Fiery flamenco, MSO guests, and a novel Rep show

Theater

Photo credit Milwaukee Rep.

The Milwaukee Rep brings the Harper Lee classic To Kill A Mockingbird to life on its Quadracci Powerhouse stage this week. The production comes packaged with an array of community partnerships, including an affiliation with the Milwaukee Public Library for the National Endowment for the Arts’ The Big Read initiative, designed to get kids, teens and adults interested in reading through the appreciation of one novel. The play itself opens Friday, Feb. 3, and runs through March 4; tickets range from $10 to $65. To order, call (414) 224-9490 or visit the Rep’s box office.

In Vigil, opening Thursday at Next Act Theatre, bank clerk Kemp is forced to rush to his dying, estranged aunt’s bedside. He thinks he’ll get a quick inheritance out of it, but his aunt has other ideas, clinging on to life and keeping them tied tightly together in a perverse family bond. The show runs Feb. 2 through 26, and tickets are $25 to $35, with a $5 student/senior discount. Call (414) 278-0765 or order online.

Thursday, Off the Wall Theatre opens Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, their first show of 2012. The story centers on three Jewish sisters who reunite for one’s birthday, a meeting that gives them the opportunity to reconnect with each other — and their old selves. The show runs Feb. 2 to 12, and tickets are $23.50. To order, call (414) 327-3552 or visit the online box office.

Music

Gil Shaham visits Milwaukee for one night only with the MSO. Photo credit Christian Stiener.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra brings two guests to Milwaukee this week for two special performances. The first, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, is all about the visiting artist: violinist Gil Shaham. The Israeli-American performer, considered among the world’s finest, will be performing both Schubert’s “Great” Ninth Symphony and Brahms’ Concerto in D Major with Edo de Waart and the MSO. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $25 to $102.

Pianist Joyce Yang performs an “All-Rachmaninoff” concert with the MSO this weekend. Photo by Larry Ford.

The second guest, pianist Joyce Yang, comes on Friday, Feb. 3, but in these concerts the focus is on the composer: Rachmaninoff. She and the MSO will join forces on Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto, his most famous work, and his First Symphony, originally considered a failed work until a triumphant performance shortly after its composer’s death. Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; tickets are $25 to $85 (Sunday) or $102 (Friday/Saturday). To order for either show, call (414) 219- 7605 or visit the MSO’s website.

Alverno Presents resumes their season this weekend, with a visit from Iranian virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor and string quartet Brooklyn Rider. Both have been to Milwaukee before — Kalhor brought his kamancheh (spike-fiddle) to Alverno in 2005 and Brooklyn Rider performed with Frankly Music in 2010 — but heading to Alverno on Saturday gives you the opportunity to see both groups at once. Don’t miss that chance. The concert starts at 8 p.m., with tickets for $30. Call (414) 382-6044 or visit the online box office to order.

Dance

UWM’s dance department performs its annual Winterdances series this weekend. The six works in the program include a number of tributes to Ed Burgess, including a revival of “Gotta Go,” a Burgess work developed with Brian Jeffery in 1991, and “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ???,” a new work by Dani Kuepper that integrates the speech patterns of Burgess into the dance’s sound score, by Seth Warren-Crow. The series runs Feb. 2 to 5, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The last show (Sunday) features a remembrance of Burgess immediately prior, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $22, $15 seniors/faculty/alumni and $12 students; call (414) 229-4308 to order.

“La Pasion Flamenca” offers a fiery performance of classic Andalusian dance at the SMPAC Saturday. Photo credit Lois Greenfield.

Saturday, the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center brings the fire of Spanish flamenco to Milwaukee, hosting Flamenco Viva Carlota Santana’s La Pasión Flamenca. The performance features solos, duets and group works all inspired by the Andalusian cante jondo (deep song) style, the deepest and most moving variety of flamenco music. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., with a pre-show talk featuring dancer Julia Chacón an hour earlier, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35, $28 for seniors, $18 for students and $14 for children under 12; reduced-price tickets are available for obstructed seats at all performances. Call (414) 776-5049 or visit the online box office to order.

Soulstice Theater: Tick, Tick… BOOM!, through Feb. 11

Skylight Music Theater: Gershwin & Friends, through Feb. 12

First Stage: A Wrinkle in Time, through Feb. 19

Fireside Theater: Viva Vegas, through March 4

Milwaukee Rep: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), through March 11

Last Chance

Andre Lee Ellis & Co.: Jitney, through Feb. 5 at the Marcus Center

Sunset Playhouse: Nunsense, through Feb. 5

Renaissance Theaterworks: Neat, through Feb. 5