When Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen passed away in 1991, he left behind a legacy of powerful, flamboyant performances and timeless rock songs that endure to this day.

Bright eyes and big hair, sprayed into mind-bending shapes took the stage this weekend at the opening of “Hairspray” at the Milwaukee Theatre, 500 W. Kilbourn Ave. Dancers shook their hips and tore the house down in what was one of the most impressive flashback showcases in recent memory.
The show centers around ‘60s teen Tracy [...]

Photo by Joan Marcus
Grease began its five-day run on Feb. 23 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 920 N. Water St., to a crowd of dancing grannies, gushing teens and a wide cut of the baby boomer nation singing along. A picture of the 1950s, the show brought something for everyone—hand-jiving madness, a [...]

Nihilistic youth, painted their faces in The Crow makeup as their too-tight concert tees threatened to fall apart after two straight weeks of being worn. The pretty girls are “all that and a bag of chips” and Pogs and Magic cards made the rounds.

Grease has been the word for nearly 40 years from Broadway to Hollywood, drawing famous names to roles that have become staples of American culture – Danny, Sandy, smart-talking Rizzo and the ever-elusive, beauty school dropout Frenchy. Premiering on Broadway in 1972, the show ran for eight years and spawned the 1978 movie featuring John Travlota and Olivia Newton-John.

It was late January and the kiss of the dry Wisconsin wind did nothing to comfort me as I stood near the lake amidst a crowd of hundreds. An overgrown man with a belly well-formed dashed by, his angel wings and black wig bouncing along with the rest of him. Off to my right stood a group of men in coconut bras and hulu skirts, laughing and shivering, waiting like the rest of us to jump into the freezing Muskego Lake. Welcome to the great outdoors.

Thousands of years ago, Hebrew scribes sat in a close-quartered room, carefully copying every dot and title of what they believed was the very word of God. This tedious practice was crucial in producing an identical story that would give faith to billions for years to come.

Dreamgirls follows the history of black performers throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s as they struggle for equality in pop music. The Dreamettes are a three-girl group with stars in their eyes who are chosen to sing backup vocals for James “Thunder” Early (Chester Gregory). Through this opportunity, they develop their chops and eventually venture out [...]

Charles Dickens’ classic work, A Christmas Carol, has had more incarnations than one can shake a Tiny-Tim-sized crutch at. Every holiday season, multiple companies perform the work and often the effort comes off like someone trying to reinvent the wheel.
This season’s offering at The Pabst Theater, however, manages to reign in the spirit of the [...]

Plaid Tidings follows the story of Frankie (Marty McNamee), Sparky (Joe Fransee), Smudge (Scott Stratton) and Jinx (Paul Helm), four young singers who in life were a four-part harmony group called The Plaids who tragically met their end after a busload of Catholic school girls on their way to see The Beatles perform on Ed [...]