Chasing Rainbows: A World Tour & Historic Look at Travel Films

press release: The Wisconsin Union Theater’s Travel Adventure Series is moving to Shannon Hall with Chasing Rainbows on Monday, November 6, 2017, at 7:30 pm. Pricing is as follows: UW-Madison students are $6, Union Members and Non-UW Students are $11, UW Faculty and Staff are $12, and the general public are $13 (Youth up to 18-years-old are $11. Up to two youth tickets with a regular ticket). The film is preceded by a buffet lunch at 5:30 pm. The price is $18. Tickets for the film and meal can be purchased on our website, at the Memorial Union box office or by calling 608-265-ARTS.

Filmmakers Bob DeLoss and Stan Walsh set the stage for high adventure in a flashback to the fictional world of Jules Verne’s first successful novel, “Five Days in a Balloon.”  We’ll meet more daring-than- fiction characters: reporter-adventurer Nelly Bly and Osa Johnson, author of “I Married Adventure” fame.  We’ll see the Grand Panorama “Whaling Voyage,” a “mile-long” canvas unrolled before excited audiences during the1880s. Magic lantern shows soon evolved to satisfy wanderlust.

It was the era of the Grand Tour and early motion pictures. Celebrities like Will Rogers recorded their travels on film. A new, entertaining theater art was born with audiences traveling around the world with prominent explorers. We’ll meet pioneers of travel film-making like Burton Holmes and Lowell Thomas as well as the modern filmmakers Thayer Soule, Stan Midgley, Don Cooper, Robin Williams, Jim Tompkins and Dale Johnson, to name a few.

With humor and imagination these professional photojournalists portray the beauty of remote lands and seas.  We meet the people, learn about their history, art and culture, see wildlife and nature, music and dance. This legacy program is armchair adventuring at its best. Voyage “Around the World in 80 Minutes” with the men and women whose cameras make it happen.

This performance is presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performing Arts Committee.  This concert was supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board.