From this morning’s email,: the Milwaukee Repertory Theater announces their one day sale for their 2023 presentation of their classic, A Christmas Carol, at the historic Pabst Theater.
The One Day Sale is this coming Monday, September 25th. Tickets can be purchased at up to 25% OFF if you use the code FALL when ordering. There is a limit of 8 tickets per order, so plan accordingly!
The Rep’s Box Office can be accessed online starting at 7 AM, here …or by calling the box office after 9 AM: 414-224-9490!
“Crazy, For thinking that my love could hold you, I’m crazy for trying, And crazy for crying, And I’m crazy for loving you“
Now when you read that, if you heard Patsy Cline singing it in the back of your head…this show is absolutely for you! And if you didn’t, this show is absolutely for you because you have a lot of catching up to do!
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater is on a run with special tributes to musical stars presented in their Stackner Cabaret. And they have extended it one more time with their opening offering for the 2023/2024 season. And it’s a long overdue tribute to “The Legendary Ladies of Nashville” starring Katie Deal!
Now Katie Deal is the real thing…for sure. Georgia born and bred and a stalwart of America’s country scene. And here in Country Sunshine, she brings us the back stories and hit songs of all of our favorite women in Country Music. So she has the twang and the swing and the charm that exemplifies all of the singers that she pays tribute to. And her enthusiasm and energy had many of us in the audience tapping our feet and singing along and there was a little chair dancing going on. And Deal recognized the fans who were most engaged with a smile, a nod, and when she could, just a little wave in their direction.
photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Now, I am not going to be able to remember all of the wonderful performers whose songs Deal recreated for us. But she nailed them and brought a lot of memories back for me since my first exposure to many of these songs came from my dad’s table radio back in the 1950s and 60s. But of course, Patsy Cline, as I mentioned in the opening, got a medley of her biggest tunes, ending with Crazy of course. But she also covered Dottie Wells, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, and a lot more! If you don’t hear a favorite song during this show, you aren’t paying attention!
And Deal is backed by a tight quartet of musicians, hitting all of the right notes and keeping the sounds alive! The band? : Jeff Hamann on bass, Johnny Rodgers on piano, Bob Monagle on guitars, and Terry Smirl on drums…AND Kristin Doty on supporting vocals. This show wouldn’t happen without them! Too bad they were covering so many songs and didn’t have the time to stretch out a bit and show us all of their chops!
The only thing I wanted from this show that I didn’t get…more music! LOL! Yeah, I would have loved more Dottie or Emmylou or Linda or Patsy! But I loved what I got. And yes, as I suggested in the opening, this show is for everybody!
Country Sunshine just opened so there is plenty of time to catch it, although don’t wait too long, because I expect that it will be a popular ticket.
Yesterday (Sunday July 23, 2023), I went off on a little adventure. Last week, Ghostlight Theatre invited me to visit them at the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac as they presented the musical based on Green Day’s American Idiot album. Well I wasn’t familiar with Ghostlight although I had seen them on social media and I wasn’t familiar with the Sadoff Center either…and sadly I probably hadn’t visited Fond du Lac in a decade or more. And although I was aware the American Idiot was a very successful and award winning musical, I hadn’t really taken much notice of it. So I was intrigued and once I confirmed which date worked in my schedule, off I went to Fondy!
full cast : photos provided by Ghostlight Theatre
I really want to talk about Ghostlight’s presentation of American Idiot rather than the musical’s book, so I am just going to allow their press release to fill us in on the background:
The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical Green Day’s AMERICAN IDIOT, based on the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album, boldly takes the American musical where it’s never gone before. This high-octane show includes every song from Green Day’s album, AMERICAN IDIOT, as well as several songs from its follow-up release, 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN.
Johnny, Tunny and Will struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world. When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged when Tunny enters the armed forces; Will is called back home to attend to family responsibilities, and Johnny’s attention becomes divided by a love interest and a hazardous new friendship. An energy-fueled rock opera, AMERICAN IDIOT, features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day’s groundbreaking album to tell the story.
But just a side note on the musical itself before we get into the fun: the quote says “features little dialogue” and I did find that a little disconcerting and didn’t always follow the story line via just the songs. Maybe if I was a little more familiar with Green Day’s catalog that might not have been an issue.
photos provided by Ghostlight Theatre
The Sadoff theater space has a beautiful proscenium arch stage with all of the classic plaster decoration common in classic theater settings. But dare say, given the number of cast members and the variety of settings, they needed additional action space. So a thrust stage was added out front with an orchestra pit smack dab in the center where the rock band worked to bring us all of the sounds of the original songs! And around the stage additional small settings gave us bedrooms, family rooms, ladders for emphasis, and a great back wall for projection of various videos that help illustrate the story.
And before I go further: the photos are from rehearsals and don’t do justice to the costuming and makeup that the performers wore during the actual presentation. I don’t have an attribution for the people involved with makeup and costuming but they deserve a lot of credit for putting us in the feel and mood of the era depicted in American Idiot. Bravo!
Editor’s Note 7/25/23: I found out this morning that the cast did their own hair and makeup…which was just amazing…and I am sure that experience added to their understanding and development of their character(s).
photos provided by Ghostlight Theatre
And a big WOW for director Christian Fleming. This would be a big cast to direct in any play, but even more complex in a non-stop musical like American Idiot. From the ensemble opener singing the title song, through any number of ensemble pieces, to duets, and solos, and small song circles, the songs seldom stop except for intermissions…or a few moments of dialogue presented as vlogs or asides by a lead character here or there…so the large stage was a necessity and put to very good use.
And the young cast didn’t miss a beat or a note. How they kept up the pace for essentially two hours (with a brief intermission) is amazing. But they did!! And these songs are NOT simple to sing and can challenge any vocalist’s range, particularly when they are trying to act and move about the stage or participate in the often complex choreography of the ensemble pieces! It was a pleasure to visit a smaller regional theater and find such talent and professionalism on stage! And this is a challenging piece…for anyone to take on…and I enjoyed it immensely.
photos provided by Ghostlight Theatre
And here is the cast list, again stolen from the theater’s press release:
Joe Gallo, Liam Ledford and Danny Slattery play Johnny, Tunny and Will. The cast also includes Lydia Rose Eiche Ross at St. Jimmy; Kendra Krouth as Heather; Betsy Katschke as Extraordinary Girl, and Eulalia Marie Carriveau as Whatsername. Ryan Bartley, Summer Feil, Jazz Leinweber, Alyson Nordstrom and Eugene Strei fill out the cast.
It will interesting to watch to see what Ghostlight Theater will offer next. They obviously have no fear about presenting difficult or challenging plays or musicals. And sometime in the future, I’d like to provide our readers with a bit more background on Ghostlight Theatre and their history!
