Milwaukee native Brett Ryback brings 'Liberace!' back to life in a remarkable performance
Playing piano in character as the titular figure in "Liberace!," Brett Ryback frequently turns his head toward the audience with a smile and with eyes that communicate multiple messages: This is fun. Are you enjoying it? Did you see what I did? Are you with me? Do you love me?
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre opened a new production of Brent Hazelton's one-man play with music Saturday evening. It's a tour de force that requires a strong actor who's an equally strong pianist, performing everything from "Three Little Fishies" to Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat Major. Milwaukee native Ryback is both, plus he's cherubically handsome and vivacious, reminding us that young man Liberace was a sex symbol.
Hazelton's play, previously staged by Milwaukee Repertory Theater in 2010 and 2014 with Jack Forbes Wilson as Liberace, has the bones of a typical cabaret show, as the artist — born in West Allis and raised in West Milwaukee — walks us chronologically through his career from classical piano prodigy to Vegas showman, interspersing talk and music.
But "Liberace!" goes deeper than that, exploring the pianist's internal conflicts as a gay man who couldn't fully own that identity in public, and as a love-hungry musician caught between his drive to please crowds and his desire to placate critics, including his stern, snobbish father.
The script has this show's Liberace, speaking to us from beyond the grave, deliver an enormous amount of facts, dates and exposition, but Ryback deftly does this while keeping things moving. Ryback exerts fine control over the amount of camp he puts into his Liberace voice and actions, depending on the incident he's reliving. He's good at crowd work, too, deftly recognizing and rolling with some responses from the audience.
"Liberace!" also grapples with painful crises: the 1956 libel suit he won against a British newspaper columnist who smeared him with homophobic pejoratives; the 1982 palimony suit by former boyfriend Scott Thorson; and the musician's 1987 death from complications of AIDS.
Scrutiny of Liberace's gay identity and performing persona are important to this show. But it also has many moments when Ryback transcends those issues in the simplest but most difficult way, by sitting down, turning to the keyboard and becoming one with the music.
Hazelton directed this production. Kudos to Alex Tecoma, who designed the spectacular costumes.
If you go
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre performs performs "Liberace!" through Dec. 10 at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, visit milwaukeechambertheatre.org or call (414) 291-7800.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Remarkable performer propels Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's 'Liberace!'
