Nicolet Live!
2011-2012 Season
Click on the links below to see events by month or
scroll down to view entire season.
2011 September | October | November | December
2012 January | February | March | May | June | July
Muntu Dance Theatre
Tuesday, September 20 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $12
Buy Tickets Online
Authentic and progressive interpretations of contemporary and ancient African and African-American dance, music, and folklore are performed by Muntu, meaning "the essence of humanity" in the Bantu language. Founded in 1972, the troupe has achieved international acclaim for its fast-paced, invigorating synthesis of dance, rhythm and song, enhanced by stunningly colorful costumes and breathtaking choreography. Each piece, executed with professional artistry, is carefully researched for its cultural and historical significance, as Muntu strives to educate its audiences while it entertains. Described by reviewers as "hotter than hot these days," Muntu will thrill you out of your seat to dance in the aisles.
More about Muntu Dance Theatre.
Venture to Alaska with Dale Johnson
Monday, October 10 at 7:30 pm
Admission: FREE
Travel the length of Alaska from Wales
(60 miles from Russia) to the southern capital of Juneau and experience Alaska as it is today with director Dale Johnson, who will introduce his film and answer questions afterward. Highly regarded for his nature films, Johnson is our guide up the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe, through the heart of the Brooks Range, and along the western border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We'll meet natives in isolated outposts; admire grizzly bears, moose and other wild creatures; and learn about salmon fishing and growing giant veggies under the midnight sun.
More about Venture to Alaska.
Paddling the Voyageur Highway
Thursday, October 20
7:30 pm
Admission: FREE
For their honeymoon, Julie Buckles and Charly Ray paddled 1,700 miles by canoe from their home in Washburn on Lake Superior to Wollaston Lake in northern Saskatchewan, and then stayed for the winter. Hear about their adventures and enjoy spectacular slides of this incredible wilderness called the Voyageur Highway. The slideshow includes the couple's subsequent journey to Wollaston Lake with their team of Siberian huskies. Julie Buckles, a journalist, has a forthcoming book by Raven Productions about the couple's wilderness trip. Charly Ray manages a forest cooperative and shares in the care of their nine Siberian huskies and two children.
More about Paddling the Voyageur Highway.
Nicolet Players Present Rocket Man
November 4 at 7:30 pm | November 10 at 7:30 pm
November 5 at 7:30 pm | November 11 at 7:30 pm
November 6 at 2:00 pm | November 12 at 7:30 pm
| November 13 at 2:00 pm
Admission: $8 and $6
Buy Tickets Online
Rocket Man is a serious comedy about the road not taken. Donny Rowan has placed everything he owns on his front lawn, along with a sign that reads: "Here's my life. Make an offer." He has cut a skylight into his attic and placed his E-Z Boy recliner underneath where he can sit, staring at the stars. Somewhere in the universe, Donny believes, is a place where all the roads we never chose converge. Written by Steven Dietz, one of America's most prolific and widely-produced contemporary playwrights, the play explores one man's obsessive desire to find this "parallel world" and the profound effect of his decision on his family and friends.
Sweetback Sisters
Saturday, November 19 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Call WXPR at 715-362-6000
The Sweetback Sisters and their accomplished sextet of musicians dish up traditional country with uncontained joy, taking you back to the Davis Sisters and country's golden era of the Fifties. With their matching dresses and tight, surrogate-sister harmonies, Zara Bode and Emily Miller are simultaneously reverent of tradition and contemporaneously cheeky.
More about The Sweetback Sisters.
Community Holiday Concert
Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 pm
Admission: FREE
The Nicolet Male Chorus, Nicolet Choraliers, Hymns and Hyrs, and the Lakeland Barbershop Quartet combine their talents for this popular annual concert. Expect a delightful potpourri of holiday and seasonal tunes, delivered in spirited four-part harmony -- guaranteed to perk up your spirits!
Non-perishable food donations for local pantries are welcome.
Encore! Handbell Ensemble
Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $10
Buy Tickets Online
This talented 15-member Fox Valley ensemble, directed by Cara Davis of Oshkosh, performs a holiday concert that draws from sacred and secular traditions from around the world, including traditional carols. Using five-octave handbells and chimes, the musicians produce rich, bright harmonies in celestial tones like you've never experienced before. The ringers employ up to 20 techniques to achieve their magical effect, including the use of a dowel to render a heavenly singing tone that will rapture you into the spirit of the season. Ensemble members also play the cello, flute, harp, and other instruments, resulting in a
magnificent orchestral sound.
More about Encore! Handbell Ensemble.
Meg Hutchinson
Saturday, January 7 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Order Tickets Online Through WXPR
This contemporary, acoustic singer-songwriter from western Massachusetts has won numerous awards for her introspective ballads. Meg writes lyrical, nuanced songs with a poet's sensibility. Using vivid, naturalistic images -- from apple orchards to trailer parks to stark factory towns -- she creates an intimate portrait of American life in these uncertain times.
More about Meg Hutchinson.
An Evening with Mary Lee
and Friends
Thursday, January 19 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $7
Buy Tickets Online
Rhinelander native Mary Lee is familiar to local audiences for her performances at Hodag Fest, the Oneida County Fair, and other venues. A country folk singer influenced by Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, John Denver, and Crosby Stills and Nash. Mary Lee performs original songs that are intimately personal, yet strike a universal chord of heartbreak, yearning, loss, and love. Backing her vocals with guitar and piano, Mary Lee performs songs from her upcoming CD, "My Life." Also accompanying her on the guitar is her brother, Larry Wiesneske, local talent Paul Ehlers, and special guest, 12-year-old Eva performing the Star-Spangled Banner.
The Second City
Friday, January 27 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $18
Buy Tickets Online
For a half century, Second City has enthralled audiences with its wacky, trenchant humor, entertaining more than one million people each year while continuing to nurture the nation's next generation of comedic talent. Second City returns to the Nicolet stage to take unbridled delight in the foibles of our politicians, celebrities, and even our significant others. From the blowhards of the Beltway to the Hollywood elite, no institution escapes its satiric eye. With impromptu skits and songs fresh from the troupe's legendary theatres in Chicago and Toronto, Second City takes you on a hilarious, irreverent ride through present-day America. Adult content.
More about The Second City.
The Pro Arte Quartet
Sunday, February 5 at 2:00 pm
Admission: $15
Buy Tickets Online
The Pro Arte Quartet performs throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, has performed at the White House, and is the resident ensemble of the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Featuring violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violist Sally Chisholm and cellist Parry Karp, the century-old quartet is renowned for promoting music of its own time, collaborating with composers such as Bela Bartok, Darius Milhaud, and Gunther Schuller. Cherished for its energy and emotional intensity, Pro Arte offers an exciting balance of old and modern classical. They'll perform a mix of traditional works, as well as pieces commissioned for their centennial anniversary.
More about The Pro Arte Quartet.
ArtsPower Presents Fish Face
Saturday, February 18 at 11:00 am
Admission: $5 Children / $7 Adults
Buy Tickets Online
Back for its 9th season, ArtsPower brings talented actors, dynamic music, and dazzling scenery to the Nicolet stage to present a new musical based on the book by award-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff. Emily Arrow is good at everything she tries, as long as she has Uni, her toy unicorn, to bring her good luck. When Dawn Bosco, the new girl, steals Uni and becomes the best at everything, Emily learns a lesson about honesty, friendship, and adversity. Children in grades 1-4 will delight in this riveting theatrical production that addresses important issues through song and sparkling wit.
More about Fish Face.
Community Music Festival
Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30 pm
Admission: FREE
The Northwoods is rich in musical talent and you'll get a sampling of its range and energy in one dynamic evening of performance by six local music groups: the Rhinelander Area Community Band, Woodland Strings, Nicolet Male Chorus, Nicolet Choraliers, Hymns and Hyrs, and Lakeland Barbershoppers. Each group will take the stage to perform the highlights of its season's repertoire. The music will be sweet and you'll be smiling as your friends and neighbors entertain you with all their "heart and soul."
The Starlight Six
Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: Order Tickets Online Through WXPR
Six Michigan singer-songwriters have banded together for the joy of creating music. Joshua Davis and Dominic John from Steppin' In It, Rachael Davis of Shout Sister Shout, Seth Bernard and May Erlewine of Prairie Home Companion fame, and drummer Mike Shimmin deliver a spirited evening of blues, jazz, and folk.
South African Safari with John Wilson
Monday, March 5 at 7:30 pm (please note date change)
Admission: FREE
Explore the world's bio-diversity in one country: from desert to jungle to savannah, South Africa has it all. Visit landscapes awash with wild flowers, the stark Kalahari desert, majestic waterfalls and canyons, and the inhabitants of the Cape -- buffalo, rhino, lion, leopard, and elephant. In addition, experience the rhythms of the Swazi dancers and the humbling, exquisite rock art of the Bushmen. Also on tour are the vast estates of the scenic Cape wine lands, uniquely situated resorts and the Cathedral Peak Hotel. John Wilson, one of Canada's top wildlife documentary filmmakers, will introduce his film and answer questions afterward.
Land of Lakes Choirboys
Saturday, March 24 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $12
Buy Tickets Online
The Land of Lakes Choirboys have earned comparison to the Vienna Choirboys for their pure, clear tone, and outstanding technique. But it's their joy of singing, sparkling stage presence, and their ability to engage the audience that sets this Minnesota choir apart from the rest. Now in its fourth decade and the recipient of many national and international awards, the choir auditions young boys from ordinary small-town backgrounds and trains them to perform complicated musical works with sensitivity and artistry. The group's touring Viking Choirboys will present songs in a variety of genres and languages, delivered in their trademark soul-stirring harmonies.
More about Land of Lakes Choirboys.
Ghost Towns of the Wild West
with Gray Warriner
Tuesday, March 27 at 7:30 pm (please note date change)
Admission: FREE
Travel back in time and explore the old Wild West towns built by brave pioneers who endured danger, loneliness, and extreme temperatures to pursue their dreams. Only the tough and strong survived, but many of the towns did not, turning them into the ghost towns on the edge of vanishing forever. Gary Warriner, recipient of more than 100 national and international awards for his documentary and travelogue films, will introduce and answer questions afterward about his moving photo slide show of 550 color photographs. Filmed at 12 sites, the documentary helps us imagine the rigors of pioneer life of yore.
More about Ghost Towns of the Wild West.
Nicolet Players Present Harvey
May 4 at 7:30 pm
May 5 at 7:30 pm
May 6 at 2:00 pm
May 10 at 7:30 pm
May 11 at 7:30 pm
May 12 at 7:30 pm
May 13 at 2:00 pm
Admission: $8 and $6
Buy Tickets Online
Ever since its 1944 Broadway debut, this beloved comedy has won numerous awards and delighted audiences of all ages with its story about Harvey, the six-foot imaginary rabbit friend of mild-mannered, eccentric Elwood P. Dowd. When Elwood introduces Harvey at a party, his society-obsessed sister Veta decides to commit her brother to a sanitarium so he won't ruin her daughter's chances to marry upward. But the doctors think Veta, who confesses to having seen Harvey, is bonkers and commit her instead. Amid all the laughs, this classic screwball comedy packages a big heart and more than a few enduring truths.
Redhead Express
Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $15
Buy Tickets Online
This up-and-coming group is the Walker family from Alaska: four dynamic young women, backed up by three younger brothers, and Mom and Dad. Redhead Express delivers a wholesome mix of country, bluegrass, old-time, and Irish music and tunes from the Fifties and Sixties. The group has performed their unique blend of tight harmonies and hard-driving instrumentals in Branson and around the country. Bring your family and tapping toes for a high-energy performance from singer-songwriter Kendra with her bluesy jazz sound, LaRae on the banjo, Alisa with the smokin' hot fiddle and Meghan with the steady bass and sweet high voice.
More about Redhead Express.
Leahy's Luck
Tuesday, July 17 at 7:30 pm
Admission: $15
Buy Tickets Online
Popular at festivals and performance art centers around the Midwest for two decades, Leahy's Luck delves into the soul of Irish folk music with scope and sophistication, as evidenced on their five recordings. Tom, Brian, and Evan Leahy handle vocals, bass, guitar, and Irish drums. Randal Harrison plays the violin, and on the accordion is Stas Venglevski of Prairie Home Companion fame. The result is a lively mix of passionate, widely accessible music, described by critics as "traditional Irish flavored with a distinctive world influence." A perennial favorite at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, Leahy's Luck is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
More about Leahy's Luck.