Post Script

First Stage begins 2022 with The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, an in-person production in the Todd Wehr Theater that runs through February 13. Cheryl L. West’s 75-minute adaptation of the award-winning book by Christopher Paul Curtis is, as the title implies, the story of what happens when a Black family travels from the North to the South at the beginning of summer in the early 1960s, and how the three children learn about segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, the Civil Rights Movement, and the violence that accompanied the country’s first steps towards racial equality. Under the dual direction of First Stage Artistic Director Jeff Frank and Brandite Reed, it is a slow, sweet story that just barely scratches the surface of its essential history lesson.

This will not go down as one of my favorite theater seasons. The first half of the year, performances were confined to computer screens, if they happened at all. And while the theater-starved among us were thankful for any new content, we all soon learned that recorded theater is a different animal than the live version. It’s not communal. It’s not an emotional conversation between performer and audience. It’s not spontaneous or ethereal. It’s not a unique shared experience that can never be replicated. Like film, it can certainly be impactful and sometimes even beautiful. But it is not the same.

Colleen Madden’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, is back, produced once again by Children’s Theater of Madison in the Capitol Theater at Overture Center. And if you haven’t seen it yet this year, it’s not too late! Tickets are still available for performances 7pm on Dec. 22 and at 1pm on Dec. 23.

Here are five great reasons to make A Christmas Carol part of your family celebration this year:

Of all the gin joints and theaters in all the world, I had to walk into Next Act. The name’s Friday. The date was Saturday. And the sign on the door said Red Herring by Michael Hollinger. The marketing material stated that the show was running through January 2. But running from what? That's what I was hired to find out.

Every year when I get out the boxes of holiday decorations, I make my way through the garland, tinsel, and ornaments my kids made in school, to find a pile of Christmas cards collected over the last ten years, neatly tucked away at the very bottom. And every time it is a lovely surprise, looking through greetings from years past, remembering the feelings of excitement and warmth they elicited, and revisiting news from friends as if I was reading them for the first time.

American Players Theatre’s production of The Gift of the Magi is like that. A story I have heard over and over since I was a child, this is the third time this particular adaptation has been part of my holiday entertainment, but on opening night the genuinely moving production felt like a rediscovered treasure – a delightful combination of nostalgia, wonder, and affirmation.

First Stage is welcoming families back to the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Center for a holiday favorite; A Charlie Brown Christmas. Directed with heart and simplicity by the company’s Artistic Director Jeff Frank, the show runs through December 26 and I think it’s just what we need to segue back into in-person holiday celebrations.

This year there is no intermission, but there are lots of COVID safety precautions in place to protect the youngest theater-goers — including vaccine checks, mandatory masks, and many blocked off seats. But onstage everything looks the same — Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the cast are here, thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. Extremely faithful to Charles Schultz’s comic strips, and relying mainly on the text of the original TV program, this production looks and feels like the holiday special of my youth brought to life. So why choose this holiday chestnut as a family outing this Christmas season? Here are just a few reasons I think the company’s first large-scale return to live theater is a great show to see now.

That “mean green mother from outer space” is back — Skylight Music Theatre has planted some mysterious musical theater seeds that have grown into an impressive production of Little Shop of Horrors. Directed with creativity and energy by the company’s artistic director Michael Unger (who makes his debut at the helm of a production here) and choreographed by Broadway talent Lisa Shriver, the show runs through January 2. With a solid cast and music direction by David Bonofiglio, it is a remarkable take on a horticultural horror story.

Four Seasons Theatre’s first post-pandemic performance is actually an encore of one of their last productions before COVID-19 closed the theaters. It is a remount of their sold-out All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, which will be presented December 2-12 in The Playhouse at Overture Center. Far from the saccharine Hallmark holiday specials that populate TV schedules this time of year, All is Calm tells the story of soldiers fighting in Europe during World War I. Using a variety of historic media, including patriotic and popular music of the time, classic Christmas carols, and text drawn from actual letters, journals, and radio broadcasts, the a-cappella musical chronicles the experience of trench warfare in the early 20th century. It also re-enacts one of the most heart-wrenching events from the fighting on the Western Front, when German and English foot soldiers called an impromptu truce so they could all celebrate Christmas together in No Man’s Land.

Broadway is back at Overture Center and the first offering is simply stunning; it’s the touring production of Bartlett Sher’s 2015 production of Fiddler on the Roof, here through Nov. 21. The sixth iteration of the classic tale to grace Broadway’s boards, Sher’s take on Tevye the milkman and his five daughters living in a close-knit, Jewish community in turn-of-the-century Russia is at once traditional and startlingly new. Whether you have seen Fiddler before — in countless high school and community theater productions or in the 1971 movie featuring Chaim Topol — or if you are new to the story of family, religion, social change, and political unrest, this is a production you should see. Here are a few reasons why:

The prolific bel canto composer Gaetano Donizetti created 70 operas in total, but his mid-career piece, Lucia di Lammermoor is one of his most popular. The tale of rival families, star-crossed lovers, betrayal, and murder in a Scottish castle is based on a novel of the same name by Sir Walter Scott, with the generous influence of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It endures today with spectacular passages for each of the main characters and a moody, melodramatic story set in the Highlands.

After an 18-month “intermission” the Madison Opera welcomed audiences back to live performances at Overture Center on November 5 and 7, with a beautiful production of Lucia, featuring an impressive cast of both local and national talent, including a stunning role debut for soprano Jeni Houser as the title character. The opera’s accomplished principals, exceptional orchestra led by John DeMain, and outsized production elements were a perfect reminder of all we had been missing during the months when COVID shuttered the theater.