For the week of November 28-December 4…
More holiday goodies for you this week!
Cream City Hot Club, November 30, Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, 101 W Mitchell St (transfermke.com)
Transfer’s popular Thursday night Martini Jazz Lounge series is getting into the Christmas spirit with a great lineup of acts in December, and it gets started tonight with the welcome return of Cream City Hot Club, Milwaukee’s tribute band dedicated to the “Gypsy Jazz” sounds popularized by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Guitarists Scott Hlavenka and Ben Dameron are joined by saxman Aaron Van Ouderallen and bassist Viktor Brusibardis to prove you don’t need amps to produce high energy music! And on this occasion, we may hear some holiday favorites given a Django twist! Rest assured the place will be packed and the house will be rockin’, so get there early for this FREE 6:30 show!
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, now-December 24, Pabst Theater, 144 E Wells St (milwaukeerep.com)
For the 48th year, the Milwaukee Rep presents its Christmas gift to Milwaukee, the longest continuously running (with a pause for the COVID pandemic) Carol production in America! Presented once again in the elegant setting of Milwaukee’s historic Pabst Theater, I wholeheartedly assure you the 2023 edition runs as smoothly as a finely tuned sports car, with a splendid cast (featuring many fine Milwaukee actors), wonderful music, gorgeous sets and costumes, brilliant special effects (with real snow!), and audience participation, adding up to a fantastic performance of the adaptation of Dickens’ Christmas tale by show director (and Rep Artistic Director) Mark Clements! But perhaps best of all, this edition marks the triumphant return of veteran Milwaukee actor Matt Daniels as Scrooge, following his debut in last year’s production. His magical performance is even better than last year, and for my money, the role is his as long as he wants it! Needless to say, snap up those tickets fast…You wouldn’t want to catch yourself exclaiming “Bah Humbug!”
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever-The Musical, now-December 24, Todd Wehr Theater, 929 N Water St (firststage.org)
If you’ve attended Skylight’s current hit production School of Rock, you might be thinking you’ve seen every musically talented kid in Milwaukee onstage…and you’d be wrong! Milwaukee’s premier family theater marks the welcome return of this holiday hit for its 2023 production. First Stage alum Molly Rhode directs this swell staging of the story of how Mrs Bradley (a great turn from the always capable Karen Estrada) has the assignment of directing the church Christmas pageant into her lap while contending with the pageant’s indisposed original director, the church’s pastor and adult members (Is that really veteran Milwaukee actor/director Laura Gordon as Church Lady Luanne? You betcha!), oodles of Sunday School kids (including Mrs B’s own son and daughter!), AND a family of kids from the wrong side of the tracks! Seems like an impossible task, but the resilient Mrs B manages to pull everything together thanks to some help from a neat music score and the wonderful cast, and you’ll be along for the ride! It’s great holiday entertainment for the entire family!
The Mousetrap, now-December 17, Next Act Theater, 255 S Water St (nextact.org)
You say you’ve seen the Rep’s current hit production of the mystery thriller Dial M for Murder, and you’re hungry for more? May I direct your feet to the intimate, in-the-round Next Act Theater, for their holiday production of Dame Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. And talk about durable, this stage adaptation has been playing continuously on the London stage since 1952 (also with a pause during the COVID pandemic)! And Next Act’s show, directed by local theater veteran Mary MacDonald Kerr, certainly lives up to those lofty standards, thanks to the talented cast that includes Milwaukee actors Libby Amato, Jon Daly, Doug Jarecki and Josh Krause. It’s a holiday treat that lives up to the lofty standards of the “Master (Mistress?) of Whodunit!”
Christmas Choral Concert, December 1-3, Schwan Concert Hall, 8815 W Wisconsin Ave (wlc.edu/choir)
Among Milwaukee’s great holiday traditions is the annual Christmas Choral Concert from Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Choral Music department, coming up this weekend at the college’s elegant concert hall (also home to former MSO Concertmaster Frank Almond’s recital series Perfectly Frank). Choral Director Dr James Nowack leads the Chorus and Chamber Singers in a program of diverse music that celebrates the holy season with carols both classical, traditional and modern. The spirited performances provide a great alternative to the usual holiday fare!
9th Annual WMSE Big Band Grandstand, December 3, Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 Vel R Phillips Ave (wmse.org)
This post concludes with the latest installment on what has become Milwaukee’s newest holiday tradition. The 9th edition of the WMSE Big Band Bandstand, hosted by Sunday Morning Big Band Show DJ Dewey Gill and Station Manager Tom Crawford, is one of the station’s biggest fundraisers and has drawn increasingly larger crowds each year. And this year’s show marks the first time a headliner has made a 2nd consecutive appearance! Get ready for the Action Jackson…Back by popular demand following last year’s sensational performance is Sweden’s Queen of Swing Gunhild Carling and Her Band! I kid you not when I say I’d run out of space listing everything in this super-versatile performer’s arsenal…She must be seen to be believed! And did I mention her band packs the dance floor with eager swing dancers, so bring those dancin’ shoes! In addition there’s a Silent Auction with oodles of swell items up for bidding! If you aren’t in the holiday spirit already, you will be after attending this swinging great evening at Historic Turner Hall Ballroom!