The Cap Times • 5th June 2022

Capital City Theatre's 'Great Comet' is a Russian barn burner

The tightly swirling action of “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” feels like being dropped in the middle of a cyclone. Dancers leap on tables and into each other’s arms, fighting and falling just inches from audience knees. Be prepared to swivel in your seat and let the story sweep you up.

The Cap Times • 30th April 2022

The party's on at Madison Opera's rowdy 'Orpheus in the Underworld'

Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” is about fun, mocking classical authors, art and mythology, and a bunch of jokes we don’t totally get 160-some years later.

The Cap Times • 18th April 2022

'Russian Troll Farm' is a comedy of confusion (and killing democracy)

By now, many folks have heard about Russian troll factories — office buildings full of workers whose job it was (and is) to convince Americans that democracy is pointless. The danger is to assume we’re immune. “These trolls were manipulating people across the political spectrum, on the left and on the right, and they were doing it for all kinds of different reasons,” said Sarah Gancher, whose dark comedy, “Russian Troll Farm,” opens Friday, April 22 in the Overture Playhouse.

The Cap Times • 23rd February 2022

Can't stop, won't stop: 'Hairspray' dances for its life

The non-Equity national tour of “Hairspray” is at full-on puree in Overture Hall this week. It’s like getting smacked with a rainbow. But maybe, while the clouds spit hail and spring feels three years away, a little color is just what we need?

The Cap Times • 11th February 2022

Designers set the stage for romance in Madison Opera's 'She Loves Me'

“It costs money to create original theater,” said R. Eric Stone, the Iowa-based scenic designer who designed “She Loves Me.” “So courage to Madison Opera, and any and every company, that doesn’t go the route every single production of bussing in backdrops. It’s great that Madison Opera does as many original productions as they can.”

The Cap Times • 3rd December 2021

New Farwell Gallery showcases 40 artists in McFarland

Farwell Gallery features work by some 40 artists in a variety of media, including glass-on-glass mosaic pieces by owner Kristin Ellis. She lives close enough to the gallery to walk there.

The Cap Times • 24th November 2021

Meet five Latinx artists changing the face of Madison

CultivARTE is one of several initiatives working to increase recognition, representation and funds for artists who live in Dane County and identify, broadly, as Latinx.

The Cap Times • 18th November 2021

Broadway-bound 'Paradise Square' envisions a harmonious future

“Five Points was a place where a group of Americans lived in the future,” says Nelly O’Brien, the remarkable, powerful figure at the center of a new musical, “Paradise Square.” “A future still to be realized.”

The Cap Times • 17th November 2021

Carrie Coon gets under your skin in Steppenwolf's 'Bug'

Few things are so distressing to the mind as a threat that’s menacing and unseen. “Bug,” now at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre through Dec. 12, builds a sense of unease and dissociation gradually.

The Capital Times • 18th October 2021

Equal at last? APT's 'Taming of the Shrew' levels the playing field

Rarely in live theater have I craved a rewind button as much as I did at American Players Theatre’s new production, a quick-witted, surprising rendition of a play I was perfectly content to never see again.

The Capital Times • 16th October 2021

Theater review: Cap City returns with light, jazzy 'The World Goes ’Round'

“The World Goes ’Round,” a 1991 revue of Kander and Ebb’s early work, is the first outing for Capital City Theatre in Overture Center since 2019’s lively “On the Town.”

The Capital Times • 20th September 2021

Theater review: APT's 'Oedipus' explores the exquisite art of suffering

Staging the great Greek theatrical origin stories is a passion project for David Daniel, an American Players Theatre core company member who adapted and directed this production.

The Capital Times • 30th August 2021

Theater review: Flowery 'Phoenix Too Frequent' at APT seeks a spark

“A Phoenix Too Frequent,” now onstage in the Touchstone at American Players Theatre, sets a (relatively chaste) seduction in a tomb.

The Capital Times • 24th August 2021

Frustrated Madison arts leaders blast 'inconsistent' mask order

The order includes exceptions for eating and drinking in a crowded restaurant or bar — but not for fully vaccinated actors in a two-person play.

The Capital Times • 16th August 2021

Theater review: American Players Theatre finds humor and honesty in 'Cymbeline'

Like a pair of Chuck Taylors beneath an eighteenth-century smock, casting women as egotistical men nudges the audience to look closer, see multiple things at once, and find depth beneath a fantastical plot.

The Capital Times • 9th August 2021

In Monona, new KLJ Movement lifts up Black and brown dancers

“I wanted to create a company that really encompasses performance," said founder Kyra Johnson. "As well as empowers the contributions that Black and brown dancers have made in dance.”

The Capital Times • 4th August 2021

Madison Youth Arts Center brings dancers, drummers and divas together

With its sprung floors for dancers, black box theater, upright pianos and surfaces made of kid-friendly “indestructible stuff,” the Madison Youth Arts Center, or MYArts, is poised to make big changes for students. MYArts is the new, official home of CTM and Madison Youth Choirs, the two anchor partners.

The Capital Times • 25th June 2021

Home on the stage: Forward's 'Within These Walls' tells intimate stories

Forward Theate's “Within These Walls: Stories of Home,” has two main themes — the push and pull of home, and individual experiences of the pandemic.

The Capital Times • 16th June 2021

Madison Ballet dreams again: 21-22 season includes 'Midsummer,' new 'Nutcracker'

“We’re coming out of this pandemic with ‘Midsummer,’ which is going to be a healing process for our dancers,” said Artistic Director Sara Stewart Schumann.

The Capital Times • 13th June 2021

Q&A: Artist Rita Mawuena Benissan captures her Ghanaian heritage under one big umbrella

Now people are saying, “OK, I can't go to a museum, I can’t go into a space. But on Instagram, I just go on my phone, and all this history is accessible to me.” They’re seeing a different perspective on how Ghana was. A lot of times they don’t have these photos or have access to them, so how are they going to see these moments? Or even the different traditional music? You’ll see documentation from other databases on YouTube, and I’m able to place those on our page. Like – Louis Armstrong, he pe