And now for a few words from the folks at Broom Street Theater: “There’s a killer on the loose and nobody knows who it could be. Fingers get pointed at some of the community’s children. Could an innocent child be guilty of such heinous acts? Is it the evil gardener? Discover the answer in “Muffy the Bitch,” one of the plays from Broom Street’s 40 plus years’ worth of theatrical entertainment.
See the movie about the play when Broom Street Theater presents “Muffy the Bitch,” a video/DVD of a live performance of Callen Harty’s 1997 play inspired by “The Bad Seed,” at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 7th. The screening is part of BST’s Sunday Night at the Movies Screenings, held the Sunday after each new play opens throughout the season
Admission is free, but a $5.00 donation is suggested (and they may pass the hat, too).
Broom Street Theater is located at 1119 Williamson Street (it has never been located on Broom Street).
NB: The 1997 production featured actors Jackie Baker, Alan Bickley, Maritza Bryant, Ron Collins, Luke Delwiche, Mark Edwards, Buck Hakes, Lauri Harty, Shelley Johnson, Amanda Jones, Jamie McCanless, and Isa Norwood and was directed by Harty. According to a contemporary review by Nadine Goff, “Muffy the Bitch is 85 minutes of fun, laced with lots of bad puns, a few malapropisms and a tasty sprinkling of piquant social commentary.” She called Amanda Jones as Muffy “perfect” and went on to say of the other actors, “Harty has managed to recruit a virtual galaxy of stars.”
Frugalistas who love theater know there are lots of ways to score cheap tickets. One of the easiest is to attend almost any performance that isn’t on a Friday or Saturday evening. For example tickets to Stage Q’s production of “Sappho in Love” are $15 on Fridays and Saturdays, but only $10 on Thursdays and Sundays.
Here’s a brief summary of what “Sappho in Love,” which opens on Friday, February 12th and runs through Sunday, February 27th at the Bartell Theatre is all about (at least according to the Stage Q press release we received):
“… written by the popular Carolyn Gage (Ugly Ducklings, Second Coming of Joan of Arc) and directed by StageQ favorite Katy Conley, [it] is a lesbian midsummer night’s dream with the goddesses of celibacy, love, and marriage competing for Sappho’s attention amid poetry contests, meteor showers, lessons on lesbian love-making, romantic trysting, mix-ups and disguises. Wet and wild romantic comedy!”
“Sappho In Love” stars Molly Vanderlin as Aphrodite, Laura Spring as Hera, Leonie Dolch as Artemis and Boye as Sappho, along with Kristin Forde, Petrovnia McIntosh, Juli Branch, Marian Herzog, Nikki Weinfurtner, Christine Esche, Rachel Granda-Gluski, Sabra Katz-Wise, Vanessa Vesperman, Shelly Murray, Luv Seamon, Thia Triggs and Michelle Morency.
Stage Q gives you the option to purchase your tickets online or reserve them online. If you want to avoid paying a service charge, we recommend using the latter option.
Update 2/14/2010: Very positive review in Isthmus (“…this is a funny and entertaining production, and a packed house rightfully gave it an enthusiastic ovation.”)
E. Patrick Johnson will perform “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South,” at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9th in The Play Circle at the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street. The production is free and open to the public.
Johnson’s solo performance is based on stories he collected for his new book, “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South,”an oral history of black gay men who live in the southern United States. It covers some of the themes discussed in “Sweet Tea,” with Johnson performing the narratives of nine men.
Johnson is a professor of African-American studies and professor, chairman and director of graduate studies in the performance studies department at Northwestern University.
Patrick Sims performs in front of a projected image of James Cameron; Photograph by Jonathan Gramling, used with permission
Actor Patrick Sims portrays 18 different characters in his one-man play, “10 Perfect: A Lynching Survivor Story,” which will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, February 5th and Saturday, February 6th in the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space in Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Avenue.
The play is based on the life of James Cameron, the survivor of a 1930 lynching, who later founded the now-closed America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. Sims, who met Cameron in 1998, is an assistant professor of acting/multicultural theater.
Sims has organized a post-performance panel to discuss issues raised in the play, including race and racism. Sims and director Sheri Williams Pannel will be joined by Cameron’s son Virgil; Sandy Adell, a professor of literature in the Department of Afro-American studies; Martine Green, a graduate student in theater research; and Fran Kaplan, a screenwriter from Milwaukee. The panel will be moderated by Linda Greene, Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
Tickets to “10 Perfect” are free and available at the Vilas Hall box office, 821 University Avenue; the Campus Information Center in the Red Gym, 716 Langdon Street; and the Welcome Center, 21 North Park Street during regular box office and business hours.
The play contains adult themes and language and is intended for mature audiences.
Fans of actor James DeVita who missed his one-man show, “In Acting Shakespeare,” last year when it was produced at American Players Theatre (APT) in the newly opened Touchstone Theater, may want to consider driving to Spring Green to see an encore performance at either 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 6th or 2 p.m. Sunday, February 7th at The Gard Theater.
These two performances are a benefit for the Rural Musicians Forum* — and ticket prices are considerably lower than the $45-$57 charged at APT. For these two performances, tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. However, tickets may not be purchased online. They are available for in-person purchase at three locations in downtown Spring Green: The Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany Street; Nina’s Department and Variety Store, 143 West Jefferson Street; and The Flower Shop and Village Gifts, 102 East Jefferson Street.
The Gard Theater is located at 111 E. Jefferson Street.
*Rural Musicians Forum is an organization of musicians and music lovers whose mission is to produce live concerts and to support the continued presence of quality music in the lower Wisconsin River Valley area.
Ticket prices are as low as $10 for Forward Theater Company’s production of Christopher Durang’s black comedy, “Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them” running from December 30th to January 17th, 2010 in the Playhouse at the Overture Center.
The $10 tickets are available for students and seniors (62+) who attend one of the two preview performances scheduled for December 30th and January 2nd. If you do not fall into one of those two categories, tickets for the previews are $20 (balcony) and $30 (main floor). But wait! There’s another option: Pending availability, there will be $15 rush tickets available for all performances.
Previews (and preview tickets) and rush tickets for the general public have been rare on the Madison theater scene and Forward Theater Company (FTC) should be commended for making them available. It’s also savvy marketing strategy.
Preview performances are routine at companies such as Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and American Players Theatre, but have not been a staple in Madison. A preview performance is technically not quite finished: A director may use audience reactions or other criteria for making slight changes in the production prior to opening night. Traditionally, preview performances are NOT open to reviewers.
Rush tickets are usually available the day of the performance. According to the Overture Center Box office, $15 rush tickets to “Why Torture is Wrong” will be available 2 hours before a performance. The important thing to note is that FTC is NOT restricting rush tickets to students. If seats are available 2 hours before a performance, anyone will be able to purchase them.
There are lots of things we don’t know about Music Theatre of Madison’s upcoming production of “Wild Party.” But there is one thing we know for sure and that’s how to get a reduced-price ticket to the show: Become a Facebook fan. The first 100 fans will get $5 tickets to “Wild Party.” The second 100 fans will get $10 tickets.
If you belong to Facebook, you should be able to find MTM’s Facebook page here. That link may have to be changed when they pass that all-important 100 fan threshold: Then MTM will be able to claim a unique Facebook URL.
But let’s return to “Wild Party” for just a bit: Here’s what we know and don’t know about this upcoming production:
DON”T KNOW exactly when it’s going to be staged (probably summer 2010).
DON’T KNOW whether the MTM production is going to follow in the footsteps of original Broadway production, that featured Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt and music by Michael John LaChiusa; or the subsequent Off-Broadway production that featured Taye Diggs and music by Andrew Lippa.
DO KNOW it sounds like a fascinating production — and we’re eager to take a closer look at the book version illustrated by Art Spiegelman.
Disclosure: Madison on the Cheap has an affiliate relationship with the Amazon.com. If you click through on some of the links in this post and purchase a book or recording we will receive a small commission. We only post what we think are good deals, but once in a while it’s nice to share something that may generate some money for our coffee fund.
The Bricks Theatre is hosting a holiday party from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15th at Genna’s Lounge, 105 West Main Street, to promote it’s upcoming production of “Santaland Diaries,” featuring Peter Hunt.
Based on an essay by David Sedaris, “Santaland Diaries” is about Sedaris’s experience working as a Christmas elf at Macy’s.
The Bricks production will run for only two performances: 7 p.m. on Sunday, December 20th at The Frequency, 121 West Main Street and 7 p.m. on Monday, December 21st at The Brink Lounge, 701 East Washington Avenue. Both performances are adults only and may be a bit spicier than the Laboratory Theater production currently playing at the Bartell Theater through December 19th,
As a special bonus, anyone who brings 6 or more cans of non-perishable food items (to donate to the food pantry at the Goodman Community Center) to the party on Tuesday at Genna’s gets one free ticket to the Dec. 20th performance of “Santaland Diaries.”
If you missed the Sycamore Street Ensemble production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” in McFarland last week, you have two more chances to see it — but this time you’ll have to journey to the Middleton Performing Arts Center (PAC), where it’s being performed at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 12th and 2 p.m. Sunday, December 13th.
Inspired by Frank Capra’s classic American film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” this stage version, directed by Katrina Brunner, tells the story of George Bailey’s life as a live 1940s Radio Broadcast.
Take your seat as a member of the studio audience to relive the beloved tale of regret and redemption told through insightful storytelling, familiar characters and engaging sound effects. And hang onto your seat, too, since this production features some of the Madison area’s best comic actors — and lots of other talented actors as well.
The cast for “It’s A Wonderful Life includes Michael Brunner, Leslie Esser-Reitano, Tony Reitano, Patricia Whitely, Michael Bruno, Monica Lyons, Lee Waldhart, Brian Hagen, and Patrick Fernan. Paul Cargill will perform all the live sound effects.
This weekend’s performances are co-produced with Middleton Players Theatre and feature The Angel Choir and the Middleton High School Musicians.
Tickets are $15.00 for adults, $10.00 for seniors (65+) and students, and $6.00 for children six and under and may be purchased online. A $2 per ticket refund will be given at the door for donations of two or more non-perishable food items.
Inspired by Frank Capra’s classic American film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the Sycamore Street Ensemble, under the direction of Katrina Williams Brunner, will recreate the story of George Bailey’s life as a live 1940s Radio Broadcast at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 4th at the McFarland High School Auditorium, 5101 Farwell Street.
Take your seat as a member of the studio audience to relive the beloved tale of regret and redemption told through insightful storytelling, familiar characters and engaging sound effects. And hang onto your seat, too, since this production features some of the Madison area’s best comic actors — and lots of other talented actors as well.
The cast for “It’s A Wonderful Life includes Michael Brunner, Leslie Esser-Reitano, Tony Reitano, Patricia Whitely, Michael Bruno, Monica Lyons, Lee Waldhart, Brian Hagen, and Patrick Fernan. Paul Cargill will perform all the live sound effects.
The production comes complete with hot chocolate and lots of holiday cheer! Arrive early at 7 p.m. in the high school food court for refreshments and live caroling by student choir members.
Tickets are $10.00 for adults, $8.00 for seniors and students, and $4.00 for children six and under and may be purchased online.
All proceeds will benefit McFarland Community Food Pantry (MCFP). Donations of non-perishable food items are also encouraged and will be accepted at the door.
For additional information, contact Dean Pribbenow at (608) 838-8968 or email mcfp.fundraiser
For one night only, Music Theatre of Madison (MTM) is giving performers an opportunity to sing songs from roles they will NEVER play and you’re invited to join in the fun.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, December 4th, MTM is presenting “Miscast” at the First United Methodist Church at 203 Wisconsin Avenue.
“Join us for this night of great singers singing great songs…some beautiful, some just plain silly,” says MTM founder Meghan Randolph. Among the evening’s highlights will be a white soprano singing “And I Am Telling You” from “Dreamgirls;” a 12 year-old boy singing about “Late December back in ‘63;” and a baritone in his 30s singing “On My Own” from “Les Misérables.”
Admission is free, but cash donations are encouraged. Donations will be split between Music Theatre of Madison and the First United Methodist Church food pantry.
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have “The 39 Steps,” a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theater. The touring production of this 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is stopping by the Overture Center for the Arts from November 10-15, 2009.
In “The 39 Steps,” a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she’s a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called “The 39 Steps” is hot on the man’s trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! The play is reportedly “packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance!”
There are relatively cheap $15 tickets available for this production, but they’re likely to have you seated in the upper balcony of Overture Hall — not a bad place to be if this were a film and you wanted to eat popcorn and smooch; but since this is live theater, you may want to be a bit closer to the action.
Find someone to go with you to either the performance at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10th or 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11th, use the promotional code HITCH, and you can score two tickets in the orchestra or circle for $39. As always, service charges apply if you order your tickets by telephone or purchase them on line. To keep the total price of your evening down, eliminate the nefarious “extras” and buy your tickets in person at the box office.
For additional information, visit the Overture Center website or call the box office at (608) 258-4141.
Frugalistas who love theater know that there are lots of ways to score cheap tickets. One of the easiest is to attend almost any performance that isn’t on a Friday or Saturday evening. For example tickets to Stage Q’s production of “The Stops” are $15 on Fridays and Saturdays, but only $10 on Thursdays and Sundays.
Here’s a brief summary of what “The Stops,” which opened last weekend and runs through November 21st at the Bartell Theatre is all about (at least according to the Stage Q website):
Three ladies of the North American Lady Organists Guild (played by men) spread the gospel, touring as “The Stops,” an Andrews Sisters-esque trio of different faiths united in their love of song.
Ginny, Euglena, and Rose come to Madison for one night only to give a benefit concert for their mentor Dale Meadows, a church music director and song-writer, who has recently been ousted from his position because of his sexuality. His songs run the comedy gamut from “It’s Raining Amen,” and “A Bossa Nova for Jehovah,” to “Hallelujah Aloha,” and “The Fundamental.”
Stage Q gives you the option to purchase your tickets online or reserve them online. If you want to avoid paying a service charge, we recommend using the latter option.
Girish Karnad’s first play, “Yayati,” will be presented as a staged reading at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 24th in the lecture hall of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State Street. Trained members of the UW-Madison Department of Theatre and Drama will perform the reading under the direction of Joan Brooks and Barbara Clayton. Karnad, who is a Brittingham Visiting Scholar at the UW this semester, will be present at the event.
Karnad has been a commanding presence in Indian theatre, film, television, and cultural life more generally for more than four decades
This event will mark the first performance outside India of Karnad’s own English translation of “Yayati,” which appeared from Oxford University Press, New Delhi, in 2007, forty-six years after the publication of the play in Kannada.
The event is free and open to the public, but due to limited space you must request a ticket in advance of the event. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. For more information or to reserve a ticket, contact Professor Arpana Dharwadker at adharwadker
Broom Street Theater is hosting a performance of “Ulysses’ Crewmen” at 8 p.m., Tuesday, September 29th. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.
A touring production from Milwaukee’s Insurgent Theatre, “Ulysses’ Crewmen” is “a forty five minute two-person play, to be performed surrounded in close quarters by an intimate audience on the same floor level. A chair. A gun. A radio. Two actor.”
For additional information about the production, including a video preview, visit the Insurgent Theater website.
Broom Street Theater is located at 1119 Williamson Street. For additional information, visit the BST website, or call (608) 244-8338.
The reviews are in and local critics love Brian Wild’s, “Tales from the Dork Side,” which opened Friday at Broom Street Theater.
Isthmus reviewer Amelia Cook wrote, “Broom Street Theater’s Tales from the Dork Side is a prime example of what the Broom Street people do well: fill their little Willy Street space with an overload of craziness.”
And 77 Square reviewer Lindsay Christians observed that “of the Moon,” a superhero comedy set — you guessed it — on the moon,”Tales from the Dork Side” is Brian Wild’s goofy sequel to his 2007 “Dork Side” and concluded that it’s, “…a heck of a lot of fun.”
And you can see “Tales from the Dork Side” for only $6 if you attend the 2 p.m. Sunday matinee performances on September 27th; October 4th, 11th, 18, and 25th; and November 1st. Tickets for other times and dates are $9.
In addition, this Sunday is “Date Night” at Broom Street. From 6 p.m until 8 p.m. the theater will screen a video of a vintage BST production, “The Ghost and Dr. Liz.” There’s a $5 suggested donation for this event.
Broom Street Theater is at 1119 Williamson Street on Madison’s East Side. For additional information, call (608) 244-8338 or visit the theater’s website.
Although many of the remaining performances at American Players Theatre are sold out, we found two shows that not only have tickets available, but have tickets available at discounted prices.
There are tickets for 25% off the regular price for the 6 p.m., Sunday, September 20th performance of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” and the 8 p.m. Friday, September 25th performance of Noel Coward’s “Hay Fever.” These tickets won’t last long, so visit APT’’s online ticket service now, or call the box office at (608) 588-2361.
Tickets are still available for the “Mystical Arts of Tibet” performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, September 19th in the Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon Street. The prices aren’t cheap, but they’re reasonable: $15 for adults: $12 for youth ages 6-18; and $10 for UW-Madison students with a valid ID.
This is one of the few ticketed shows in the World Music Festival and based on the description provided by the Wisconsin Union, it sounds as if it will be worth your time and money:
“Endorsed by the Dalai Lama as a means of promoting world peace and healing through sacred performing art, the monks of the Drepung Loseling monastery make their return to Madison. Known for their remarkable multiphonic singing and their elaborate sand mandala art, the Monks perform using traditional Tibetan instruments and in traditional garb.”
However, Madison on the Cheap suggests you seriously consider buying them at the door, rather than online. We tried to order two $15 tickets online and discovered that they would cost a total of $39. In addition to the ticket price, there was a $3.50 per ticket service fee and a $2 facility fee. You can avoid the service fee if you buy your tickets at the box office. According to the Wisconsin Union website, there is a “$1.00 per ticket facility fee for all paid admission shows at the Wisconsin Union Theater.,” so it looks as though that fee can’t be avoided. Remember therefore to add $1 to the price of each ticket when you calculate how much you’re going to be spending.
Buying tickets on the day of the performance can sometimes be risky. All the available seats may be gone by the time you reach the head of the box office line. However, as of late Friday evening it looks as though there are plenty of seats available. For additional information, call (608) 265-ARTS.
The Strollers Theatre production of “Cat’s-Paw,” directed by the protean Rob Matsushita, opens at 7:30 p.m. tonight and runs through October 3rd, 2009; but we’ve been dithering a bit about whether or not the $15 ticket price is cheap. Then we found some fine print indicating that the ticket price is “$10 per ticket when purchasing a group of 10 or more.” That’s cheap enough…but can anyone round up 10 friends at one time unless they’re picking up the tab?
According to the Strollers Theatre blog, the play, written by William Mastrisimone, is “a riveting parable that pits the ambitious Jessica and the cunning Victor in a complex struggle for control.”
The Decider is recommending the play and Matsushita’s talents are well-known in Madison, so perhaps you will be able to find enough friends to go with you so you can score cheap tickets. If they want to know more, suggest they watch this 30-second trailer for the production:
For additional information about this production, visit the Strollers Theatre website. To purchase tickets, call (608) 661-9696×2.
Earlier today, The Bricks Theatre put the following notice on its Facebook page: “…contribute to the Bricks before October 1 and get $10 Bricks tickets as long as we’re around…honest to Pete.”
Tickets to the company’s debut production, ” An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein,” are only $10, so in order for this to sound like a “deal,” you have to be confident that The Bricks Theatre is going to be around long enough to be raising ticket prices at some future date. Although there have been a lot of relatively short-lived theater companies in Madison, there are some that are entering their fifth decade.
There’s no indication of how much you have to give in order to qualify for this deal, so you may be able to buy in cheap. Plus, Arts Wisconsin is acting as the company’s fiscal receiver, so your donation – however modest — is also tax deductible.
There’s also no indication of whether this is a lifetime offer or a perpetual offer. If it’s the latter, your status could be inheritable.
Back in the 1930s, Time Magazine offered a perpetual subscription. 189 people took them up on the offer. Almost 80 years later, their heirs are still presumably receiving the magazine in the mailboxes. Just goes to show it’s not always a bad idea to gamble on longevity.
We post deals as we find them, but schedules sometimes change and everything has an expiration date. Prices and promotions are always subject to change without notice. It's always wise to call ahead and make certain a bargain is still available or an event has not been canceled.
an oral history of black gay men who live in the southern United States. It covers some of the themes discussed in “Sweet Tea,” with Johnson performing the narratives of nine men. 
or 
or download individual songs as MP3s.
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have 
