A&E Feature

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Memories 'Spreads it Around'

No Bull at Port Washington's Dinner Theater

"Money! Like manure, you've got to spread it around to make things grow!" Does that sound like Washington D.C.'s philosophy for the past two or three years? Or decades for that matter?

Film

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Milwaukee Film Friend

By Robert Richard Jorge

There is something particularly unique about John Roberts' four-minute film, Mary’s Friend, despite its shortcomings ("And there are quite a few of those," chuckles Middleton-born Roberts, looking at his flat checkbook and recalling his trial-and-error initial filmmaking experience)...

Theater

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010

Memories’ Cast Tries to Rescue ‘Baggage’

Theater Review

By Robert Richard Jorge

Memories Dinner Theater begins 2010 with the Midwest premiere of Sam Bobrick’s Baggage. The title has more than one meaning, referring not only to a mix-up of luggage at the airport, but also the emotional impediments we tend to carry through life. For Bobrick, who offered...

A&E Feature

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

75 Years of Memories

One of many area dinner theaters combining food and shows

By Robert Richard Jorge

Zipping northward up Interstate 43, past the Milwaukee County line to where the gently rolling hills bear late crops, winter wheat or cattle in the remaining days of fall, you’ll find Memories. It’s on the outskirts of Port Washington—the “newest” dinner theater celebrating its 75th anniversary! OK, so it’s not “new” at 75 years, but it didn’t always bear the name Memories. Actually, it started out as Weiler’s Log Cabin Ballroom in 1934...

Theater

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Puppets of the Living Dead

By Robert Richard Jorge

Back for a third, consecutive Halloween appearance in MOCT: Night of the Living Dead: The Puppet Show, presented by Angry Young Men Ltd. Angry or not, there are female zombie-zanies in the group as well, all camping up their zombies’ parody. But first: Five Opening Acts, a sort of “Pick Your Favorite...

A&E Feature

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Labor of Love

A passion for classic movies

By Robert Richard Jorge

It's a Milwaukee version of the challenge "Build and They Shall Come." The passion that's driving it? Classic films. "I love to show old films to appreciative audiences," says Henry C. Landa, whose lifetime love affair with movies continues today with his Saturday night series Focus Films. After the North Division High youth entered the old UW-Extension on Fifth and State, he studied mechanical engineering...

Theater

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008

Caffeinated Comedy

Theater Review

By Robert Richard Jorge

Tears of laughter streamed down my cheeks at the opening of Triple Espresso in Vogel Hall, exactly as happened when the show made its first visit to Milwaukee. Back then I employed such terms as "zany," "loony," "nutty" and "giddy." This time the Espresso was brewed all the richer by the addition of Marquette grad Brian Kelly as genial host Bobby Bean. He is united in this "highly caffeinated comedy" with Paul Somers tickling the ivories...

A&E Feature

Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008

Oprah's Musical

The Color Purple comes to Milwaukee

By Robert Richard Jorge

Certain authors are gifted with the ability to create characters that simply cry out to be transferred to movie screens and theater stages. Alice Walker provided a shining example in Celie, the principal character in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple. Steven Spielberg first brought Celie to life on the silver screen in 1985, when he earned 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Later, Quincy Jones (who wrote the movie's score) and lead-producer Scott Sanders set the stage for a theater production in "Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple."

Theater

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hilarious High Jinks

Theater Review

By Robert Richard Jorge

There’s a new kid on our theater block. Lake Geneva Theatre Company premiered with Noel Coward’s Private Lives on July 4, offering its own celebratory bang. Bright, sophisticated comedies from the 1920s and ‘30s—such as Coward’s exemplary romps—took a nosedive into oblivion post-World War Two. “Realistic” replaced “Artificial” comedies. Using the memorable performances of Tallulah Bankhead and Donald Cook in Coward’s classic as a yardstick, the theater company measures up exceedingly well—which translates: “They mostly don’t make out like they’re doing Neil Simon.”

A&E Feature

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.

No Bull at Port Washington's Dinner Theater

Theater Review

One of many area dinner theaters combining food and shows

A passion for classic movies

Theater Review

The Color Purple comes to Milwaukee

Theater Review

Monty Python’s loopy musical

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