I have to admit, I'd never heard of
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Berryman, who taught at the University of Minnesota for much of his career. I'll also admit that I'm not a big fan of poetry, I never really read it on my own because I have a hard time making sense of it (but maybe poetry isn't supposed to make sense). That's why I love seeing poems or poetry depicted on stage, in the more familiar language of theater, or better yet, music-theater. I went to see the world premiere of
Strange Heart: The Dream Songs of John Berryman at Open Eye Theatre for two reasons - Bradley Greenwald and Anna Hashizume - and I was rewarded with a very dreamlike show. Like poetry, it doesn't always make sense, it doesn't follow a straight line, it jumps around from one time or place to another. But also like poetry, it makes you feel things, even if you're not sure why.
Strange Heart is odd, and funny, and silly, and heartbreakingly sad as it explores the life and work of a tortured artist, through his words put to music.
You can experience this strange and lovely dream now through March 22.
Local composer Greg Brosofske wrote the piece and composed all the music, with lyrics I'm assuming from Berryman's poetry, specifically from his Pulitzer Prize-winning Dream Songs. He's been working on it for over a decade, including at and with Open Eye Theatre. Their signature puppetry is a perfect fit for this whimsical piece, which they call an operetta, but I prefer to use the term music-theater (thanks Nautilus for that wonderful catchall) because it defies classification. It's sort of a memory play, in that we see John near the end of his life, with flashbacks to meeting his third wife Kate, his time spent in hospitals being treated for his lifelong struggle with alcoholism, and even his childhood, suffering a traumatic loss that haunted him for the rest of his life. It's also part fantasy, as the subject of John's poems come to life in the form of a mischievous puppet named Henry. There is much spoken dialogue depicting these scenes, with intermittent songs - some funny little ditties about whiskey, beautiful love songs, and plaintive ballads. We weave in and out of these moments of sobriety, drunkenness, memory, fantasy, and sad reality, until the inevitable conclusion.
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the memory of a first date (Bradley Greenwald, Sam Albright,
and Anna Hashizume, photo by Bruce Silcox) |
Joel Sass directs the piece and designed the set, and it feels very much like an Open Eye show, charming and fantastical and wondrous, but with an undercurrent of darkness. Bradley Greenwald plays John in all his moods and layers, an overall sad portrait of an artist, but not without beauty. Anna Hashizume plays Kate, a nurse, and John's mother, all different characters with different voices and relationships to John. And as expected, when they sing together, unmiked in the intimate space, it's a dream indeed. But this is not a two-hander, Sam Albright plays the puppet Henry and other key characters, adding their voice and charm to this lovely trio.
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John (Bradley Greenwald) with his pal Henry (Sam Albright)
(photo by Bruce Silcox) |
The set is simple but full of intricate details, the puppets (Henry in varying sizes) adorably expressive. The soft lighting helps sets the mood, and the sound design includes recorded voices of these and other characters. John spends much of the show in a schlubby bathrobe over a professor's button down shirt and trousers, Kate in a sweet mid-Century-style pale flowered dress, pieces added to help Anna transform into other characters. (Lighting design by Alex Clark, sound design by Bailey Fenn, human costume design by Samantha Haddow, puppet costume design by Karly Gesine Bergmann, and puppet design by Sam and Joel.)
The musical accompaniment is provided by a jazzy quartet led by music director Wesley Frye on keys, not just for the songs but also as an underscore. And Bradley, the baritone with a baritone, occasionally joins the band, his playing like an extension of his character. Pro tip: get to the theater early not just to get a good seat, but also to enjoy this quartet's performance of jazz standards.
Earlier this week I saw
Water for Elephants, a huge spectacle of a musical with literal circus performers flying across the big Orpheum stage. This sweet small show on Open Eye's sweet small stage is about as opposite a show as you could get. But that's what I love about music-theater, it can encompass the full range and tell so many different stories in so many different ways. And this one is oddly charming, locally created, and unlike any other musical you may see.
