It’s a rare occasion that I ever recommend a play without having seen it first.
As they say, rules are made to be broken. So, here we go.
For only three nights, Milwaukee Opera Theatre will stage “Antiology” at the Boswell Bookstore on Downer Avenue on the East Side of Milwaukee. The show opens Wednesday, Oct. 10 and runs through Friday. Just three performances, which has always been one of the only regrets I have for MOT.
Just as the Milwaukee Ballet should have more performances, so, too should MOT since the company delivers some of the most unique and stunning productions seen in any given season in this city.
“Antiology” appears to be another one, especially since the show is the product of the same team that created the highly-acclaimed “Lucy” that had its premiere at MOT four years ago. That show, about a monkey, was one of the very best I saw that season.
This time the music was written by John Glover and the words by Kelley Rourke. The main performers will be the fantastic baritone Andrew Wilkowske and the equally fantastic Jack Forbes Wilson, Milwaukee’s greatest semi-hidden jewel.
The show is based on the novel, “Eat the Document” by Dana Spiotta. The story is about a pair of radicals from the Vietnam Era, and their lives two decades later. Different people and different paths.
Perhaps I’m a little biased because I knew, and even planned, with two of the most famous women anarchists of the Vietnam era, Bernadine Dohrn and Katharine Ann Power.
Jill Anna Ponasik, the ever inventive artistic director at MOT and the artistic associate at Skylight, is the muse behind this production, and so many other memorable productions. For all of her “aw shucks” attitude she is a woman of formidable talents who should have a larger stage for her works (HELLO SKYLIGHT WHICH IS LOOKING FOR A NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)!!!
The production will feature the following instruments: guitar, piano, dulcimer, autoharp, accordion,ukulele, banjolele, harmonica, banjo, washboard, cello, toy piano, metronomes, saxophone, trombone, recorder and spoons.
All those instruments will combine in a jam to the following songs:
Our Prayer: Beach Boys
God Only Knows: Beach Boys
Good Vibrations: Beach Boys
River Song: Denis Wilson
Eight Miles High: The Byrds
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door: Bob Dylan
Broken Heart: Skip Spence
Maybe this thing will fall flat on its face, and I’ll be embarrassed by this preview. But I’d bet against it and urge everyone to see this three-performance production.
