By Jessica Steinhoff | Photo courtesy Olbrich Botanical Gardens
The 2024-25 arts season kicks off with fantastic live music, theater hits and thought-provoking performances.
Live Music
Lake Street Dive
Sept. 24, Breese Stevens Field
This band aims to sound like “the Beatles and Motown had a party,” according to drummer Mike Calabrese, and the musicians’ love of swing-era jazz shines through, too. They’re touring to support “Good Together,” a new album featuring ’80s-style electropop and a flugelhorn infusion. breesestevensfield.com
The National with The War on Drugs
Sept. 26, Breese Stevens Field
Two Grammy-winning rock bands have teamed up for a fall tour that mines their deep discographies. They’ll be supported by indie-pop quartet Lucius, who’ll probably join The War on Drugs for a performance of their hit 2021 collaboration “I Don’t Live Here Anymore.” I also predict plenty of material from The National’s stellar “High Violet” and “Trouble Will Find Me” albums, which ruled critics’ year-end lists — and local jukeboxes — in the early 2010s. breesestevensfield.com
Cowboy Junkies
Sept. 27, Barrymore Theatre
The Canadians who rose to stardom with a dreamy take on the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” are ready to mesmerize you with a new album, “Such Ferocious Beauty.” barrymorelive.com
Summer Salt
Sept. 27, Majestic Theatre
Blending retro surf-rock with breezy bossa nova, this band conjures beach- party vibes wherever they go. majesticmadison.com
La Luz
Sept. 27, High Noon Saloon
This psych-pop band’s new album is proof that terrible news — guitarist Shana Cleveland’s cancer diagnosis — can be a catalyst for beauty. high-noon.com
Two Door Cinema Club
Oct. 1, The Sylvee
Put on your dancing shoes: You’ll be driven to move when this Irish band’s slick beats and pounding post-punk hooks hit the Sylvee’s soundsystem. thesylvee.com
Somi
Oct. 10, Wisconsin Union Theater
Lithe jazz vocals, rhythmic African grooves and inspiring humanitarian messages converge in this artist’s Grammy-nominated songs. artsticketing.wisc.edu
“Momentum”
Nov. 15-17, Overture Center
Guest conductor Michael Sterns leads the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s “Rush for Orchestra.” Garrick Ohlsson makes his eighth appearance with the MSO, performing Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto.” The concert closes with Dmitri Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 5. madisonsymphony.org
Local Natives
Nov. 23, The Sylvee
This concert supporting the indie La Luz rockers’ new album, “But I’ll Wait for You,” is your last chance to see co- frontman Kelcey Ayer before he departs to focus on other projects. thesylvee.com
Sa-Roc
Dec. 5, Wisconsin Union Theater
Rhyme-slinging equals sociopolitical changemaking for this hip-hop artist who slayed her first NPR Tiny Desk concert. Her list of influences (Björk, Bad Brains, Billie Holiday) is intriguing, and her list of collaborators (David Byrne, Talib Kweli, photographer Carrie Mae Weems) is impressive. Catch her at a small venue while you still can. artsticketing.wisc.edu
Theater, Dance and Comedy
“Dancing at Lughnasa”
Through Sept. 27, American Players Theatre
Savor the conclusion of American Players Theatre’s outdoor performance season with a play by “Molly Sweeney” creator Brian Friel. A talented ensemble featuring Colleen Madden portrays sisters navigating love and longing in 1930s Ireland. It’s a testament to the power of memory and rituals, and an exploration of the barriers rural women faced a century ago. americanplayers.org
D. L. Hughley
Sept. 27-29, Comedy on State
Hughley’s nationally-syndicated radio show plunges into hot topics with zero apologies and countless zingers, and he earned a Peabody Award for his Comedy Central special “D. L. Hughley: The Endangered List.” For a taste of his recent stand-up material, watch his “Contrarian” Netflix special. madisoncomedy.com
David Cross
Oct. 9, Barrymore Theatre
Though Cross is best known as a comedian, the identity he assumes for his “The End of the Beginning of the End” tour, he’s also an actor you may have seen on “The Umbrella Academy” or “Station Eleven.” He’s even taken the podcast universe by storm with his new “Senses Working Overtime with David Cross.” barrymorelive.com
“Nat Turner in Jerusalem”
Oct. 17-Nov. 10, American Players Theatre
In this response to “The Confessions of Nat Turner,” a slave rebellion’s leader wrestles with his actions and the fate of his people while awaiting execution. Expect a stunning staging from director Tyrone Phillips, mastermind of 2023’s sensational “The Royale.” americanplayers.org
Mike Birbiglia
Oct. 22, Overture Center
Birbiglia’s comedic storytelling has stolen hearts in Broadway solo shows like “Sleepwalk with Me,” Netflix specials and movies like “Don’t Think Twice.” His latest tour, “Please Stop the Ride,” offers giggle-worthy new material. overture.org
Jenny Slate
Oct. 29, Orpheum Theater
The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star, stand-up comic and “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” creator brings her off-kilter wit to downtown Madison. madisonorpheum.com
“The Barber of Seville”
Nov. 1 & 3, Overture Center
Catch Madison Opera’s rendition of the legendary “Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo, bravo!” aria, plus enjoy the heroine’s hilarious attempts to outwit her guardian. madisonopera.org
Sarah Silverman
Nov. 1, Orpheum Theater
The ever-busy comedian emerged from the COVID pandemic with a sold-out musical based on her New York Times bestselling memoir and then recorded a new TV special, 2023’s “Someone You Love,” which is as funny and fearless as ever. madisonorpheum.com
Maria Bamford
Nov. 22, Barrymore Theatre
Adorably strange and bracingly surreal, Bamford’s comedic presence is one of the most unique on the stand-up circuit. It has made her a scene-stealer on late-night shows and in voice acting roles on “BoJack Horseman” and “Rick and Morty.” She’s also found humor in her struggles with bipolar disorder for decades, inspiring Taylor Tomlinson and other young comics to attempt this difficult feat. barrymorelive.com
“& Juliet”
Nov. 26-Dec. 1, Overture Center
What if Shakespeare’s Juliet chose to keep living and Romeo came back to life? “Schitt’s Creek” writer David West Read shares his hysterical answer in this musical stuffed with Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys megahits. overture.org
Visual Art and Film
PhotoMidwest Biennial
Sept. 17-Nov. 9, (opening reception Sept. 27), Arts + Literature Laboratory
Kris Graves, whose works about power and privilege have joined permanent collections at the Getty Institute and Museum of Modern Art, juries images by photographers from 13 Midwestern states for the main exhibition. photomidwest.org
Duck Soup Cinema
Oct. 5, Overture Center
Travel back to the 1920s, where Vaudeville-style entertainers set the stage for an uproarious silent-film screening with a live organ performance. Watch Overture Center’s website for announcements about the series’ films, selected by curator and Buster Keaton fan, James Kreul. overture.org
Art on the Rooftop
Through Oct. 31, Monona Terrace rooftop
Enjoy this free art exhibition that highlights the stunning views from Monona Terrace’s rooftop. Sculptures about bird migration and trees’ resilience are highlights of this jury-selected collection atop Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural tour de force. mononaterrace.com/art-on-the-rooftop
“Line to Form: Richard Hunt’s Prints and Sculpture”
Through Jan. 5, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Richard Hunt is best known for his public works of art, but this exhibition showcases his works on paper, alongside two of his bronze sculptures. The exhibition also explains the preservation techniques behind his bronze works. mmoca.org
Nirmal Raja
Through Oct. 20, James Watrous Gallery
This interdisciplinary artist uses thread, ceramics, photography and more to examine personal and political conflicts. Her “Asking Questions of a Thread” exhibition shares her practice of connecting and “reformatting” objects and images. For example, she creates new objects from clothing and writings of deceased loved ones and sculptural castings of artifacts from her migration to the United States. wisconsinacademy.org/gallery
Just for Fun
Gleam
Through Oct. 26, Olbrich Botanical Gardens
The gardens moonlight as art galleries with the addition of large-scale light installations. Visit Sept. 26-27 for a performance by aerial dance collective Cycropia. olbrichgleam.org
Disney and Pixar’s “Coco in Concert”
Nov. 23, Overture Center
Madison Symphony Orchestra performs Michael Giacchino’s magical score, including the Oscar-winning ballad “Remember Me,” at a screening of the animated charmer about a music- loving boy who visits the Land of the Dead to ask an ancestor for a favor. madisonsymphony.org
