Corkins returns as the Ghost of Marley. Corkins presence and movements certainly can fill the audience with as much dread as the fearful Scrooge who he is lecturing. His sonorous voice is uniquely adept at conveying that very sense of dread and seriousness. Audience favorite Kevin Kantor is also a returning veteran, again portraying the Ghost of Christmas Past. Kantor presents an eerie as well as ethereal spirit who easily manipulates Scrooge and initiates the breakdown of Scrooge’s resistance to the transition he is about to take on. Kantor can bring on the sinister with an amazing sense of grace and righteousness. And the Ghost of Christmas Present is once again Todd Denning. Again dressed in an elaborate green satin Santa suit, Denning is imposing, a bit dominating on stage. Denning’s Ghost is more a matter of fact than the others but he has no time for a Scrooge who is still teetering on the edge of disbelief…but Denning finally pushes him over the edge!

Pictured: Todd Denning and Matt Daniels. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

And there can not be A Christmas Carol without Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Cratchit is again played by Reese Madigan who is comfortable in his professional world as the lackey in the firm of Scrooge and Marley, knowing that the true meaning of life is family. Madigan’s movement from subservient wage laborer to loving doting family man is truly moving. And a highlight of each season’s performance is who is playing Tiny Tim. This year we are blessed by Harold Wagner, whose smile, energy, and enthusiasm fill the stage and gives us a delightful Tiny Tim.

Pictured: The Cast of A Christmas Carol: The Crachit Family. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

I do have one unanswered question that someone from the Rep needs to go on record about. How do they work the Ghost of Christmas Future?

Bring your best singing voices…there will be a sing a long with the lyrics and a bouncing ball of Joy To The World to end the production. And the Ghosts will ask you a question or two as they torment Mr. Scrooge!

This last bit I am stealing (?) from my review from 2024. It is no less true in 2025 and given the trials and tribulations to rebuild the set, an appropriate homage to previous presentations:

Clements’ version of Dickens’ London is aswirl with constant movement, song, and dance. From the many carolers, townspeople, the staff at Fezziwig’s, to the alms collectors, there is always activity as befits a major city street. All the more events to keep us focused on the story being told.

The Milwaukee Rep will be presenting A Christmas Carol in the Pabst Theater from now until December 24, 2025. For more information and ticket ordering, click here.

Extra Credit Reading: The Playbill!

And yes, it still snows inside the Pabst Theater on ‘Christmas’!

Pictured: Jordan Anthony Arredondo and Matt Daniels. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
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Next Act Theatre’s Boswell: A Tale Of Two Stories

or maybe three. And once again director Laura Gordon has proven herself to be a consummate story teller and oh my goodness, did Marie Kohler hand her a compelling story, but not necessarily an easy path. So you might expect that a play about the biographer of Samuel Johnson and his subject, to lean somewhat toward the academic…but it is surprisingly natural and human throughout and expands the meaning of friendship, ambition, and self-awareness across two centuries. Two centuries? Yes, Kohler has drawn us into parallel universes in 1950s Chicago and Scotland and London of the 1760s and Scotland of the 1770s. And here might be the motto for this play (my paraphrase):

Samuel Johnson: Boswell? Boswell?!? Where are you? James Boswell: I am here. Johnson: Where’s here? Boswell: Well here! Johnson: No, I am here, you are there!

And that is exactly how I felt and maybe how you will feel too, I am here, and you are there (as I write this, heard that last bit in my head in a perfect Walter Cronkite voice). And here is why…we will experience action in two centuries and they aren’t always mutually exclusive. Many times our 1950s protagonist will be much like us experiencing and watching Johnson and Boswell in the 1700s and there are enough parallels in culture and societal norms to feel related.

Left to Right: Josh Krause, Madeline Calais-King, and Brian Mani. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Joan is an academic from 1950s Chicago, the University of Chicago to be exact. And she has been lured to Scotland to research a trove of papers related to Samuel Johnson. She is working with her professor, who stays in Chicago, on her dissertation and a book on Johnson. Madeline Calais-King plays Joan initially as a determined, studious, and ambitious scholar looking to make a name for herself through this research. Calais-King is delightful here as she is full of life and curiosity and eagerness to begin but is a bit put off by her host’s various offers of Scottish hospitality. So Calais-King throttles down a bit when the personal one on one relationships are in play. But once alone with the source materials, she comes alive again.

Madeline Calais-King and Josh Krause. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

But not all is well with the materials, a trove of letters, drafts, and journals. Joan expected the writings of Johnson, instead these are the writings of Boswell…and that is a problem. Calais-King gives us a Joan who gets directly into the face of her Scottish host for deceiving her about the source of the documents and thinking she was mislead simply for the money. Then she has a problem letting go when she tries to discuss the issue with the professor, partly due to his preconceived notions, her own ambition, and technical difficulties around 1950s technology. Her host pushes back, being a distant relative of Boswell, she somehow spurs Joan into further consideration…and Joan through Calais-King starts to pace and quote from the journals and visualizes them (Boswell and Johnson) across the room just as they were in 1770. Eventually she starts to come around …she might be the last or maybe only the latest Boswell seduction. And Calais-King gives us a triumphant successful Joan in the end. By the way, listen for the term side kick…it seems to change targets during the play.

Left to Right: Heidi Armbruster, Madeline Calais-King, Sarah Zapiain, David Cecsarini, Josh Krause, and Brian Mani. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Brian Mani plays the great man, Samuel Johnson. He presents a Johnson full of ego and self-importance and as curmudgeonly as they come. Mani perfectly handles Johnson’s disclaiming in public, shout outs of word definitions or histories, with an assuredness that he is always right. But Mani can bring it down a notch once Johnson is outside the salons of the time and once he becomes friends with Boswell. Mani exhibits a friendship here that feels quite genuine. From blustering pomposity to gentile friend and traveling companion, Mani feels it all.

And James Boswell is played by Josh Krause. Krause starts out as an excitable boy in London and on to fan boy when he realizes that he is about to meet Johnson. Despite Johnson’s bias against Scots, the Scottish Boswell endears himself to Johnson and Krause easily moves his mood from fan boy to confidante to biographer. And during their joint tour of the Hebrides, Krause brings back that earlier excitement as he gets to share his love and knowledge and the beauty of his homeland.

Left to Right: Madeline Calais-King, Josh Krause, and Brian Mani. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of Next Act Theatre.

Early in the play, just before Boswell meets Johnson, we get to meet several other intellectuals of London. Sarah Zapiain plays portrait painter Joshua Reynolds, who has his own bit of ego and pomposity on display. Zapiain then goes on to play any number of ladies who fancy Boswell including his wife Margaret. At the same time we meet Oliver Goldsmith, also a writer of poetry, novels, and sundry, played skillfully by David Cecsarini. Cecsarini plays a number of other characters, but maybe his best role is of David Hume. Here is able to get into a heated philosophical debate with Johnson about death and religion. I don’t think that there was a winner here…but it gave us another look at culture and society of the time. And Heidi Armbruster also appears in a number of roles (and in case you missed it, she is the playwright of Murder Girl currently at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre). Armbruster also appears as a noted personage in the role of David Garrick, the most famous actor of the time. Here Armbruster gets to emote and preen and prance about as Garrick. Quite a bit of fun!

Boswell runs through December 14, 2025 at Next Act Theatre at 255 S. Water St. Milwaukee. More information and tickets here.

BOSWELL is 1 hour and 35 minutes with no intermission.

Extra credit reading: The Playbill and the Audience Guide.

Madeline Calais-King, Brian Mani. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of Next Act Theatre.