By Mary Boyle

Most parents today can probably recite a line or two from at least one of Dr. Suess's stories for children; the sing-song, zany rhymes and colorful illustrations have made these books a story time favorite for generations.  What better way to introduce young children to theatre than through one of these well-loved tales?  First Stage certainly thought so, and they invite children ages 3 and up to their special First Steps production of The Cat in the Hat. 

First Steps plays are designed specially for the very young, and have the feel of a very souped up library story time.  The productions are short, for shorter attention spans, and children can sit on mats up close to the stage, if they're feeling comfortable, or sit on the big steps next to, or on the lap of, their grown-up.  The kind of jokes and audience participation that your average 3-5  year old would appreciate is used liberally and, with any luck, you walk away from the performance with a kid who has a new appreciation for live theatre.

Based on the book by Dr. Suess and adapted for the stage by Katie Mitchell, The Cat in the Hat is the story of two children stuck indoors on a rainy day with nothing to do when, quite suddenly, an unusually large cat wearing a hat (Sara Zientek) shows up on their doorstep and wants to play.  Although their goldfish (a puppet who is masterfully brought to life by Justin Lee) warns the children not to let the cat inside while their mother is away, the cat is most persuasive, and full of fun games and tricks!  There are two casts of young performers:  the Nerkles Cast, featuring Greta Dane, Grace Fischer, Niya Iniguez, Arlo Sturrock, Isabel Williams and Nolan Zellemayer; and, the Wockets Cast, featuring Gauri Laroyia, Marika Marklin, Lucia Santana, Ben Stull, Ben Usatinsky and Josephine Van Slyke.

Children younger than three do attend the performances, but it's important to know your child; if they can sit through a 30 minute television show quietly, they're probably ready for First Steps.  If you haven't read the story with your child before, reading it to them helps them to know what to expect.  There's a talk-back after the performance, when children can ask the performers questions, and they can even meet some of the young performers after the show.  First Steps performances are an excellent way to introduce young children to live theatre, and First Stage is the perfect company to make the introductions!

The Cat in the Hat runs through February 25th at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, located at 325 W. Walnut Street in Milwaukee.  A special Sensory Friendly Performance, with accommodations for families with children on the autism spectrum, will take place on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 3:30 p.m.  Tickets are available by calling (414) 273-7206, or online at www.firststage.org.

About First Stage
First Stage is one of the nation’s leading theaters for young people and families. First Stage touches hearts, engages minds, and transforms lives by creating extraordinary theater experiences through professional theater productions that inspire, enlighten, and entertain. Its Theater Academy, the nation’s largest high-impact theater training program for young people, fosters life skills through stage skills and serves over 2,100 students each year. As Wisconsin’s leader in arts-integrated education in schools, First Stage’s dynamic Theater in Education programs promote literacy, character building, and experiential learning throughout the curriculum, serving over 20,000 students each year. First Stage was selected to participate in the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2012), and was the recipient of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Eureka Award, recognizing creativity and innovation in business, education, and the arts for its Next Steps program for students with autism (2013, 2015). First Stage is a member of TYA/USA, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, Theatre Wisconsin, Milwaukee Arts Partners, and is a cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF).

By Mary Boyle

Way back in 1928, the Library of Congress created the Archive of American Folk-Song.  While there was a movement to collect Scottish and Irish Ballads already underway, department head, Robert Gordon, dreamed of collecting the songs of all the people, and he sent "song-catchers" around the country, from churches to prisons, to record cowboy ballads, work songs, field hollers, and even the music of Native American tribes.  The story of these people is the inspiration for The Rep's newest Stackner Cabaret production, Black Pearl Sings!

Susannah Mullally (Colleen Madden) is a single woman from New York, working to earn her place as a professor at Harvard by collecting the songs of slavery and, hopefully, finding a song that traveled with slaves from Africa to North America.  While visiting a women's prison farm in Texas in the summer of 1933, she discovers Alberta "Pearl" Johnson (Lynette DuPree), a woman who's life was built on songs.  Desperate to get out and find her daughter, who she knows is in trouble, "Pearl" trades help from Susannah for songs.  Although they both have what the other needs, it's their mutual love of music that will save them.

Directed by Leda Hoffman, with Music Direction by Abdul Hamid Royal, Pearl is a testament to the power of music and its ability to redeem a soul, but also music's ability to record and preserve our history and culture.  DuPree is a vocal wonder, giving personality, meaning and life to each song she sings, while Madden is her vocal opposite; light and lilting, where DuPree is rich and powerful.  Equal parts moving and funny, these two talented women bring the audience into their well-told tale, offering an immersive glimpse of 1930's America.

Black Pearl Sings! runs through March 18th at the Stackner Cabaret, located at 108 E. Wells St. in downtown Milwaukee.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.MilwaukeeRep.com, by phone at 414-224-9490, or in person at the Ticket Office (108 E. Wells Street).

About The Rep
In its 64th Season, Milwaukee Repertory Theater is dedicated to providing the highest level of professional theater to Milwaukee and Wisconsin, in addition to offering a wide range of educational and community programs.  Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Mark Clements, and Managing Director, Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater ignites positive change in the cultural, social, and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke, and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee's rich diversity.

By Mary Boyle

George Orwell's Animal Farm, the allegorical tale of the Bolshevic Revolution published in 1945, is enjoying a renewed popularity in our country, as of late.  A leader who appeals to the concerns of the working class, only to gain power for himself, seems to resonate with many; history, as they say, has a tendency to repeat itself.  Last season, the First Stage Young Company staged a splendid production of the story, and now The Rep brings Animal Farm to a larger stage at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater.

This adaptation by Ian Wooldridge, ​directed by May Adrales, scales down both the language and the characters in the story, and uses movement, music, and the use of puppets to fill the void.  Scenic Designer, Andrew Boyce, liberates the story from its English farm, and sets it instead in a dark, dirty industrial building, complete with disturbing fluorescent lighting.  Only eight actors cover over 12 characters, which Costume Designer  Izumi Inaba has dressed in a ragged one-piece white coverall paired with black combat boots.  Only their masks, which are rarely used to cover their faces, and a few spare props distinguish their individual characters.  All this sparseness means that the actors must carry the bulk of the storytelling, which they do, and they do it well.

Farmer Jones's prize pig, Old Major (Stephanie Weeks), has grown old and wise, and passes on what he's learned over his life to the other animals on Manor Farm: that all animals are equal, and no animal should ever have tyranny over or kill another animal; that their lives would be better if they were free of the rule of men, who are all evil and, once free of them, animals must never adopt their habits or vices.  Old Major envisioned a time in the future when animals would rise up and overthrow men, and he taught them a special song called "Beasts of England" to remind them of their destiny.  Shortly after Old Major dies, the animals have their revolution and run Farmer Jones off the farm.  The pigs on the farm, Snowball (Brendan Titley), Squealer (Tiffany Rachelle Stewart), and Napoleon (Melvin Abston), quickly take the lead, since they can read and write, enforcing a set of laws based on Old Major's advice, called Animalism, and renaming the farm Animal Farm.  The big draft horse, Boxer (Weeks), and his helpmate, Clover (Deborah Staples), are sure that their lives will improve, but the old donkey, Benjamin (Jonathan Gillard Daly) is skeptical, and Mollie (Stewart), the fancy carriage horse, can't quite swallow that freedom doesn't include lumps of sugar and ribbons in her hair.  

Rep Associate Artists and Milwaukee favorites, Jonathan Gillard Daly and Deborah Staples, remind us why they're favorites in this production.  Daly plays the only two humans in the show: Farmer Jones in the beginning and Farmer Pilkington at the end, but he really shines as the perpetually grumpy but wise old donkey, Benjamin.  Staples embodies the confusion and doubt that eventually becomes horror, as Clover realizes the truth about what is happening on the farm.  I admit I was doubtful that a small woman could pull off the part of Boxer, but Stephanie Weeks convinced me, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart brought much needed humor and style to both of her roles.  Melvin Abston's Napoleon was slick, and I particularly liked his portrayal of the salvation-slinging raven, Moses. 

From set design to costumes, the whole production of Animal Farm is designed to feel uncomfortable, and that's as it should be, because the story takes on some very uncomfortable truths: that a population that is uneducated is easily manipulated and taken advantage of; that when people have too much power, they tend to abuse it; that when a certain section of the population is deemed better than or less than the rest of the population, bad things happen for most of the population; that keeping your head down and working harder when things get bad is actually not the solution to any problems.  The crazy thing about Animal Farm is that, in essence, it is a story that has played out over and over again throughout the course of human history, yet people somehow fail to recognize and learn from it.  What makes the story so relevant today is that there is evidence of it happening here and now and, if we don't pay attention, history will most assuredly repeat itself.  The time is now to address these uncomfortable truths, and Animal Farm is an excellent conversation starter.

Animal Farm runs through February 11th at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, located at 108 East Wells Street in Milwaukee.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.milwaukeerep.com, by calling (414) 224-9490, or in person at the Box Office, also located at 108 E. Wells St.  

About The Rep
In its 64th Season, Milwaukee Repertory Theater is dedicated to providing the highest level of professional theater to Milwaukee and Wisconsin, in addition to offering a wide range of educational and community programs.  Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Mark Clements, and Managing Director, Chad Bauman, Milwaukee Repertory Theater ignites positive change in the cultural, social, and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke, and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee's rich diversity.

By Mary Boyle

I am an enormous fan of Children's Literature, and one of my very favorite storytellers is Kate DiCamillo, the award-winning author of Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux (both of which were made into films), among many others.  Although it is not one of her best-known books, my very favorite novel by DiCamillo is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, so I was thrilled to see what First Stage would do with it.

What I love most about DiCamillo's writing is that she doesn't talk down to children, and she doesn't try to soften or sugarcoat the hardness and bitterness of life, which makes her fairy tales relatable and appealing to all ages.  The story is perhaps what would happen if you combined The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; a story of love, but also a story in which the main character must travel far and go through trials and tribulations so that, when he returns home again, he realizes everything he needed was right there, but he wouldn't have ever found it without the lessons he learned on his journey. 

Such is the case with Edward, who is an expensive and well-made China rabbit.  Being made of China, Edward can't talk, but he has his thoughts, which are eloquently expressed by the amazing Matt Daniels, who was recently seen at First Stage as Snoopy in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Edward was a custom-made gift for a little girl named Abilene Tulane (Young Performers, Marianna Malinkine/Bryn Dresselhuys) from her grandmother, Pellegrina (Karen Estrada).  Abilene loves Edward very much but, alas, Edward, who is rather full of himself, is more concerned about how he looks and is handled than how much he is loved, until he is lost.  Edward's unintended journey will take him through Depression-Era America, where he will learn some very important lessons about what it means to love, and to be loved.

Fans of the book will be relieved to know that the stage adaptation by Dwayne Hartford is quite true to the story, but you needn't have read the book to appreciate this performance.  Only four adult actors (Brian Keys, Matt Daniels, Karen Estrada, and Kat Wodtke) and two young performers (Double Cast: Kamani Graham with Marianna Malinkine  and Bradley Nowacek with Bryn Dresselhuys) play all of the characters from the story, and each of them also contributes to the music, which is played live onstage.  Directed by John Maclay, with Music Direction by Jeff Schaetzke, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is an enchanting, heart-wrenching, beautiful voyage, and you will be all the better for taking the trip.   

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane runs through February 11th at the Todd Wehr Theater, located at 929 N. Water Street in downtown Milwaukee.  Tickets may be purchased at www.firststage.org or through the Marcus Center box office, in person at 929 N. Water Street in downtown Milwaukee or by phone (414) 273-7206 or toll free at (888) 612-3500. 

About First Stage
First Stage is one of the nation’s leading theaters for young people and families. First Stage touches hearts, engages minds, and transforms lives by creating extraordinary theater experiences through professional theater productions that inspire, enlighten, and entertain. Its Theater Academy, the nation’s largest high-impact theater training program for young people, fosters life skills through stage skills and serves over 2,100 students each year. As Wisconsin’s leader in arts-integrated education in schools, First Stage’s dynamic Theater in Education programs promote literacy, character building, and experiential learning throughout the curriculum, serving over 20,000 students each year. First Stage was selected to participate in the Partners in Education program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2012), and was the recipient of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Eureka Award, recognizing creativity and innovation in business, education, and the arts for its Next Steps program for students with autism (2013, 2015). First Stage is a member of TYA/USA, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, Theatre Wisconsin, Milwaukee Arts Partners, and is a cornerstone member of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF).​