ARTS PATRONS

ARTS PATRONS
On Our Radar is a monthly section published in Madison Magazine that covers the best
in the local arts community, highlighting standouts in theater, classical performances, music
and the visual arts as well as “off the beaten path” gems. With an affluent readership
that is vested in the arts and a journalistic approach that delves into the issues,
Madison Magazine is the perfect buy to reach arts enthusiasts.
The Mix
The Mix
ON OUR RADAR
The Mix
ON OUR RADAR
ON OUR RADAR
HOT
COMFORT
MUSIC
Stand-Up Guy
If you long for the days when
Jerry Seinfeld’s idiosyncratic brand
of comedy ruled television in his
namesake show, get your fix as the
comedian headlines two shows at
Overture Center on January 9. Just
as he did in his “show about nothing”
and now continues in his Comedians
in Cars Getting Coffee web series,
expect Seinfeld's stand-up to elevate
mundane elements of life to hilarity,
yada yada yada.
Ida Jo
PHOTO: BECKY MCKENZIE
Repertory II
DIVERSE DANCES
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Kanopy Dance celebrates spring renewal with Emergence: Gaia Rising,
a production showcasing new dances. Artistic director Robert E. Cleary puts a
new spin on his “Primavera Portena,” while company dancers Brienna Tipler and
Tiana Ching Maslanka offer works inspired by Monet masterpieces and Scottish
folklore, respectively, Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez mixes Flamenco and contemporary
ballet and Carlos Ramirez-Araujo combines Mexican folkloric and modern dance.
A postmodernist work and a piece influenced by Butoh, a form of modern
Japanese dance, by local choreographers Maureen Janson and Kiro Kopulos
round out the show (April 17–19, kanopydance.org). Madison Ballet presents
its signature blend of grace and athleticism in Repertory II, a production that
includes “Elégie” and the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux by George Balanchine and
a work by artistic director W. Earle Smith (April 17–18, madisonballet.org). And
Overture Center welcomes back Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, an innovative
dance company that tours year-round (April 15, overturecenter.com).
“My Egypt” by
Liu Xiaodong
MUSICAL MASH-UP
Local talent meets outside influences in this
month’s rock music highlights. On April 11,
Madison indie psych-rock band Dolores
headlines the High Noon Saloon, which also
showcases local alt-rock outfit the Getaway
Drivers on April 25. Overture Center’s MadCity
Sessions combines the talents of local musicians
Anna Laube and Ida Jo on April 16. The
downtown arts center also hosts Scottish
indie pop group Belle and Sebastian on April 4.
Boston alt rockers Guster hit the Orpheum on
April 8, while Chicago’s Cash Box Kings bring
old-school blues to the Harmony Bar on April 11.
And there’s no place fans of British electronic
group Clean Bandit would “Rather Be” than
the Majestic Theatre on April 4.
POWERFUL
VOICES
The UW–Madison
Center for the
Humanities
welcomes
Ta-Nehisi Coates,
author, blogger
Ta-Nehisi Coates
and national
correspondent
for The Atlantic, who wrote
the magazine’s June 2014
cover story making the
case for slave reparations
The human figure serves as a starting
and regularly covers
point in a new exhibition at the Chazen
contemporary Black America
Museum of Art. But from there, Beijing
(April 7, humanities.wisc.
artists such as Liu Xiaodong, Su Xinping,
edu). And former chair of
Ma Shulin, Chi Peng, Li Xiangqun, Xiang
the National Endowment for
the Humanities and thirtyJing and Geng Xue veer off in exciting
year member of the U.S.
and diverse directions. Opening April 10
Congress Jim Leach visits
and running through July 5, Tradition
the Madison Civics Club
and Innovation: The Human Figure in
to speak on “The Frailty of
Contemporary Chinese Art challenges
Today’s Civil Society” (April
and defies expectations of Chinese art.
11, madisoncivicsclub.org).
HUMAN TOUCH
HAVING
A BALL
In her 1950s sitcom,
Lucille Ball took
audiences on wild
adventures—from
packaging candy on
a conveyor belt to
working on an ad for
Vitameatavegamin
to constantly causing
trouble for her musician
husband, Ricky. In I Love
Lucy, a new musical
based on the hit television
show, theatergoers
become members of the
Desilu Playhouse studio
audience and watch the
filming of two episodes.
If you ever wished you
could spend an evening
with Lucy, Ricky and
best friends Fred and
Ethel, here’s your
chance! January 6–11,
overturecenter.org
CREATIVE
PERSPECTIVES
Things are more than they
initially appear to be in three
interesting new art exhibitions
It’s hip to be square this month at
Hatch Art House, as the gallery hosts
its annual EcoSquared. This juried
show of small works—each piece
is between six and twelve inches
square—showcases Wisconsin artists
and how art can be made using
upcycled materials. January 2–31,
hatcharthouse.com
In Object Syntax, Thomas Gaudynski’s
“object salad” drawings combine
still-life elements with references to
literature, the artist’s process and more.
Also at the James Watrous Gallery,
Brandon Norsted’s The Purchase
of Deep Water uses architectural
woodwork and domestic objects as the
raw materials for thought-provoking
sculptures and installations. January
13–March 1, wisconsinacademy.org
MIXED BEATS
With a repertoire of salsa, merengue, cha-cha-cha and
cumbia, Orquesta de Kache is always ready to get crowds up
and dancing. Catch the eight-member group—with musicians
hailing from Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S.—at
Overture Center on January 8. The downtown performing arts
center also welcomes the Black Star Drum Line on January 31
as part of the Kids in the Rotunda entertainment series. With
a focus on “street beats,” the group has performed more than
four hundred times in the Madison area since it began in 2008,
often highlighting local dancers, singers and rappers. And for
something a little different, check out St. Luke’s Bottle Band,
playing the Stoughton Opera House on January 31. In addition
to violins, drums, kazoos, oboes and more, this band from
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, plays glass
bottles in a unique comedic show.
At the Madison Bubbler at the central
branch of the Madison Public Library,
local artist Kim Benson reveals
paintings in which natural, human,
atmospherical and technological
elements collide. Says the artist,
“I understand the world as a system
full of fantastic, disparate imagery
and sensory effects received through
aberrant positions.” January 2–
February 19, madisonbubbler.org
KATIE VAUGHN is managing editor of Madison Magazine. For continuous arts and entertainment coverage, visit madisonmagazine.com.
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MADISONMAGAZINE.COM / APRIL 2015
12
Orquesta de Kache
MADISONMAGAZINE.COM / JANUARY 2015
Madison Magazine readers are …
114% more likely to attend opera/ symphony/ theatre...
75% more likely to earn more than $150K per year...
51% more likely to be a small business owner
28% more likely to have shopped for jewelry in the past year
28% more likely to watch the A&E channel on cable in the past week
144% more likely to shop at Hilldale Shopping Mall in the last month
Scarborough, Demographic Study 2015
...than the average adult.
Sarah Chang
CLASSICAL
CONNECTIONS
The Madison Symphony
Orchestra welcomes back violinist
Sarah Chang for Scandinavian
Wonders, a concert highlighting
works by Finnish, Norwegian and
Danish composers (November 7–9,
madisonsymphony.org). Chang
joins the symphony for Sibelius’s
dramatic violin concerto, while
Grieg’s Lyric Suite and Nielsen’s
“Inextinguishable” symphony—
two first performances for
the MSO—round out the
performance. Meanwhile,
Madison Opera celebrates
Beethoven’s only opera by
staging Fidelio (November 21
and 23, madisonopera.org), about
a noblewoman who disguises
herself as a man to free her
husband, who’s being held as
a political prisoner. And the
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
ushers in the holiday season with
its annual Middleton Holiday
Pops (November 29, wcoconcerts.
org). Cleveland’s Tommy More
Scott helps bring out the jazzy
side of festive seasonal classics.
Dubbed “an
Americana Music
event,” Flannel
Fest 2014 at
the High Noon
Saloon is also a
stellar roundup of
area rock scene
standouts—Cory
Chisel and the
Wandering Sons,
the Beth Kille
Band, Daniel
and the Lion, the
Mascot Theory,
the Sharrows
and Dead Horses
from Oshkosh.
November 8,
high-noon.com
TICKETS
Work of Art
From 1930s Paris to the
small village of Roussillon
during World War II, a story
of love, loss, forgiveness
and a deeply rooted
passion for art unfolds
in Lisette’s List (Random
House, 2014), a new
novel by the Wisconsinborn, New York Times
bestselling author Susan
Vreeland. When Lisette
and her husband move to
southeastern France to care
for his ailing grandfather,
she listens to his stories
about Paul Cézanne,
Camille Pisarro and Pablo
Picasso—but once war
breaks out, it’s up to her to
keep his paintings by the
famed artists safe from the
Nazis. The author’s keen
appreciation for art, France
and spirited characters
make her book sing.
2
ANY DREAM WILL DO Tired of their father’s
preferential treatment toward Joseph—including the gift of a
gloriously colored coat—eleven sons sell their brother as a slave
and claim he’s been killed. But Joseph’s story, plucked from the
Biblical book of Genesis, doesn’t end there. The young man winds
up interpreting dreams for the Egyptian pharaoh, a journey told
through entertaining lyrics by Tim Rice and catchy music by
Andrew Lloyd Webber in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat, playing November 25–30 at Overture Center.
A MOMENT TO CELEBRATE Mark the passing of the old year and
the start of a new one with music, dance, food, games, crafts,
speakers and more at the Hmong New Year Celebration at the
Alliant Energy Center. November 28–29, hmongmadison.com
KATIE VAUGHN is managing editor of Madison Magazine. Find more arts and entertainment
coverage, from visual art and theater to classical and rock music, at madisonmagazine.com.
16
1
3
On the surface, the Barretts
are a typical suburban
family. But the morning
that opens From Up Here,
Forward Theater’s first
production of the new
season, is anything but
ordinary. Son Kenny is about
to return to high school
after being suspended for
threatening his classmates
with violence. Dark yet
funny and moving without
being sentimental, the play
focuses on a family trying
to rebuild from the verge of
tragedy. November 6–23,
forwardtheater.com
In Gross Indecency:
The Three Trials of Oscar
Wilde, Madison Theatre
Guild delves into the
popular and scandalous
writer and playwright’s
prosecution for being
openly gay in Victorian-era
London. November 7–22,
madisontheatreguild.org
When three corporate
trainers share a tiny
hotel room in Wisconsin
Rapids, everything from
business espionage
to partying to fantasy
baseball comes into play.
Mercury Players Theatre
presents WIDESCREEN,
a satire on privacy,
for mature audiences
only. November 7–22,
mercuryplayerstheatre.com
MADISONMAGAZINE.COM / NOVEMBER 2014
68%
of Madison Magazine
readers have
purchased a product
or service from
advertising seen
in the magazine!
Circulation Verification Council Audit, March 2015.
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2/8/2016