The History Theatre's New Works Festival "Raw Stages" 2024

It's January in Minnesota and that means two things: below zero temperatures and History Theatre's "Raw Stages" new works festival. This year they're presenting five readings of new plays and musicals, and I thought about getting a hotel room in downtown St. Paul so I could just hang out for a week and see them all. But other duties and shows call, so I'll likely end up seeing just three of the five. I love "Raw Stages" for many reasons - the incredible performers who made these characters and stories come alive after just a few hours of rehearsal, the fascinating stories of little known Minnesota history, and being a part of the new work development process. It's a thrill to get a glimpse into how new work comes to be, something we don't often get to see or even really think about. And the best part is most of these works will end up on the main stage in a fully realized production, and you can watch something new and exciting come full circle. Keep reading for full details of all shows below (from the History Theatre website), as well as my thoughts on the three I saw. Since there's not much snow to play in or to impede getting out and about - head to downtown St. Paul this weekend and watch theater in the making (click here to purchase $15 tickets for one show, or a pass for $30).

"Life Goes On" by Bucket Brigade at Art House North

New original musicals are my favorite thing, and a thing that's becoming more rare in the age of movie adaptations and jukebox musicals on Broadway. Fortunately we can look to #TCTheater for the remedy, including local company Bucket Brigade. They seem to love new original musicals as much as I do; they've created several, the most recent being Life Goes On, now playing at the charming Art House North in St. Paul's West 7th neighborhood. It's a beautiful story of grief, forgiveness, connection, love, and family. Told in 90 minutes with a cast of six and a three-piece band in a former church space, it's an intimate experience that's engaging and moving, and if you've lost someone (who hasn't?), could also be painful and/or cathartic. As I've been saying a lot lately, #bringtissues (maybe it's just me!) when you go to see this lovely and real new musical.

"Coco's Diary" at the History Theatre

For their contribution to the #TCTheater holiday* season, History Theatre is bringing back their original play from five years ago, Coco's Diary, now with Christmas music and decorations! But it isn't really about Christmas of course, it's about a year in the life of a real live 13-year-old girl in 1927, living in what is now the Governor's Mansion on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Adapted by Artistic Director Ron Peluso and Bob Beverage (the latter also choosing a selection of period tunes), Coco's Diary is, like Coco herself, quite charming. This play with music gives the audience a glimpse into the life of the wealthy on Summit Avenue in 1927, and reminds us that being 13 is the same no matter when or where you live.

"Wedding Band" at Penumbra Theatre

I love a good tragic love story, and it doesn't get much more tragic than an interracial couple in 1918 South Carolina. But Penumbra's gorgeous production of the 1966 play Wedding Band by Alice Childress (whose Trouble in Mind was seen at the Guthrie last year) is not just a beautiful, complicated, and ultimately tragic love story. It's also (not unlike Trouble in Mind) a still timely work that speaks to the issues of race, racism, and privilege in ways that feel entirely relevant. With a super talented cast directed by Penumbra's founder Lou Bellamy (who recently passed the Artistic Director baton to his daughter Sarah) and gorgeous design, Wedding Band is a show not to be missed, and my favorite of my five-show weekend.

"The Passage, Or What Comes of Searching in the Dark" by 7th House Theater at the Guthrie Theater

Musical theater is my favorite art form, and new original musicals are my favorite things in the world. I love seeing how music and theater can combine to tell a story in interesting forward-thinking ways. After re-imagining a couple of classic musicals (and one play), newish theater company 7th House Theater has turned to producing new original musicals. The Passage, Or What Comes of Searching in the Dark, is the third such creation to be presented in the Guthrie Theater Studio (now for just $9 per ticket). It's the first one for which company member David Darrow has written music, lyrics, and book (he's previously worked with a co-composer and/or book writer). I've loved all of their work, but this one feels more personal and more modern and forward-thinking than what they've done before. Jonah and the Whale is a folk musical that harkens back to the early 20th Century, The Great Work is almost operatic and classical in feel, but The Passage feels like it's continuing along the trajectory of modern musicals like Next to Normal and Fun Home - an intimate family story told with a small cast and modern inventive staging. And the result is truly something special. I can't help feeling that we're going to lose the incredibly talented artists of 7th House to New York someday (to Broadway's benefit), so we need to relish their work while we still can, and then someday we can proudly say "we knew them when."

"Teen Idol: The Bobby Vee Story" at the History Theatre

Friends, I think the History Theatre has another hit on their hands. After the huge success of last fall's new original musical Glensheen, which received a second run and an Ivey award this year, they follow in the footsteps of the proven success of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story with Teen Idol: The Bobby Vee Story. In a way, this story picks up where that story left off. Bobby Vee's career was born on the day the music died. But this new musical (or rather play with music if you want to get technical about it, and I do*) doesn't just rest on the nostalgia of baby boomers, who, let's face it, would come see the show no matter how good it was just to hear these great old hits of the '60s. Teen Idol is more than just a string of familiar hits, it's a well written and extremely satisfying play with music that tells the story of Bobby Vee's life, music, family, and rise to and fall from fame. Kind of like a cleaner version of Jersey Boys (Fargo ND is far from New Jersey and not just in geography). Featuring a star performance by Tyler Michaels, who continues to impress with his range of talents and characters, and an incredibly strong ensemble chock full of local talent, who all get their moment to shine, Teen Idol is a fantastic show no matter your generation.

"Christmas of Swing" at the History Theatre

The holiday season has begun, at least on theater stages across the Twin Cities. Since I was out of the country for the opening of the Guthrie's A Christmas Carol this year, my first taste of Christmas (other than the bitterly cold weather) is History Theatre's WWII-era musical review Christmas of Swing, featuring the Minnesota trio The Andrews Sisters. The return of this popular show is a fun and peppy showcase of 40s-era popular music (also featuring appearances by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye), that incorporates real letters from WWII soldiers, paying homage to our veterans of this and other wars.

For the most part Christmas of Swing is a light-hearted show, with a few somber moments acknowledging the hardship of the soldiers. But The Andrews Sisters’ job was to entertain and uplift, not wallow in the sorrows of war, and that they do in abundance. The play, written by Bob Beverage and Artistic Director Ron Peluso, is set at a dress rehearsal for a 1944 Christmas Eve show at a VA Hospital for wounded soldiers. This allows us to see all of the great numbers, as well as witness the banter between the sisters and their band and manager between songs. It also has the light and easy feel of a dress rehearsal; the efforts of the cast do not seem labored, but loose and effortless.

Some highlights of the show are:

The Andrews Sisters (Ruthie Baker,
Stacey Lindell, and Jen Burleigh-Bentz)
read a soldier's (Bryan Porter) letter home
(photo by Scott Pakudaitis)

• Ruthie Baker, Stacey Lindell, and Jen Burleigh-Bentz as the sisters Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne are just perfection in voice, movement, and personality, all of which blend together beautifully to create some tight harmonies and precise dance numbers. Ruthie gets most of the solos as lead singer Patty, but we also get a chance to hear the other ladies’ voices on their own, and all are lovely solo or in harmony.
• Bill Scharpen channels Bing Crosby in songs such as "Christmas in Kilarney" and "Here Comes Santa Claus," and Eric Heimsoth does a wonderful impression of the lanky and goofy Danny Kaye.
• Bill Scharpen also generates some laughs with Mark Rosenwinkel as the comedy duo Abbot and Costello.
• Bryan Porter and Eric Heimsoth (again) portray many different soldiers as the sisters read their letters, bringing the desperation, longing, and joys of these long ago men to life.
• The fairly simple set by Michael Hoover features some elaborate pieces that are wheeled out, including a sleigh and a huge two-sided cutout for an amusing number with the sisters and Danny Kaye.
• The choreography by Jan Puffer is a highlight – fast, sharp, concise, with that 40s swing action, effortlessly performed by the cast.
• The ever-busy Raymond Berg plays the piano while sitting in for the sisters' actual band leader Vic Schoen, leading the four-person band in a swingin' big band sound.
• I'm a sucker for period costumes, and these costumes (by Kelsey Glasener) do not disappoint! I love the sisters' black dresses with varying-sized polka dots and red trim and shoes, accented with long black coats with fur trim, red jackets, or authentic military green jackets. The men (who, for a change, have to change costumes much more frequently than the women) are dressed in authentic period uniforms and suits, as well as costumes for their various roles in the show.
• The sisters sing many Christmas songs, familiar and lesser known, and close the show with their most well-known song, the crowd-pleasing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." 

The History Theatre’s Christmas of Swing, playing now through December 22, is a great choice for a holiday show this year. Filled with the Christmas spirit (which I for one am not quite ready for, until Thanksgiving is over and/or we get our first big snowfall), humor, great songs and dancing, an energetic and entertaining cast, and respect for and celebration of vets, it’s a fun and feel-good show.

"Coco's Diary" at the History Theatre

Coco's Diary* is an adaptation of the recently discovered diary of a 13-year-old named Clotilde Irving who grew up in a mansion on Summit Avenue in the 1920s, the same mansion that now serves as the Governor's Mansion.  While her life in 1927 was probably pretty atypical, the daughter of a wealthy and privileged family, her experiences, thoughts, and manner of speaking are quite familiar to anyone who's ever been 13.  Coco reminds me of my 13-year-old cousin; everything is so dramatic, it's either the best thing that's ever happened, or the worst.  There is no in between when you're 13.  Coco was smart, precocious, charming, and a talented writer.  It's no surprise that the History Theatre chose to bring this story to life; it's a great story set in a specific time and place in Minnesota history, but it's also a universal story of the trials and tribulations of growing up.

The play begins in 1965 when Coco's mother dies, leaving her and her older brother Tom to sort through the house.  Coco discovers her diary and delights in reading it and remembering that time in her life, which mostly involved dancing, boys, and getting into and out of trouble.  Only after reading the diary is Coco able to say good-bye to the house.  Three actors bring this story to life through reading the diary and reenacting the scenes:

• Kacie Riddle (herself 13 years old) plays the young Coco.  It's amazing to me that someone so young can so handily carry a two-hour play.  Yes she has help from two very talented adult actors, but she is Coco, in all of her moods - funny, charming, dramatic, hopeful, despondent, and lively.
• Andrea Wollenberg (one of the hilariously evil stepsisters in Cinderella) is the adult Coco, as well as Coco's mother, Coco's younger sister, and several other characters.  Whether she's walking around on her knees and talking with a lisp, or sternly reprimanding Coco for her latest exploit, she brings great life to these different characters.  And she has a lovely voice!
• Jake Endres plays Coco's brother Tom, both the 1965 and the 1927 versions.  He also portrays her father, teacher, and any other characters needed for the story.  Jake also acts as the music director and accompanies much of the action on piano, as well as singing songs of the day in his beautifully deep voice.  I love plays that add music to the story-telling.  It's not a full-blown musical, but the music adds to the story and helps set the scene, especially because Coco is so obsessed with dancing.

The diary was adapted for the stage by Bob Beverage and Artistic Director Ron Peluso (who also directs).  The dialogue sounds as if it comes directly from the diary; I'm curious to read it and compare (the diary has been published in the book Through No Fault of My Own).  I also want to know what happens next in her life, which makes me wonder, was 1927 the only year that Coco kept a diary?  Or just the only one that survived?  (Read this article in the StarTribune to find out what happened to Coco.  Warning: it's not quite the happy ending we might hope for, but such is life.)  The set (by Rick Polenek) looks like what the inside of a Summit Avenue Mansion should, and I'm tempted to take a tour of the real thing.

Coco's Diary plays at the History Theatre in St. Paul now through March 25.  It's a delightful look at what is was like to be 13 in 1927, which it turns out is not so different from today.


*I received two complementary tickets to attend the opening night of Coco's Diary.