ARGYLE - The echoing theater hall in the upstairs portion of Partridge Hall in Argyle will no longer have the voices of a madrigal choir booming through it after the Pecatonica Madrigal Players host their final shows Friday and Saturday.
Partridge Hall Restaurant and Lodging sits near the junction of Wisconsin 81 and Wisconsin 78. Above the restaurant, a wood-floored hall lit mostly by overhead chandeliers and a dotting of Christmas lights has been the home to the annual Pecatonica Madrigal Players performance for 13 years.
The dinner and renaissance-themed show has been hosted in the Argyle, Blanchardville and Pecatonica area for 24 years. To celebrate their silver jubilee this year, the "jester" of the group, Jerry Bredeson, wrote an original screenplay for the skits between meals that takes heavy influence from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," using ghosts of Madrigal performers past, present and future.
The skits borrow from Dickens' work with their tongue placed firmly in-cheek, as King Karl Gant of the Madrigal performance quips to the ghost of the deceased performance's progenitor, Doc Siedshlag.
"You will be visited by three ghosts before the stroke of midnight; or after the salad course, whichever comes first," the ghost of Siedschlag said.
"What the Dickens," exclaimed King Karl.
Tickets were sold out by the middle of November, according to the advisor of this and every Madrigal performance, Kathleen Hermanson.
Hermanson said she and Siedshlag originally went to Platteville and saw a Madrigal performance 24 years ago and toyed with the idea of hosting their own. They finally decided to make their own performance after Hermanson's son Chris convinced them to try.
"We rented or borrowed all the plates and cups and things, but when it got closer to getting the meal together we said, "Oh my Gosh, what did we get ourselves into,'" Hermanson said.
The first Pecatonica Madrigal Players performance went off without a hitch at the Pecatonica High School Cafeteria. Hermanson said the group effort to put on the show has never been lackluster and each individual helps set up the show, perform and then clean up afterwards.
"After that first show, we had everybody in the kitchen doing dishes," Hermanson said.
The success of the performance came with requests to keep doing it the first weekend in December every year, so they added more to the cast of choir and performers.
"We are so very fortunate to have so many really great singers," Hermanson said.
The show ran for 24 years with about 15 singers, a trumpeter, a guitar player and a piano player, all from the Blanchardville area except one hailing from Oregon.
The 90-seat Partridge Hall will be served by the restaurant, which will prepare a seven-course meal for the 108 people including the performers. Hermanson said since they have been in Argyle, they have always signed up high school or middle school children to help serve out the food. This year the Argyle High School boys basketball team will serve for the Friday and Saturday shows. The seven courses are portioned out throughout the night between skits and songs and will last until about 9 p.m. each night.
Hermanson said that although this will be the last performance of the Pecatonica Madrigal Players, she suspects members of the group will still perform - just not in their renaissance costumes.
"It's a really close-knit group, and when it's all done I'm sure there will be other things ... like caroling," Hermanson said.
Partridge Hall Restaurant and Lodging sits near the junction of Wisconsin 81 and Wisconsin 78. Above the restaurant, a wood-floored hall lit mostly by overhead chandeliers and a dotting of Christmas lights has been the home to the annual Pecatonica Madrigal Players performance for 13 years.
The dinner and renaissance-themed show has been hosted in the Argyle, Blanchardville and Pecatonica area for 24 years. To celebrate their silver jubilee this year, the "jester" of the group, Jerry Bredeson, wrote an original screenplay for the skits between meals that takes heavy influence from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," using ghosts of Madrigal performers past, present and future.
The skits borrow from Dickens' work with their tongue placed firmly in-cheek, as King Karl Gant of the Madrigal performance quips to the ghost of the deceased performance's progenitor, Doc Siedshlag.
"You will be visited by three ghosts before the stroke of midnight; or after the salad course, whichever comes first," the ghost of Siedschlag said.
"What the Dickens," exclaimed King Karl.
Tickets were sold out by the middle of November, according to the advisor of this and every Madrigal performance, Kathleen Hermanson.
Hermanson said she and Siedshlag originally went to Platteville and saw a Madrigal performance 24 years ago and toyed with the idea of hosting their own. They finally decided to make their own performance after Hermanson's son Chris convinced them to try.
"We rented or borrowed all the plates and cups and things, but when it got closer to getting the meal together we said, "Oh my Gosh, what did we get ourselves into,'" Hermanson said.
The first Pecatonica Madrigal Players performance went off without a hitch at the Pecatonica High School Cafeteria. Hermanson said the group effort to put on the show has never been lackluster and each individual helps set up the show, perform and then clean up afterwards.
"After that first show, we had everybody in the kitchen doing dishes," Hermanson said.
The success of the performance came with requests to keep doing it the first weekend in December every year, so they added more to the cast of choir and performers.
"We are so very fortunate to have so many really great singers," Hermanson said.
The show ran for 24 years with about 15 singers, a trumpeter, a guitar player and a piano player, all from the Blanchardville area except one hailing from Oregon.
The 90-seat Partridge Hall will be served by the restaurant, which will prepare a seven-course meal for the 108 people including the performers. Hermanson said since they have been in Argyle, they have always signed up high school or middle school children to help serve out the food. This year the Argyle High School boys basketball team will serve for the Friday and Saturday shows. The seven courses are portioned out throughout the night between skits and songs and will last until about 9 p.m. each night.
Hermanson said that although this will be the last performance of the Pecatonica Madrigal Players, she suspects members of the group will still perform - just not in their renaissance costumes.
"It's a really close-knit group, and when it's all done I'm sure there will be other things ... like caroling," Hermanson said.