Wednesday, May 28,2008

The Art (and Science) of Comedy

Martin Short makes them laugh

By Michael Muckian

To Martin Short, comedy is more of an art than a science. But comedy’s proper execution sometime carries with it all the rigors of scientific enterprise, at least for the performer engaged in the pratfall. To do comedy well, you have to have a natural talent and ability,” says the Canadian-born Short, 58, in a recent interview. “But the execution has to be precise, which means it probably has elements of both art and science.” Short will test his thesis for Milwaukee fans when he brings his act to the Pabst Theater. Unlike other comedy acts, however, Short will be sharing the stage with a band, the stand-up portion comprising just part of the evening. “It’s like a party with Marty,” Short says. “I sing, I dance, I do characters. I’ll probably bring three guys up on stage. . .

Tuesday, May 20,2008

One of the World’s Finest

Violinist Hilary Hahn at the MSO

By Steve Spice

Violinist Hilary Hahn is an artist who seems to have emerged on the classical scene like a rare plant fully grown—an entity so perfectly and unobtrusively developed that the effortless maturity of her craft belies her youthful years. Born in Lexington, Va., 28 years ago, she began playing the violin shortly before her fourth birthday, studied for years under Russian teacher Klara Berkovich and made her first major orchestral debut with the Baltimore Symphony in 1991, when she was 12. Soon after, she appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, then the Cleveland, followed by the Pittsburgh and the New York Philharmonic, all by the tender age of 15. Next she would debut in Germany, playing Beethoven with the Bavarian Radio Symphony under Lorin Maazel.

Tuesday, May 13,2008

Preserving the Past

Wisconsin’s architectural record

By Aisha Motlani

Nestled within the splendid interior of Milwaukee’s Central Library is one of the city’s well-kept secrets, the Wisconsin Architectural Archive. Established around the same time that some of the city’s architectural assets were razed to make way for freeways, it’s become a haven where the state’s architectural wealth can be safeguarded from the wrecking ball of fate or changing fashion. In the early-’70s, says Gabi Eschweiler, her husband, Tom, grandson of the celebrated Milwaukee architect Alexander Eschweiler, was made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Tuesday, May 6,2008

Green Light at the Skylight

New director takes charge

By Charles Grosz

An important new voice has been added to the Skylight with the recent appointment of Eric Dillner as the new managing director. Dillner arrives from a successful tenure with the Shreveport Opera, where he served as both general and artistic director. Dillner replaces Christopher Libby, who has accepted a similar position with the Vancouver Opera Association in British Columbia. Founded in 1959, the Skylight produces opera, musical theater and cabaret at the Broadway Theatre Center in the Third Ward. With a $3.2 million budget, the company presents over 100 shows a season, placing them in the top five of American opera companies in terms

Wednesday, April 30,2008

Garrison Keillor’s Radio Days

Lake Wobegon comes to Milwaukee

By Harry Cherkinian

Sue Scott remembers it well. As a veteran performer on “A Prairie Home Companion,” she was preparing for the start of another live radio broadcast (Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Sundays noon to 2 p.m. on WUWM 89.7 FM). But this time something was wrong—specifically, the script. Everybody on stage, including host Garrison Keillor, had the wrong script. “Garrison is live on the air and he’s literally hugging [performer] Tim Russell, writing lines in the margin of Tim’s script as Tim is speaking,” she recalls. “Garrison’s got his black Sharpie out—he must have stock in those Sharpies since we have cases backstage—and there’s no time to bring out a new script.

Wednesday, April 23,2008

Beware the Killer Rabbits!

Monty Python’s loopy musical

By Robert Richard Jorge

Welcome to the wonderfully wicked, wacky-world wisdom of Monty Python’s Spamalot, a daft musical running for a week at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts starting April 29. From flying cows to a killer rabbit, Spamalot is the loopiest musical (“lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail) that ever trod theater boards in the 21st century. Or any other century, when it comes down to it. They’re all here from the King Arthur legend: Arthur himself and the Knights of the Round Table—principally Sir Galahad, Lancelot and Robin. Arthur tours Britain engaging courageous knights to assist in his quest for the Holy Grail, that chalice used by Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper.

Wednesday, April 16,2008

Color Coding?

Racial casting in the movies

By Richard G. Carter

In the bad old days, black people in America were forced to endure demeaning minstrel shows and watch sheepishly as singing star Al Jolson performed in blackface. He wasn’t the only one. Other big-name white stars working in burnt cork included Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. In more recent years, even the likes of Gene Wilder, Billy Crystal and Robert Downey Jr. have corked-up to the consternation of millions of black folks who love movies. And some readers may recall Burt Reynolds playing an Indian in TV’s “Gunsmoke” in the 1960s. Hard to believe? Maybe not.

Wednesday, April 9,2008

Under the Radar Dining

Milwaukee's secret cafe society

By Tea Krulos

Milwaukee has an adventurous new flavor for its palate: its own underground restaurant. That’s about as much as I can tell you. The crew behind the venture has asked me to withhold who they are, when their next event is, location(s) and even the name their secret café goes by. I can tell you, however, that the name is a reference to Emma Goldman’s journals. They’ll be referred to here as “Café X.” Underground restaurants have sprung up worldwide and, in the United States, range from the Blind Pig outside of San Francisco to the NY Bite Club in the heart of New York City. Blind Pig offers a different theme for each opening and one of the locations they use is a two-car garage furnished with booths that were thrown out from

Wednesday, April 2,2008

Picture Perfect

Light, air and architecture

By Aisha Motlani

Just more than a month from now the Milwaukee Art Museum’s exhibit “Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945” will come to a close. In a review of the show, which brings together an enormous collection of works by Central European photographers active in the interwar period, I pointed out that one of its few failings was the lamentable omission of any references to modern architecture flourishing in that period.

Wednesday, March 26,2008

The Kafka Puppets

Josef K. on stage

By David Luhrssen

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.” So begins one of the most famous opening lines in 20th-century literature, the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial. The maze that would swallow the cipher-like protagonist Josef K. gave rise to the familiar term Kafkaesque to describe the unfathomable if not senseless, disorienting and incomprehensible procedures of modernity. Although Kafka never finished the novel, which was published posthumously, The Trial became a touchstone for the disaffected and was later turned into a suitably bizarre film by Orson Welles.

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Elections 2008

Obama seeks greater rein on financial institutions (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama says he wants Congress to pass legislation giving the government greater regulatory authority over financial institutions like American International Group.

Sources: Pentagon to stop forced tour extension (AP)

AP - The Army will substantially reduce use of the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates and will pay $500 to those still forced to stay in the service, defense and congressional officials said Wednesday.

AIG head shares US anger of bonuses but backs them (AP)

AP - The chief executive officer of failed insurance conglomerate AIG acknowledged Wednesday that the company's multimillion-dollar bonuses were "distasteful" to many and had provoked a firestorm of wrath. "I share that anger," Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of the American International Group Inc., said in testimony prepared for Congress.

Analysis: White House, Dems backpedaling on AIG (AP)

AP - For the first time since last fall's election, Democrats and the Obama administration are backpedaling furiously on an issue easily understood by financially strapped taxpayers: $165 million in bonuses paid out at bailed-out AIG.

Pence: Return AIG donations (Politico)

Politico - House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence is urging politicians from both parties to strongly consider returning campaign contributions from AIG.

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Going Out on a Pier to Buy A Home

Late last week, New York City went out on a limb, or a pier to be exact, to help a group of people in Queens. For almost 100 years the 17 houses on Beach 84th Street Pier were owned by the state or