JOPLIN: A ROCK AND ROLL NIGHT TO REMEMBER AT THE REP

Only one night and what an incredible night to spend with Janis Joplin A single evening in May when the Milwaukee Rep opened One Night With Janis Joplin, created, written and directed by Randy Johnson, in the Quadrracci Powerhouse Theater. People in the audience spoke about the unequaled spirit of Joplin: her soul, her gutsy voice, what she accomplished in such a short time. She was beat up, knocked down and Janis sang about how life really is, a spectacular original, yet to be matched. And The Rep delivered a sensational concert that captured the incomparable essence of Janis Joplin, a scene rarely experienced sitting in those plush seats.

On the stage, the queen of blues, rock and roll and soul were reincarnated for this mesmerizing concert. Where the audience reveled in the music, alternating between performances by Joplin’s muses Bessie Smith, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin in the guise of blues singer Sabrina Elayne Carten. Her commanding figure and powerful voice embodying the uniquely American musical genre.

As an equally stellar performer, Mary Bridget Davies donned those bell bottoms, velvet vests and studded boots in a complete personification of Joplin. Staring at photographs from other publications, and then the playbill, revealed even the production’s costumes designed by Jeff Cone were stitched with a remarkable resemblance to Joplin’s real life concert moments. When Davies represented an uncanny duplicate of the legendary personality.  

To respond to these lifelike performances, to which three back up singers appeared as a Greek chorus of those famous 50's and 60's girl groups, the audience danced in their seats, echoed those gritty blues, especially to all the favorites “Stay With Me” and “Mercedes Benz,” or waved their fluorescent glo sticks. Where the emotion was immediate and spontaneous, passionate for the rock star the audience had locked in their memory, reliving what Janis knew all along, when she said; “The blues is just a bad woman feeling good.”

While Joplin defined that bad girl image, her “yet to be matched or rivaled” talent was unconventional in a time, the 60'’s, where mainstream culture decided the beatniks were farther out in their ideas than placing a man on the moon (accomplished by Neil Armstrong in July 1969). Acclaimed as one of the first female rock stars, Joplin was unbelievably insecure as a person and a performer her entire career, only until her accidental death at the age 27 in 1970. However, in these few years she carved out an outrageous life so her fans would admire her even more, clearing another outrageous path for future stars such as Madonna, Pink and Lady Gaga. Celebrities that followed glitzier versions of Joplin’s bohemian chic, even though Janis later adorned herself in satin and sequins. 

The production relives these moments of Joplin’s insecurities and how she craved adulation from an audience, told through Davies’ narration and songs, alternating with her famous muses singing the blues. A double dose of amazing performances accompanied by a marvelous eight-piece band with set and lighting designs based on originals by Justin Townsend. Joplin also drew and painted to ease her restless spirit and so her art, placed larger than life as janis lived, appears on the screened backdrop behind her. A tender portrait of her younger sister Laura, which the performance speaks to her creating, displays Joplin's innate gift and sensitivity, her other persona. 

Joplin's iconic wire rimmed rose glasses and feather boas dotted the Rep audience in tribute to the star, almost everyone completely immersed in the memory of the blues, Janis and those hippie days of the 1960’s. If anyone missed Joplin the first time around, in those previous decades, come to catch Davies recreate her phenomenal presence this spring. One audience member could be heard when they were on their feet in the final minutes of this one evening saying, "Please, please give me another night with Joplin. So I can rock all the way to heaven with Janis."

The Milwaukee Rep presents One Night With Janis Joplin at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through June 2. To see this mesmerizing production, please call for tickets and performance times at 414.224.9490 or click the Rep link to the left of the page.         by Peggy Sue Dunigan

THE REP’S COMPELLING RAISIN IN THE SUN RESTORES A DREAM

in the 1950's, at a small apartment located in a South Side Chicago tenement, one window opens to the street. An older African American  woman named Lena Younger, also called Mama, places her tiny flower pot in that lone sunshine brightening the dismal setting. Playing Mama, the award-winning actor Greta Oglesby creates a stunning stage presence that guides her family to the dream of owning a home in Lorraine Hansbury’s play A Raisin in the Sun. The Rep revives the classic 1959 drama that forever influenced American theater on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage this spring, and presents an award winning play written by an African American woman, a great achievement for any woman in the 1950's. 

Hanberry’s play loosely reflects a semi-autobiographical experience of her own Chicago family when they moved into a house in an “all white” neighborhood more than 50 years ago. In her play A Raisin in the Sun, the Younger family uses the insurance money received when Lena’s husband died, money his son Walter says “he earned brick by brick” as a hard working laborer to finance dreams for his own children.

This is a dream Mama keeps alive by searching for her own place, somewhere she could plant a garden, with plenty of sunlight, and “a home where you walk on the floors that you can call your own.”  A dream still consistent with those of many Americans, and those in the far reaches of the world.

In staging an outstanding revival of Hansberry’s play, The Rep’s production captures dramatic performances revealing soulful depth to the Younger family’s simple conversations. The words spoken by the characters relate to the desperation of a family, even outside the African American context, struggling to survive in a cold, uncaring world. Direct and honest, the dialogue could represent “any family’s” desire to wish for that better life and how to achieve that dream.  

Mama’s only son Walter and his wife Lena, played by Chiké Johnson and Ericka Ratcliff develop their relationship with palpable chemistry and the resulting stress. Braylen Stevens, playing their only son Travis in a Rep debut, offers another example of First Stage Children’s Theater immense influence on the Milwaukee Theater community in this cameo performance.

Playing Beneatha Younger, Mildred Marie Langford presents a perfect feminine rebel, a college age woman exploring her African heritage and her aspirations to become a doctor---A black women doctor in an era when any woman was only expected to marry well and be content as an appendage to her husband’s career. Beneatha’s two beaus, the American George (Gavin Lawrence) and Nigerian born Joseph (Christophé Abiel) beautifully represent the two sides of a cross cultural experience, where one assimilates into the dominant society or defends with pride the former homeland, the diverse perspectives often causing conflict. 

Hansberry’s riveting play, approximately three hours with intermission, powerfully connects to modern day audiences of any culture by presenting these complex discussions. Director Ron OJ Parson hones the play for the contemporary meaning enhanced through convincing costumes by Janice Pytel and scenic designs by Jack Magaw. Today, almost anyone would anxiously await a monetary windfall that could considerably transform their life. Or would try discovering a way to change living from paycheck to paycheck. Think about how another expected child would be a burden the family could not afford. Or how do you pay for a child’s college education with limited resources? 

The play’s conversations, questions, transcend any one specific culture, revisiting an individual’s hopes and dreams for life. Hansberry prophetically confronted issues that society eventually tackled during the turbulent 60’s and 70’s, yet still exist today. In a life cut tragically short, Hanberry’s real family, and the one she wrote for the stage, fought for their dreams to secure a house in a safe and sunny neighborhood. While contemporary audiences and cultures wrestle with these relevant questions, that have taken decades to show significant progress, the answers remain in transition. The Rep’s compelling A Raisin in the Sun provides one solution, one Hansberry wrote with conviction about in her play from personal experience: “I live the answers.” 

The Milwaukee Rep presents Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun at the Quadracci Powerhouse Stage in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through April 14. For further information and tickets, please call 414.224.9490 or click the The Rep link to the left.            by Peggy Sue Dunigan

CASH LEGACY LIGHTS UP RING OF FIRE

America’s legendary Johnny Cash was inducted into three musical Halls of Fame: Country, Gospel and Rock and Roll. At The Rep, the Stackner Cabaret’s award winning musical collection revisits Cash’s genius for melody and mood in their current production Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash. The musical revue strikes like lightening on the intimate stage while this outstanding five-member cast ignites a brief overview of the beloved musician’s life. Cash changed the course of 20th century American music with talent for writing and then singing his songs in his gravelly, bass-baritone voice.

Adapted, created and directed from the 2006 Ring of Fire Broadway production by Robert Maltby, Jr. and Assistant Director, Jason Edwards, who also performs, adds high professional class to the production. Their adaptation of the show loosely gives a story line to embody Cash as the repentant rebel he was known to be, a mix of angel and devil in his charismatic personality. Singing as the older Cash, Edwards profoundly resembles the “Man In Black” persona on stage. 

Newcomer to the Stackner Cabaret Trenna Barnes also reprises her role from other Ring of Fire productions as the women in Cash’s life: his mother, Vivian, his first wife, and then later June Carter, another legend in her own right. Barnes sparkled in these stage moments, as does her wardrobe by Costume Designer Holly Payne. Glittering rhinestones on her often ruby red dresses provide the feminine appeal. Cash and Carter finally married later on in Cash’s career, 13 years after they met at the Grand Ole Opry.

A trio of musicians represent “The Tennessee Three,” Cash’s famous back up band and were positively dynamite on the set, each one carrying impressive individual performing and recording credentials. Mark W. Winchester's fingers pounded and stroked his bass or in another number when he beat on a solitary wood chair in two superb percussion solos. Eddie Clendening, who performed the Elvis role in the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet, gave the younger Cash a brash irreverence with a James Dean edge while David Miles Keenan rounded out the backup band with mojo style. 

In this production, one song led into another, as the evening intoxicated the crowd. Cash’s musical contributions stand the test of time and cross all generations. The audience tried to refrain from tapping their feet to the humorous “Straight A’s In Love,” the solemn “In The Sweet Bye and Bye,” a bluegrass “Egg Suckin’ Dog,” or the sexy “All Over Again,” melodies from a tantalizing mix of musical genres.  The Carter and Cash famous Grammy winning duet, “Jackson,” combined with “I Walk the Line,” and the title “Ring of Fire,” hit their stage mark with equal impact. 

After June Carter died in May 2003, Cash continued to complete more than 60 songs until he passed away in September 2003. The couple that set the music world on fire for several decades died within four months of each other, and challenged the recording industry to equal their dedication and success, even when dealing with Cash’s recurrent struggle through addiction. In the Stackner’s electric Ring of Fire, this accomplished cast generated powerful performances visibly moving the audience in remembering the gifted yet very human Cash, Carter, and their incredibly irrepressible music. 

The Milwaukee Rep presents Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at the Stackner Cabaret through May 5. For information or tickets, please call 414.224.9490 or click the link to the left.          by Peggy Sue Dunigan

DREAMS DEFERRED INSPIRE REMARKABLE CAST IN THE REP'S CLYBOURNE PARK

When a play arrives with the accolades awarded to Clybourne Park and opens at The Milwaukee Rep, the audience’s expectations are set accordingly high. Bruce Norris’ 2010 multi-award winning play defines its inspiration in Lorraine Hansberry’s Pulitzer Prize wining play A Raisin in the Sun. Which takes the audience to the original roots in African American Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred:” What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Fortunately, Director Mark Clements presents a talented cast on stage to mount this contemporary Pulitzer Prize winning drama Clybourne Park. With the play beginning and set in 1959, the production’s first act depicts one house’s legacy that catapults to the contemporary 2009 in the second act. A daring cast assumes dual roles from each era to add historical resonance to these issues of deferred dreams. Where choosing to live in a respectable house becomes more than a particular neighborhood when Norris writes “where we all have our place.”

Set in 1959, home owners Russ (Lee E. Ernst) and Bev (Jenny McKnight) have recently sold their house in Chicago’s upscale Clybourne Park neighborhood to an African American family. Neighbors Karl (a powerful Gerard Neugent) and his hearing impaired, pregnant wife Betsy (the delightful Greta Wohlrabe), oppose the transaction based on the premise this purchase will devalue their own property by racially “breaking the neighborhood.”

In 2009, descendents of these characters from Clybourne Park again fight for the rights to live in the same house. Rising professionals Steve and Lindsey (the modern Neugent and Wohlrabe) hope to begin gentrifying the neighborhood and demolish the historic home by building sort of a “McMansion," complete with a coy pond. During each act, in 1959 or 2009, biting dialogue inhabits the neighbors’ discussion sparing no one, including those with disabilities, any color or ethnicity and sexual orientation to make the audience uncomfortable.

Add into this frail, human mix a son who returned from the Korean War and committed suicide, a lost child due to an umbilical cord wrapped around the newborn’s neck and a mysterious buried trunk in the house’s back yard. Norris’ play touches every burning social issue in ‘59 and now.

Keep in mind, 1959 marked an era before America passed the 1968 Fair (or Open) Housing Act to disable “restrictive covenants, “ a new law which then allowed all races and peoples to buy or rent in any neighborhood. While the Fair Housing Act remains an enforceable and principled law of equality, Norris writes in the play’s two acts: “You can’t live in a principle.”

This line inherently creates the performance's deep tensions, where each character’s true sentiments, often submerged in supposed politeness or political correctness, explode on stage. A remarkable cast that displays the accomplished abilities of Marti Gobel and debut actor James T. Alfred as the African American touchstones dissects the twisted humor, realities and skewed wisdom of Norris’ words. One example being when Russ swears in front of Karl’s wife, Betsy, Karl argues, “Don’t talk like that in front of my wife.” Karl responds with deadpan seriousness, “Karl, she can’t hear me, She’s deaf.”

Each line in the Rep’s timely production unravels another admirable “principle” dying on stage, to the characters’ and audience’s disbelief or with distressing humor, addressing those unspoken dreams one has whether gay, hearing impaired, a soldier, white, black or supposedly working as a temperamental Spanish (read Latino) architect. The associated technical designers, scenic, costumes and lighting, fine tunes the Rep’s production to perfection. This riveting, polished and definitively provocative Clybourne Park ends with a ghostly punctuation mark that deserves to be seen. When leaving the theater, the audience will wonder how to find those deferred dreams by contemplating what Bev sincerely believes when she says: “Maybe we should learn what the other person needs.”

The Milwaukee Rep presents Clybourne Park in the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater at the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through February 24. Additional discussions, programming and talkbacks are planned so for further information or tickets, please call 414.224,9490 or click The Rep link to the left to go directly to the theater’s website. by Peggy Sue Dunigan  

Commentary: The Complexity of Being an Adult Bully in How the World Began

Before the opening night performance of The Rep’s How the World Began in the Stiemke Studio, playwright Catherine Trieschmann spoke to a small audience at a unique Rep In Depth before the performance. The natural born Athens, Georgia resident had formerly lived in New York and now calls Hays, Kansas her home. While her husband teaches college philosophy and receives health insurance, Trieschmann raises two children with carved out time to write her intriguing plays.

Trieschmann uses the controversial issues of creation versus evolution in the classroom to frame the lives of her three characters: A New Yorker and school teacher Susan Pierce, a young high school student Micah Staab and his temporary guardian Gene Dinkel. A familiar Milwaukee actress Deborah Staples plays the displaced Pierce, while debuting actors Ben Chambers and Marty Lodge respectively capture the younger and older Kansas citizens.

The playwright also draws inspiration from America’s plains, this sometimes-desolate landscape where field meets sky at the horizon and includes the natural terrors that can destroy communities within a few moments time. Trieschmann’s Plainview, Kansas setting has recently been ravaged by a tornado, so her characters’ emotions are already exposed and raw. This setting becomes the incubator for the riveting collision of ideas regarding God’s existence and scientific evidence.

Perhaps more than presenting diametrically opposing viewpoints to “how the world began,” Treischmann provides examples of how adults bully each other and the traumatic effects they inflict, especially for the young Micah and teacher Pierce. Pierce needs to teach the appropriate curriculum without offending her students’ personal beliefs. Micah needs to stand for what he believes while avoiding the other students making fun of him for trying to show some measure of concern for his teacher.

When individuals refuse to listen to each other, practicing acceptance and tolerance for other persons and their beliefs, bullying can occur. Pierce is cajoled into, albeit by these Midwestern practices of eating Lemon Meringue pie, platitudes from a school boy that his friends were merely drunk and being stupid when they performed a terrifying act, and a guardian "only trying to do his best" for his charge, to change her beliefs personally and in school. However, these actions can all be seen as adult forms of bullying instead of earnest discussion that listens and respects concerns to seek honest solutions.

The dialogue presented in this play was subtly designed to force Pierce to “change” her mind, admit some guilt or even create fear because she was trying to teach a curriculum and had beliefs dissimilar to the majority. Whatever Trieschmann experienced by moving to Kansas, she projects insidiously accurate forms of how adults ‘bully’ one another. Why would our culture expect anything different from its young people in schools when encountering those incompatible with the majority, in dress, opinion or personality, when adults display these demoralizing behaviors?

Whatever one believes about the existence of God that contradicts science or any other divisive issue, the polarizing consequences from these direct confrontations that Treischmann portrays are immensely believable. In this day and age, many individuals experience trauma that compromises their ability to cope with life well or exercise empathy, similar to Micah, or Susan pushed when subjected to fear. While in command of Triechmann’s script, Brent Hazelton directs an accomplished cast that illuminates how adults successfully bully one another. Only calling these actions by other names to make them acceptable while also demonstrating humanity’s deep flaws.   

Take an opportunity to look at bullying from the another side, as an acute observer through the up and coming Trieschmann’s complex play. The surprise will be in the enigmatic ending and a thoughtful response when leaving the theater. How much do people actually care for the people that surround them? When Artistic Director Mark Clements asked Trieschmann if she thought culture was “getting better” at solving these controversial discussions, she pessimistically believed that human nature rarely changes. Then Trieschmann also commented to the audience that, “You can only [have a chance to] change people's minds unless you care for them personally.”   

The Milwaukee Rep presents “How the World Began” in the Stiemke Studio at the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through February 24. For further information, programming or tickets, please call 414.224.9460. or click The Rep link to the left.  by Peggy Sue Dunigan