Things to Do in West Allis
Recommended Things to Do by Groupon Customers
The much-lauded Driving Miss Daisy, which garnered a Pulitzer Prize as a play and four Academy Awards as a film, follows the unlikely friendship between a stubborn elderly Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur. Set in Atlanta from 1948 to 1973, the play elbows into sensitive, urgent issues, from racism to religious prejudice to backseat driving. Ruth Schudson plays the title character with garrulous, willful zest in her 65th production with the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, excavating Miss Daisy's complex growth as she ages from her sixties to her nineties. As the sixth production in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Pulitzer Prize series, Driving Miss Daisy rides the energy of past award-winning scripts such as Rabbit Hole, Picnic, and Curious George Learns the Alphabet. Audiences can arrive early to enjoy the grand design of the European-styled Cabot Theatre, where a shimmering chandelier illuminates arched, gilded balconies and 360 cushy sapphire seats.
Elite Sports Clubs' encyclopedic menu of group classes injects novelty into stale workout routines with more than 200 classes each week. Choose from pound-pummeling programs in five categories: cardio, strength, aquatics, mind/body, and fusion. Zumba shimmies off unwanted pounds and boot camp drop-kicks calories through intense cardio and agility training. Let supple limbs flow smoothly between strength-building postures during a graceful session of Vinyasa yoga or mesmerize muscles with Trouble Zone Tone, a speedy weight training and cardio routine. Joint-friendly classes such as H20 Blast provide aquatic-based fitness that’s far more enjoyable than pumping iron while chasing the neighbor's sprinkler. Body benders can drop off their child or tofu-based child substitute at Elite Sports Club’s daycare before their class, and retire to the locker rooms afterward to towel off accumulated sweat and war paint. Check out Elite Sports Clubs’ schedule for a list of classes offered at each location.
Passengers on the Iroquois, Vista King, and Voyageur cruise ships have passed under century-old raising bridges and laid eyes on history-rich chunks of Milwaukee skyline. However, they've also sat under squadrons of F-18s performing barrel rolls over Lake Michigan. Licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard to perform tours and charters on the lake, Jake Chianelli and his captains offer their passengers a unique perspective on the city's waterside events. They also partner with the nonprofit organization Historic Milwaukee by using their trained docents to lead history tours, which include facts and anecdotes from the arrival of the first fur traders up to modern day.
With kitchen facilities and a full bar on board, each of the three double-decked ships are equipped for tours as well as a range of corporate events, wedding-rehearsal dinners, and Moby Dick-themed improv shows. Climate-controlled lower decks give passengers shelter in all weather, and open upper decks house a stage space where local indie-rock bands play during a summer concert series.
In addition to your two-person unlimited admission to the museum, membership includes a 10% discount to the museum store, a subscription to the museum's e-newsletter, a museum decal and magnet, free admission for tykes under the age of 17, and a free copy of the museum's swimsuit calendar, Corrugated Cardboard.
The 74-foot tower of North Point Lighthouse stretches to meet the neighboring trees of Lake Park. Attached to it are two-and-a-half stories of wood-frame keeper's quarters that once housed historic figures such as Georgia Stebbins, keeper for thirty years.
Renovated in 2007, the bright, airy building now acts as home to artifacts and lighthouse-related curios, including an original 1928 Fresnel lens that helped guide seafaring vessels. Additionally, a Chadburn telegraph, recovered from a sunken ship, pays homage to the orders that went to and from the ship's bridge and engine rooms.
Guests can browse both the quarters and the lighthouse, and explore the site's more than 120 years of history by perusing the artwork and photographs displayed throughout the galleries. Dedicated volunteers are also on hand to dispense fascinating information and history, and to give limited guided tours that lead visitors to the top of the tower, where they can catch views of the surrounding park and lakefront.
