Alice in String Quartet Land and more

Music

Two string quartets will be in action in Milwaukee this week, one day apart.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, the Fine Arts Quartet, in residence at UWM, will play at the Zelazo Center, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. Cellist Wolfgang Laufer is on medical leave; Andrés Diaz will fill in. Guest violist Paul Neubauer will join Diaz and regulars Ralph Evans (violin), Efim Boico (violin) and Nicolò Eugelmi (viola) in a Bruckner quintet. Music by Haydn and Aulis Sallinen is also on this program. Admission is free to all FAQ programs this season; but a ticket is required. Call the UWM Peck School of the Arts box office, 414 229-4308. (Say, isn’t there a football game Sunday? Oh yeah, starts later.)

At 7:30 p.m. Monday, the Philomusica Quartet, in residence at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, will play at the conservatory, 1584 N. Prospect Ave. The Philomusica comprises violinists Alexander Mandl and Jeanyi Kim, violist Nathan Hackett and cellist Adrien Zitoun. They’ll play an ambitious, interesting program: Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110; Górecki, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 62 (“Already It Is Dusk”); and Beethoven, String Quartet in C minor, Op. 59 No.3 (“Razumovsky”). Tickets are $22, $20 for seniors and students. Call 414-276-6076.

The Milwaukee Symphony is rolling out the heavy artillery — Wagner, three big voices and pianist Emanuel Ax — this weekend for its third and final round of German Festival concerts. Ax will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Margaret Jane Wray, soprano, Clifton Forbis, tenor, and Andrea Silvestrelli, bass, will join conductor Edo de Waart in a concert performance of Act 1 of Wagner’s Die Walküre. The program begins at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4-5, at Marcus Center Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. Tickets are $25-$95 at the MSO website, at the MSO ticket line, 414-291-7605, and at the Marcus Center box office, 414 273-7206.
Emanuel Ax will also be the main attraction at a Lynn Chappy Series house concert with wine and hors d’oeuvres. Jennifer and Joseph Tate are the hosts. This event begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3. Tickets are $100. Details here.

Theater

You could argue that every show at Dale Gutzman’s Off-The-Wall Theatre is a trip to Wonderland, but this one really is. OTW will bring its own take to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, as adapted by Jeremy Welter. Right there on the poster, they tell us This isn’t Disney. Maybe it also tells us something that Welter will play the Mad Hatter in this production, which opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, and runs through Feb. 13 at OTW, 123 W. Wells St. Liz Mistele will play Alice. David Roper designed the “psychelic” set.
Is this a children’s show? NO!
Tickets are $26 and $22.50; call 414-327-3552 or visit Off-The-Wall’s website.

Dance

Riverdance is back. Riverdance is… well, you know all about it by now, right? The touring company will pound the stage of the Milwaukee Theatre, 500 W. Kilbourn Ave., at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets can be purchased at the Milwaukee Theatre box office (500 W. Kilbourn Ave.), online at ticketmaster or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Prices range from $30 to $62.50.

UWM’s Dance Department is not your average college dance department, and its upcoming Winterdances program is not your average student recital. Accomplished undergrads — many of them already busy on professional stages here and elsewehere — grads and guest artists will perform big-time dances by big names: Mark Morris’ Canonic 3/4 Studies and Alwin Nikolais’ Water Studies. Premieres by Elizabeth Johnson (artistic director of Your Mother Dances), Dani Kuepper (AD of Danceworks) and Ed Burgess, of the UWM faculty, are also on the bill.
7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, UWM Main Stage Theater, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. Tickets are $22, $15 for UWM personnel and alums, and $12 for students. Call the UWM Peck School of the Arts box office, 414 229-4308.

Ongoing

The Milwaukee Rep: Speaking in Tongues, through May 13 in the Stiemke Theater; Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater through Feb. 13; Nobody Lonesome for Me, Stackner Cabaret through March 13.
Next Act Theatre: Big Boys, through Feb. 13.
Skylight Opera Theatre: Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, through Feb. 20.

Last Chance

 

Youngblood Theatre: Red Light Winter, closes Feb. 5.
First Stage Children’s Theater: The Magic Bicycle, closes Feb. 5.
Sunset Playhouse: Guys on Ice, closes Feb. 6.
Renaissance Theaterworks: Crumbs from the Table of Joy, in collaboration with Uprooted Theater, through Feb. 6.