Sights & Sounds
What to do in this weekend: Movies, music and more
This weekend in Milwaukee has everything from classic cars to classic movies to music and theater about healing.
Lights, camera … festival!
The ninth Milwaukee Film Festival kicks off in earnest Friday, with movies showing at five theaters and parties at three more places. This weekend’s lineups range from 1980s classics like “Purple Rain,” “Poltergeist” and “Tampopo” to such Wisconsin-rooted films as the documentary “Manlife” and the dark drama “American Fable.” The film festival runs through Oct. 12 at the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave.; Downer Theatre, 2589 N. Downer Ave.; Avalon Theater, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.; Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St.; and Fox-Bay Cinema Grill, 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay. Tickets for regular screenings are $12; $11 for seniors 60 and older, students and members of the military; $10 for Milwaukee Film members; and $6 for kids 12 and younger. Info: mkefilm.org
New on stage
This weekend’s theater openings include a show that may be perfect for people entranced by the recent movie “Hidden Figures.”
Next Act Theatre performs “Silent Sky,” Lauren Gunderson’s play about astronomy pioneer Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), whose discoveries about the luminosity of pulsing stars made mapping the stars possible. In that sexist era, Leavitt was hired as a “woman computer” and treated as a second-class scientist, despite her brilliance. Deborah Staples portrays Leavitt in the production, which opens Friday at Next Act, 255 S. Water St. It runs through Oct.
22. Info: nextact.org. Also opening this weekend: Windfall Theater revives “Wittenberg,” David Davalos’ wild mashup of Martin Luther, Hamlet, Faustus and The Eternal Feminine. Director Carol Zippel describes it as “absurdist Tom Stoppard meets Monty Python.” Fittingly, Windfall performs this Lutheran spectacle Sept. 29-Oct. 14 at Village Church Arts, 130 E. Juneau Ave. Info: windfalltheatre.com.
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater opens Ayad Akhtar’s feminist comedy “The Who and The What” Sept. 29 at the Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St. A successful immigrant widower wants his daughter to marry the right kind of Muslim, but she is writing a provocative book that will throw the family into turmoil. Akhtar is a Brookfield Central High School graduate and Pulitzer Prize winner. The production runs through Nov. 5. Info:
milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 2249490.
Morning Star Productions performs “The Domino Heart,” a play about organ donors and recipients and people close to them. Performances take place Sept. 29-Oct. 8 at the Theater at Eastbrook Church, 5385 N. Green Bay Ave. Info:
morningstarproductions.org. Donor information will be available at each performance.
Skylight Music Theatre’s “Hot Mikado” gives Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic a twist: Now it’s a Cotton Club show circa 1942, with jazz, blues and gospel arrangements. For example, “Three Little Maids” is sung in the swinging close-harmony style of the Andrews Sisters. Shows take place Sept. 29-Oct. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. Info: skylightmusictheatre.org.
Classic cars in West Allis
Hot wheels and cool cars come to Greenfield Ave. Sunday for the 27th annual Downtown West Allis Car Show. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., more than 500 classic cars will be parked on display along the avenue from S. 70th to S. 76th streets, and on adjacent side streets. Prizes, including some voted on by people cruising the cruisers, Hot Wheel races and other activities are part of the show. Admission is free. Info: 27th Annual Downtown West Allis Car Show Facebook page
Art in Bay View
The fall edition of Bay View Gallery Night is Friday, mostly from 5 to 10 p.m. Fifty neighborhood businesses are taking part, some showing art, some serving stuff to eat and drink, and all having a party. (Also, there’s an after-party at Frank’s Power Plant, 2800 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., starting at 9 p.m.) Admission is free, $5 for the after-party. Info: bvgn.org
Bringing home singing legends
Milwaukee singer Chris Crain tells the story in song of two great singers who died too soon in “A Soulful Celebration: Cooke and Hathaway.” In the concert, staged at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Crain and a group of Milwaukee musicians perform the songs of Sam Cooke and Donny Hathaway at Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. Tickets are $35, available at the Marcus Center box office, website and at (414) 273-7206. Info: marcuscenter.org
After the deluge with Present Music
The innovative Milwaukee music ensemble Present Music opens its season with “Stay On It,” a program of music including Christopher Trapani’s “Waterlines,” a song cycle about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Keeping with the down-by-thewater sentiment, the concert, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, is in the river-level space at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, 273 E. Erie St. Tickets are $15$30. Info: presentmusic.org
Show of unity at Radio Milwaukee
The second annual “Band Together,” an event with music and food and connecting, is set for 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the studios of Radio Milwaukee, a.k.a. WYMS-FM (88.9), at 220 E. Pittsburgh Ave. The diverse lineup of performers includes Adi Armour, Cache, Kymaera, Tigernite and the Davis Club Dance Team, preceded by drinks and complimentary noshes on the studio’s rooftop. Tickets are $10, and available at ticketfly.com. Info: radiomilwaukee.org