As I was waiting for the light to turn green on the corner of KK and Russell, the sound of drums and thumb cymbals caught my attention. In front of Joyce Parkers Theater, 2685 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., were a bunch of costumed performers playing bongos and belly dancing as part of More Murder at the Renaissance Faire, which plays every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., through Aug. 6. I knew I was in for the kind of good time you can only find in Bay View.
I had such a good time at More Murder at the Renaissance Faire Friday night. Despite the fact that three of the 14 members of the cast had never acted before, they put on one hell of a show. Allow me to paint you a picture. The theater is in a building that must have been a bank or something before being converted into my new favorite place to see a performance. There are probably about 70 seats which face the performing area. The curtains to the stage are made of simple fabric hung over electrical conduit. This is community theater at its finest.
More Murder at the Renaissance Faire is a full-length musical written and directed by one of its stars, Ken Morgan. Its a satirical look at Milwaukees political scene, but dont let that scare you off. Its hilarious. With characters named Bo the Black, the Journaling Sentinel, the Baron of Nordquist Castle, the Virgin of Vigagrowa, the Hag of Manitowoc, der Kaiser von Germantown and Leonardo Davinski, viewers get quite a portrait of our home state.
I dont think I stopped smiling the whole time I was there. Even the audience cracked me up. There were these three little kids in the front row that would laugh histerically every time their dad made a funny face on stage. Then there was the older gentleman in the back row that had a great laugh somewhere between Marty McFly and Cheech Marin. Besides, where else in town can you get a can of MGD at intermission?
Even intermission was entertaining. Dancer Maxeme entertained the crowd with her middle-eastern dancing and finger cymbals. Then Madame Marianna set up a table and read fortunes for a dollar a pop. I was told that I would receive good news from a relative. When I woke up on Saturday morning there was a message on my machine from my aunt. She apparently had found a place in town where I could get my Birkenstocks resouled pretty cheap. How did Marianna know?
The second half was again filled with great music written and composed by Gary Guetzlaff, which climaxed in a battle scene between Bo the Black and Chumura-saurus, the one-eyed monster of Green Bay. How could you ask for more? As far as I could tell, everyone there had a great time. I left the Theater on KK with a huge smile on my face eagerly awaiting their next production.
