"Moonlit Walk Home" at Nautilus Music-Theater

Nautilus Music-Theater's second new original piece of music-theater this season is the lovely song cycle Moonlit Walk Home. It turns out that #TCTheater's favorite singing sisters Christina Baldwin and Jennifer Baldwin Peden have a talented poet for a mother, which isn't really that surprising; artistic talent often runs in families. Fern Green Baldwin put her writing aside to raise eight children and numerous plants and animals on 36 acres in the Minnesota River Valley outside of Jordan, Minnesota. She finally got back to writing in her 70s, and published her first book of poetry Moonlit Walk Home at the age of 80. Her daughters have adapted it into a song cycle, along with stage director Ben Krywosz and composer Daniel Nass. The result is a really beautiful collection of music that is not only a love letter to their mother, but also to finding poetry and beauty in the simple and mundane things of everyday life. 

"Stations of the Heart" at Nautilus Music-Theater

Nautilus Music-Theater's main focus is developing new works of music-theater (a hyphenate that encompasses opera, musicals, plays with music, and everything in between) through their monthly "Rough Cuts" series and their annual Composer-Librettist Studio. Their rare but wonderful full productions seem to pop up out of nowhere, but in reality they've been in the works for years. Such is the cast with the lovely new song cycle Stations of the Heart, which was first presented at a Rough Cuts 18 years ago. Now, as theaters are starting to open after a very long extended intermission, it's finally being presented as a full production, although a small one - three vocalists and two musicians. It's exactly what I've come to expect from Nautilus - innovative, modern yet connected to a long tradition, and musically gorgeous. Performances continue through October 17 with limited seating, so make your plans soon (proof of vaccination and mask required).

"Twisted Apples: Stories from Winesburg, Ohio" at Nautilus Music-Theater

I first experienced Nautilus Music-Theater's lovely new piece of music-theater Twisted Apples: Stories from Winesburg, Ohio about five and a half years ago, when they presented one of the three acts at the 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival. It was actually the first time I saw Nautilus' work, and I was immediately hooked. I saw another piece of the work at the 2012 Fringe Fest, and have been waiting for the full three-act work ever since. The wait is over! Nautilus specializes in developing new works of music-theater (a term that I've stolen because it can be used to describe anything on the spectrum of play with music/musical/opera without forcing it into a box). To that end, they hold classes and workshops for composers and playwrights, and present readings of new works roughly the second Monday and Tuesday of every month in their "Rough Cuts" series (watch their Facebook page for details, usually announced a week or two prior). Every once in a while they mount a full production of one of these new works in their tiny studio space in Lowertown St. Paul, and now, finally, it's Twisted Apples' turn to have its moment. But hopefully not its last; it's a gorgeous piece that I hope will live on and continue to be performed beyond this nine-show small space run that closes this weekend.

"The Fantasticks" at Nautilus Music-Theater

It may be spring (almost) outside, but inside Nautilus Music-Theater's tiny studio space in Lowertown St. Paul, it's most definitely September. The kind of September "where grass is green and grain is yellow," and "no one weeps except the willow." A lovely hopeful youthful September that slowly fades into a wiser, darker, and nostalgic December. While Nautilus is primarily dedicated to developing new works of music-theater, with their newest full production (which are few and far between, their last one was almost three years ago), they are presenting a new take on the longest running musical in the world. 56 years ago, The Fantasticks was just the kind of piece that Nautilus would have developed, supported, and produced - an inventive piece of music-theater storytelling that pushes the envelope of what the genre can do. While that glow of newness and inventiveness has somewhat faded over the years, Nautilus is bringing it back in a new way with age-conscious and gender-conscious casting, and by presenting the piece as it originally was - in an intimate small-scale setting that allows the simple beauty and humor of the piece to shine. With limited seating and only 12 performances, make plans soon for this rare opportunity to see this classic musical performed by some of the Twin Cities best theater artists up close and personal.

"Rough Cuts" at Nautilus Music-Theater: "Bold in Their Breeches" and "The Lady with a Lapdog"

Have you ever been to "Rough Cuts," Nautilus Music-Theater's monthly series in which they present readings of new works of music-theater? Even though they've presented 170 "Rough Cuts" over 23 years, you're forgiven if you've never been, or even if you've never heard of it. Their website is uninformative (but it appears they're working on improving it) and while they are on Facebook and Twitter, they're not very active on either. Maybe they like it that way, because even with this lack of publicity there was a standing room only crowd at their small studio space in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood last night. But that's why I'm here, to let you know about delicious well-kept secrets in the local theater world such as "Rough Cuts."

"Putting It Together" and "La Rondine" by Skylark Opera at E.M. Pearson Theatre

One of the theatrical highlights of the summer, Skylark Opera's Annual Summer Festival, is upon us! As usual, the two shows playing in repertoire include one that's more of a traditional opera (but always in English) and one that skews a bit more towards musical theater: Puccini's La Rondine and the Sondheim musical revue Putting It Together (put together by Sondheim himself). As someone who loves musical theater but doesn't venture into the world of opera very often, Skylark's Summer Festival offers a fun, easy, accessible way to enjoy to dip my toes into the opera scene and indulge my love of musical theater. Both shows are highly entertaining with excellent casts and orchestras. But the runs are short with just four performances of each show. So read on, take your pick, and get your tickets before this all-too-brief Summer Festival is gone like the all-too-brief Minnesota summer!

Putting It Together
A terrific five-person cast, a fantastic eight-piece orchestra, and over 30 of Sondheim's greatest songs. What could be better?! Written in the early '90s, Sondheim pulled together songs from over a dozen of his musicals (including some that were cut from the original shows) and tied them together loosely with the story of two couples, one that's been together a long time and one that's just starting out. This allowed him to use many great relationship songs from the likes of Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music, Company (my personal favorite, and perhaps Sondheim's as well because he included five songs in this revue), Follies, and the movie Dick Tracy. (Does anyone remember that Sondheim wrote five original songs for the 1990 movie? Me neither, but he included four of those five songs in this revue, maybe because it was so recent.) There's not much of a story here, so much as a study of relationships, and all of these diverse songs work surprisingly well to explore different facets of these relationships and give us a picture of who these people are (although some work better than others - the wolf's song from Into the Woods doesn't really fit in any context outside of the woods, although it is a commentary on a certain kind of relationship).

On a set that looks like a posh and sparse NYC apartment with a terrace, the long-married couple, the new couple, and their butler/commentator have a dinner party, dressed of course in tuxes and gowns. Each song is like a little story in itself, exploring a different facet of the relationships. There's little to no dialogue tying them together, although the commentator does declare the theme of certain segments, like "seduction," "desperation," and "competition." The long-married couple is full of regret ("The Road You Didn't Take" from Follies) and desperation ("The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company), the new couple full of hope ("Marry Me a Little" from Company) and sweetness ("Unworthy of Your Love" from Assassins). The men talk about women ("Have I Got a Girl for You" from Company, "Pretty Women" from Sweeney Todd) and the women talk about men ("Every Day a Little Death" from A Little Night Music). And then there are some silly songs that don't have much to do with anything but are fun nonetheless ("More" from Dick Tracy, "Buddy's Blues" from Follies).

Jeffrey Madison, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Paul Coate,
Vicki Fingalson, and Gabriel Preisser (photo by Matt Bellin)

The original 1993 Off-Broadway production starred Julie Andrews. Despite having Julie Andrews' cute pixie cut, Emily Gunyou Halaas is not known in this town as a singer, but rather as a talented actor in straight plays. I suspect that will change after this performance, in which she proves that singing is another tool in her acting toolbox that is readily available to her. I've always thought she has a melodious speaking voice, and she sings like she talks. Not only is her voice lovely, rich, and pleasant to listen to, but she brings all of her acting talent to the song, making us feel every emotion in Sondheim's intricate lyrics, which is perhaps the most important part of musical theater. She tackles some of the most difficult songs in this show ("Could I Leave You" from Follies, "Getting Married Today" and "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company) and comes out on top every time.

The rest of the cast more than holds their own, and they all sound beautiful individually and in various combinations of duets, trios, and group numbers. Commentator Paul Coate nicely delivers "Invocations and Instructions to the Audience" from Frogs (which sounds a lot like my recent audience DOs and DON'Ts post) and the super fast and funny "Buddy's Blues" from Follies. As the husband, Jeffrey Madison hits some poignant and creepy notes, respectively, in "The Road You Didn't Take" from Follies and "Hello, Little Girl" from Sweeney Todd. The new couple Vicki Fingalson and Gabriel Preisser share a lovely duet in "Unworthy of Your Love" from Assassins, as well as some nice solo moments including Vicki's seductive "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy and Gabriel's triumphant "Marry Me a Little" from Company. And of course, no Sondheim revue about relationships is complete without one of his best songs on the subject, "Being Alive" from Company, a song I've heard many times but never quite like this, as the entire company joins in on a beautiful five-part version of the song.

With direction by Robert Neu and music direction by Andrew Fleser leading this terrific cast and orchestra through some of Sondheim's best work, put together by the man himself, Putting It Together is a must-see for fans of Sondheim, and music-theater in general.

La Rondine
Perhaps most famous for La Boheme (this inspiration for my favorite musical RENT), Puccini called La Rondine "perhaps, my best music" (per a note from director Ben Krywosz of Nautilus Music-Theater). Written in the early Twentieth Century, Skylark sets the story in 1920s Paris. The three acts depict different phases in the life of our heroine, Magda. The first act takes place in her posh Paris apartment (reusing some of the set pieces from Putting It Together). At a dinner party with friends, she reminisces about an exciting and romantic encounter with a man long ago. But now she has settled for a comfortable but loveless life with her patron (or sugar daddy, to put it in modern terms) Rambaldo. The second act takes place in a crowded dance hall, where Magda has decided to go in disguise for a bit of excitement. There admidst the dancing and revelry she meets the charming young Ruggero and they fall instantly in love (because such things happen in opera). She decides to leave Rombaldo and run away with Ruggero to the country, where we see them living blissfully in act three. But alas, their love cannot last because... something about Magda's shameful past? She doesn't think his mother would approve? They ran out of money? It doesn't quite ring true that in 1920s Paris these two crazy kids would conform to social standards and not be able to make it work. But tragedy is as sure to happen in opera as sudden all-consuming love, and the story ends on a tragically beautiful note.

the cast of La Rondine (photo by Matt Bellin)

Cecilia Violetta Lopez is a star as Magda. Not only does she have a stunning voice, but she makes you feel Magda's every emotion, from dissatisfaction to hope to resignation. As Ruggero, Won Whi Choi is her match. They both have huge voices, and when they sing in harmony it's really quite something. The large supporting cast is great and creates some stirring sounds when their voices join together on this gorgeous score. Lindsay Russell provides some comic relief as Magda's spunky and ambitious maid Lisette, and Norman Shankle is lovely and charming as Madga's poet friend and Lisette's secret lover. Paul Hindemith does a good job with Rambaldo, despite the distracting and borderline offensive old man make-up (is "oldface"a thing?).

Skylark's Artistic Director Steven Stucki conducts the 20+ piece orchestra through this lovely and luscious score. Lynn Farrington's costumes recreate that '20s flapper look for both the high society crowd and the dance hall revelers with dropped waist dresses, smart hats, headbands, and jewels. Kit Meyer has designed a flexible set of faux-marble columns and pieces that can be rearranged for the necessary sets in both shows.

Both shows in Skylark Opera's Summer Festival are perfectly lovely and a wonderful summer treat. Head down to St. Paul's Concordia University campus in the next week to see one or both of these very different but equally satisfying shows.


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Ordinary Days" at Nautilus Music-Theater

Warning: this is one of those gushing posts. I apologize in advance.

The new musical Ordinary Days is everything I want musical theater to be - original, authentic, relevant, moving, and compelling. In these days when the trend of movies-turned-into-musicals is getting out of control, Ordinary Days gives me hope for the future of musical theater. As long as up-and-coming musical theater composers like Adam Gwon continue to write and get their work produced (on Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, in a garage, wherever), and theater companies like Nautilus Music-Theater continue to seek out and foster new work such as this, I think we'll be OK.

Ordinary Days, which premiered off-Broadway in 2009, is "two love stories in 21 parts." With virtually no spoken dialogue, four very real characters and their lives and relationships are introduced through song. We get to know and love these characters as they express themselves to us and each other with music. Jason (Doug Sholz-Carlson) is moving in with his girlfriend Claire (Kersten Rodau), but something is holding her back from letting him in. Aspiring artist Warren (Max Wojtanowicz) and frustrated grad student Deb (Jill Anna Ponasik) have a "meet cute" moment, but not in the way you expect. We watch these two relationships change and grow and intersect through a series of vignettes about "ordinary days" - getting coffee, going to a museum, moving boxes. The fifth character is New York City, the greatest city in the world. The characters walk down Broadway, visit the Met, ride in a taxi or on a train, view the city from their balcony. If it sounds simple, it is, but it's also beautiful and profound, funny and touching, amusing and heart-breaking.

I don't have the words to describe how much I love the score. The songs are conversational and get right to the heart of the sentiment, even when the words describe coffee or the rain or wine. I was surprised that I recognized one of the songs, "Favorite Places." I remember loving the song when Randy Schmeling sang it at Latte Da in the Park a few years ago; it's a really beautiful and unique love song. The first thing I did when I got home from today's matinee is look to see if a cast recording exists, which it happily does (available on iTunes). I'm sure I'll be listening to it obsessively for the next few weeks.

Nautilus is producing this piece in their new space, which is just downstairs from their old space in St. Paul's artsy Lowertown neighborhood. I love listening to music in small intimate spaces (just 40 seats) with no amplification, nothing between the audience and the voices, especially when the voices are as good as these four! Kersten has an incredibly powerful voice that effortlessly fills up the space, but can also pull it back and make me cry in the tender moments. Max is one of those actors I'd watch in anything because he makes everything better with his commitment and his believability in the moment. Doug sounds beautiful on my now favorite song and is so convincing as Jason, who only wants Claire to love him as much as he loves her. Jill is perfect as the woman with the perfect plan for a life she doesn't want. And the four of them together, accompanied by musical director Mindy Eschedor on piano, create a beautiful sound in that space.

Director Ben Krywosz describes it best in the note in the playbill, "Ordinary Days dances elegantly between two extremes: the desire we all have to 'only connect,' and the possibility that we might find the sacred in the secular, discovering there is magic in the mundane." This piece is anything but mundane, but there is much magic in it. It's one of those shows that fills me up and stays with me as I leave the theater, and hopefully, for days to come. If you want to see what the future of musical theater looks like, go see Ordinary Days. Fortunately there are 11 remaining performances over the next two weekends, I hope each one of them sells out (and at just $25 a ticket, it's much cheaper than Wicked).

"I Am Anne Frank" by Nautilus Music-Theater at the Southern Theater

I recently read The Diary of a Young Girl after seeing a moving production of the play based on the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, at Yellow Tree Theatre last fall. We're all familiar with Anne's story - she and her family hid in a "secret annex" in a building in Amsterdam in the mid-1940s, until they were found and sent to concentration camps. But what struck me most about the diary is how normal Anne seems, writing about typical teenage topics like sibling rivalry, parental trouble, boys, movie stars, books, school. She was an ordinary girl in an extraordinary situation. Perhaps that's the most remarkable part of her story, how she was able to carry out an almost normal life, growing up living in a small crowded apartment that she was never able to leave, with the threat of death and danger always so near. Nautilus Music-Theater's remount of their 2006 Ivey-winning production of I Am Anne Frank gives yet another perspective on that familiar story. Like all good musicals, when words aren't enough to express what you're feeling - there's music. Music communicates emotions in a way mere words cannot. And this piece expresses the joy, fear, longing, frustration, hope, and desperation of Anne's story.

A few highlights of the show:

• Vanessa Gamble gives a beautiful performance in what is almost a one-woman show. She really does become Anne in all her forms - stubborn, spirited, joyful, fearful. The music flows seamlessly out of the dialogue, often using Anne's own words from the diary. Vanessa's performance of this beautiful music (by Michael Cohen) gives us deeper insight into Anne's experience.
• It's "almost" a one-woman show, because Vanessa is accompanied on stage by the always excellent Joel Liestman. He spends most of the show sitting at the edge of the stage, watching Anne, reacting to her, and providing another character for her to play against. He occasionally joins in for a song or discussion, playing Anne's teenage friend and fellow annex resident Peter.
• The set is like a floating island in the beautiful cavernous space of the Southern Theater, a mostly bare square box with just the hint of a window and a desk and chair, and Anne's words on the back wall. Anne never leaves this small area, like the real Anne never left the small apartment. Peter never leaves an even smaller box on the side; even when they're singing and dancing together and exploring their relationship, they never cross that invisible boundary, adding to the feeling of isolation and loneliness of the situation. (Nautilus Aristic Director Ben Krywosz is responisble for the direction and set design.)
• The lighting (by Michael Wangen) is like a third actor on stage, creating moods, hinting at the time of day, showing us the stars on Anne's face.
• The simple choreography (by JP Fitzgibbons) flows out of the music and emotion of the words and feels very organic to the characters.

The show opens with the actors introducing themselves, listing a few personal characteristics, some similar and some different. Then they tell stories of genocide around the world, all of which have taken place since the Holocaust, a tragedy we swore to never let happen again. But it's still happening. Anne's words are so simple and profound, as she ponders why people kill people who are different from them, and who decided they were different in the first place. "It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." Hers is an inspirational story, and this production by Nautilus Music-Theater does it justice.

Nautilus has been touring the show around the state for the past year or so, and it only plays for two more performances at the Southern Theatre. Buy your tickets here - it's a bargain at under $20 a seat for this beautiful and moving 90-minute show.

Vanessa Gamble as Anne Frank

"The View from Here" at Nautilus Music-Theater

The View from Here* is the second show I've seen in Nautilus Music-Theater's small studio space in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood. Like last fall's Joan of Arc, The View from Here is a beautifully intimate and acoustic music-theater experience. But unlike Joan of Arc, there were plenty of available seats last night, which means you have a great opportunity to see one of the five remaining performances. This is my favorite way to listen to music, whether at a concert or the theater, without the interference of microphones and amplification. Even if the sound is done well (which it sometimes isn't), it still creates a distance between the performers and the audience. In Nautilus' studio theater, there's no separation between the performers and the audience, either through physical space or sound, creating the feeling that we're all in this together.

The View from Here is a one-man musical written by Timothy Huang and first produced in 2005 at the NY Musical Theatre Festival (which I'd love to go to sometime). A man moves into a small, bare apartment in New York City and attempts to get his book published. He arrives brimming with confidence and optimism, writing letters to his wife about the great things he's seeing and experiencing. But that slowly starts to change as his manuscript is repeatedly rejected and he's forced to get a boring job to pay the bills. And it starts to become apparent that something isn't quite right with this situation. He constantly writes and talks to his wife, wishing they could be together, yet he never calls her (who writes out letters longhand anymore in this age of smart phones?). When it finally comes out what the real situation is that led him to write a book and move to NYC, it's heart-breaking and leads to a near tragic ending.

The main character is played by the consistently excellent Joel Liestman, with musical accompaniment by Jerry Rubino on piano and Jim Tenbensel on the trumpet, both of whom are heard but not seen. The trumpet provides the other side of several conversations this character has, in a Charlie Brown sort of way. This is a great score, and Joel sings it beautifully, as well as portraying the range of emotions that this character goes through. It reminds me a little of Next to Normal - a really intense musical theater piece about heavy topics like grief and loss - only on a smaller scale. It's almost like a Ten Thousand Things show; it has that same raw, immediate feel.

The physical space is completely transformed from when I last saw it (designed by Nautilus Artistic Director Ben Krywosz, who also directs). The stage is a tiny, bare apartment, unfurnished except for an answering machine and phone. The lone window in the apartment is a working window that, when opened, allows the sights and sounds (not to mention cool air) of the city to enter, further adding to that raw, immediate feel.

Nautilus again delivers a great "music-theater" experience, unlike you'll get in any other theater in town, and one that's definitely worth checking out while you still can (click here for ticket information).



*I received two complementary tickets to see The View from Here.

"Joan of Arc" at Nautilus Music-Theater

This week has been a week of one-woman shows for me.  First The Edge of Our Bodies at the Guthrie, a beautiful coming-of-age story, and then Joan of Arc by Nautilus Music-Theater.  I'm not sure if it could technically be called a one-woman show, there are beautiful voices and music coming from backstage, but the only person the audience sees in front of them is Jennifer Baldwin Peden of the famous Baldwin sisters (I saw her sister, Christina, most recently as Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore this summer).  Jennifer narrates the story of Joan of Arc and also embodies her.  It's a fascinating and inspirational story that I was only vaguely familiar with, and this 70-minute music-theater piece beautifully conveys her courage, spirit, doubts, and determination.

I saw my first Nautilus production at Fringe this summer and loved it, but this is the first regular season show I've seen.  This is their first show produced in their tiny studio space in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood, and it was in fact designed for the space.  It is without a doubt the smallest room in which I have ever seen theater; it's about the size of a living room.  Two rows of chairs are lined up on either side of the room (seating about 40 people), with a catwalk stage running between them and two small stages on either end.  It's incredibly intimate; no microphones needed (except when the disembodied voices portray accusers and are projected into opposite corners of the room).  At times Jennifer was literally three feet in front of me singing.  As I've said before, I find that there's something magical about the unamplified human voice, and when the voice is Jennifer's and you're three feet away from it, it's a pretty amazing experience.  That's another benefit of such a small, intimate space; you're not just an observer watching the show, you're part of the experience.

Joan of Arc follows the historical and mythical figure as she enters battle for her native France and is captured by the English.  She's put on trial for heresy (claiming that God and his saints and angels speak to her), wearing men's clothes, and generally being a strong woman who doesn't obey the conventions of the day (aka "a witch").  She's burned at the stake at the age of 19, as many such women were in 15th century Europe.  I'm not sure about the idea of hearing voices, but this is a young woman of strong faith and conviction who helped her people at a time they needed it.  The men in power feared her strength and conviction, and so ended her.  Through the beautiful expressive music, Jennifer creates a picture of this young woman, clinging to her faith and overcoming her doubts, refusing to back down from what she believes.

At first it was a little disconcerting to hear the music (sung by Joel Liestman, JP Fitzgibbons, and Laurie Flanigan-Hegge, with Music Director Sonja Thompson on piano and Randall Davidson on cello) and not see the musicians.  I kept turning my head, expecting to see the singers come out from behind the wall.  But they never did; they're Joan's voices, even she couldn't see them.  It was like being in her head and hearing the voices of the angels along with her.  At times they went silent (when she renounced them as her accusers demanded), and you could feel the silence and Joan's loneliness, and her happiness and fulfillment when they returned to her.

This is what musical theater is to me.  Not some big, loud, over-produced adaptation of a children's movie, but original, challenging, creative, moving.  Or in the words of Nautilus Artistic Director and director of this piece, Ben Krywosz, "telling simple stories through songs that are musically expansive, favoring emotional realism over theatrical naturalism, and creating a dramaturgical context that requires an audience's involvement, even investment."  The short run of the show closes this weekend.  They're virtually sold out for the few remaining performances, but they said to call and they might be able to squeeze a few more chairs into the space.  It's worth it.