Next season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre will perform shows about Liberace, police station bombing of 1917

Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
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Milwaukee Chamber Theatre will stage a new production of "Liberace!," Brent Hazelton drama about the famed entertainer born in West Allis.
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre will stage a new production of "Liberace!," Brent Hazelton drama about the famed entertainer born in West Allis.

For its 2023-'24 season, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre plans two productions with Milwaukee subjects: Liberace and the police station bombing of 1917.

As Chamber emerges from financial crisis this year, it is making a few adjustments from past practice in the forthcoming season. Production runs will be a week shorter. Also, all of next season's shows will be staged in the Broadway Theatre Center's smaller Studio Theatre; MCT plans to return to some performances in the center's larger Cabot Theatre in the future.

Here's a look at Chamber's 2023-'24 season:

'Laughs in Spanish,' Sept. 22-Oct. 8

Rána Roman stars in Alexis Scheer's caffeinated comedy about a woman coping with her art gallery's crisis while also tangling with her problematic mother.

'Liberace!,' Nov. 15-Dec. 10

Artistic director Brent Hazelton helms a new production of the show he wrote about the flashy pianist and entertainer, born Wladziu (Walter) Valentino Liberace in 1919 in West Allis and raised in West Milwaukee. "Liberace!" had wildly successful runs at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in 2010 and 2014 with Jack Forbes Wilson as the title character. This new production will feature homeboy Brett Ryback at the keys. "Liberace!" is a drama, not a musical, but Ryback's character will play an enormous range of piano, from "Chopsticks" to Chopin.

'A Moon for the Misbegotten," Jan. 19-Feb. 4

Mary MacDonald Kerr will direct Eugene O'Neill's 20th-century American classic about an old farmer, his hard-nosed daughter and the troubled writer who romances her. James Pickering, Kelly Doherty and Chiké Johnson will play those roles.

'The Mountaintop,' March 8-24

MCT will stage Katori Hall's intimate drama about the last night of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, when he meets someone with an important message for him. This show originally had been scheduled for the current season. Dimonte Henning will direct.

'The Not-So-Accidental Conviction of Eleven Milwaukee "Anarchists",' April 26-May 12, 2024

Hazelton will direct the world premiere of Martin Zimmerman's play about the 1917 bombing of Milwaukee's Oneida Street police station, in which nine police officers and one civilian were killed — the largest single loss of police life in U.S. history until the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The story's cast of characters includes anarchist Emma Goldman and famed attorney Clarence Darrow; the human cast of actors will feature Elyse Edelman and Henning.

For Milwaukee Chamber Theatre subscriptions, visit milwaukeechambertheatre.org or call (414) 276-8841, Ext. 7.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Chamber plans shows about Liberace, police station bombing of 1917