If you haven’t made plans yet for the Valentine’s Day weekend but still hope to romance your significant other, “Love is In the Air,” a new musical revue conceived and directed by John-Stuart Fauquet, gives you just the opportunity. Presented by the Strollers Theatre company, “Love” offers you the chance to impress your mate not only with an evening tailored-made to woo, but with your philanthropy for the local art scene as well.
“Love is In the Air” is a series of songs selected from musicals that span in time and style from the Golden Age of Broadway, from Gershwin’s 1928 hit song “Embraceable You” to Jason Robert Brown’s “Still Hurting,” from the 2001 musical “The Last Five Years.”
Besides covering a wide range of time and styles, the songs have been selected to explore a broad spectrum of the incarnations and ramifications of love.
“The theme of the show is love, and when I was first asked to do this, what I didn’t want was for the show to be really cheesy. I didn’t want to have all these happy love songs. What I tried to do was show many different aspects of love. We have songs about romantic love, love between family members, love that’s gone wrong and love that is funny,” Fauquet explained.
Structurally, the show is a bit different from the average musical theater revue. Director and creator Fauquet has forgone the inclusion of recurring characters and interstitial scenes that are designed to create a new and continuous narrative out of the recycled songs, choosing instead to allow the songs speak for themselves.
Rather than scenes that play between songs, Fauquet has decided to include readings of classical literature concerned with the nature of love.
“Between the songs, there are readings from famous authors and their takes on love, which again are not all happy. Some are cynical, some are unhappy. [For example,] we have the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, a letter by Dylan Thomas and a letter from Beethoven to his unnamed immortal beloved.”
To heighten the romance of the entire affair, special sweet and seductive treats are served at intermission.
“At intermission we’re serving complementary hors d’?uvres and complimentary champagne.”
Fauquet added, “It’s a great evening out where you can enjoy food and champagne and watch an hour and a half of really good singing and have a generally great night.”
If all of this is still not enough to impress your beau, perhaps they will be won over by your generosity; the show, staged at the Bartell’s Drury stage, is also fundraiser for the Strollers Theatre Company. Go to the show, support local arts and artists, including three starring University of Wisconsin undergraduate students.
So, if you are still worried about making grand romantic plans but feel lost or clueless, or you just need to be entertained and fed at a reasonable price, then perhaps “Love is In the Air” can give you what you need.
Show times are February 13th and 14th at 8:00 pm. Plays on the Drury stage in the Bartell Theatre. Tickets are $20 ahead of time $25 at the door. For tickets or more information call 608-661-9696 ext. 2.
