"Stars of David" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at the Highland Park Center Theater

In 2007, journalist Abigail Pogrebin interviewed dozens of famous Jewish-Americans about their experiences being Jewish in this country, and compiled them into a book called Stars of David. People like Senator Al Franken, actresses Lauren Bacall and Sarah Jessica Parker, actors Jason Alexander and Dustin Hoffman, director Stephen Spielberg, and playwright Wendy Wassserstein. A book of interviews does not exactly scream "musical theater," yet it has been turned into just that, with much success, and Minnesota Jewish Theater Company has brought it to Minnesota. It's not so much a musical as it is a musical review, featuring four actors telling these personal stories in the form of a dozen or so new original songs by various successful musical theater composers. The result is an entertaining, educational, funny, and poignant 90 minutes of musical storytelling.

Bryan Porter, Daisy Macklin Skarning, Laura B. Adams,
and David Carey (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Director Michael Kissin has assembled a great cast and arranged the show nicely in the circular stage space designed by Michael Hoover. Names of the book's subjects are projected onto the set, along with a brief photo as each one is introduced. The onstage four-piece band directed by Kevin Dutcher sounds terrific on these varied songs. Cast members Laura B. Adams, David Carey, Bryan Porter, and Daisy Macklin Skarning, dressed in black to more easily slip into the skins of these famous people, are all very engaging with beautiful voices. Singing solo, with or without backup, or in group numbers, these four singer/actors tell stories that are funny, tragic, moving, or all three.

Highlights include:

• Bryan sings a cute and then sad story about how Leonard Nimoy's childhood magician dreams are crushed by bigotry.
• As my favorite TV writer Aaron Sorkin, David sings a funny song about "Smart People."
• Laura has the unenviable job of being both Fran Drescher and Joan Rivers, two of the most recognizable voices in show business, and she pulls them both off. Joan's song is a sweet one in which she conveys the feeling of being able to just be herself on the "High Holy Days," and Fran's song is as funny and determined as she is, "What Do They Know?"
• Leave it to Next to Normal composer Tom Kitt to write a melody that made me cry, along with lyrics by book writer Abigail Pogrebin. "As If I Weren't There" tells the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being unable to grieve her mother in the traditional way she wanted, beautifully sung by Daisy.
• Another familiar musical theater composer, Duncan Sheik, wrote a song that's very reminiscent of his most famous work, Spring Awakening. "The Darkening Blue" features those same hauntingly gorgeous harmonies, as it relates Kenneth Cole's struggle with how to pass on his heritage to his children, who are being raised as Christians.
• In addition to telling his own story, Michael Feinstein wrote the music and lyrics for playwright Tony Kushner's "Horrible Seders," a fast, funny, and poignant song well sung by Bryan.
• Laura and Daisy sing Gloria Steinem's song, which is of course powerful and meaningful and woman-affirming. "The Women Who Had No Names" celebrates all of the women who came before.
• Gwyneth Paltrow is Jewish? "Who Knew?"
• David leads the cast in the moving closing song "L'Dor V'Dor," which means "from generation to generation." 

In this country that prides itself as a "melting plot," all cultures get lost through the generations. This book and musical are a way for people of Jewish heritage to hold on to some of that culture that they grew up with and share it with others of their and future generations. But it's about more than being Jewish, it's about how to hold on to and celebrate who you are and who your ancestors were in a world that's trying to make us all the same.

Stars of David plays Saturdays and Sundays only through March 8 at the Highland Park Center Theater on Ford Parkway.

"A Hunting Shack Christmas" at Yellow Tree Theatre

Christmas at Yellow Tree is always a wonderfully wild and ridiculous affair. Now in their seventh season, the little theater that could is continuing in their tradition of hilarious, heart-felt, and very Minnesotan Christmas plays. But this year they're taking a break from their popular Miracle on Christmas Lake series (two installments so far) to venture to a new location - the hunting shack. Yellow Tree co-founders Jessica Lind and Jason Peterson have combined to write and direct, respectively, this funny and charming new play, and have assembled a fantastic cast to bring these quirky and familiar characters to life. I'd tell you to go see it, but it's sold out for the rest of the run, despite the fact that they've added a bunch of shows. So make your plans early for next Christmas, because Yellow Tree Theatre is a wonderful place to be at this time of the year.

Like the Christmas Lake plays, A Hunting Shack Christmas centers on a relatively normal couple facing a possibly life-changing event who encounters some ridiculously Minnesotan characters. Charlie and Jennifer live a perfectly comfortable life in "The Cities," but perhaps one that's lacking a bit of adventure. On the eve of their 10th anniversary vow renewal, Charlie skips town to head to his grandfather's hunting shack to contemplate his life and the changes he's being forced to make. Jennifer is upset that he left, and follows him to the rustic shack. Much to their surprise, Charlie's eccentric uncle Paul and (sort of) aunt June and cousin Ham are squatting in the cabin, and are none too happy to have their lives interrupted by this "citiot." Charlie and Ham bicker like boys, and even engage in some hilarious slow-mo childish fighting. But at the insistence of Aunt June, everyone makes peace with each other, and Charlie and Jen decide to make a change for the better. This oddball family lives happily ever after in their cozy hunting shack (at least until the sequel).

John Haynes, Greta Grosch, and
Sasha Andreev (photo by Keri Pickett)

A Hunting Shack Christmas is told in informal narration, with narrator Charlie often speaking directly to the audience and fully acknowledging that we're in the theater, directing the sound and lighting and calling for memories. This structure allows a charming and likeable Sasha Andreev to play with the audience and draw us into the story. Daisy Macklin Skarning (in a role that's the complete opposite of the one she played in Gremlin Theatre's Rocket to the Moon this spring) also brings great charm and enthusiasm to the role of Jennifer, making Charlie and Jen a couple to root for. The character of Ham tells the audience he's the comic relief, and understudy Joseph Pyfferoen is just that, committing fully and hilariously to the role of this oddball young man who lives with his parents, wants to start a jerky company, and is engaged to marry a woman from Norway who rides a reindeer. Greta Grosch and John Haynes both have a strong comedy/improv background, which they bring to the roles of Aunt June and Uncle Paul. Greta especially is a hoot as this stereotypical hotdish-making kombucha-growing Minnesota woman. The entire cast works and plays well together with a great energy, showing no signs of the exhaustion one would think might set in when doing so many added shows.

I've never been to a hunting shack, but Katie Phillips' set design looks pretty authentic to me, in fact it looks quite appealing (minus the alleged smell, anyway). Walking into the theater you go through the entry way of a typical cabin (or Minnesota home), with various coats, jackets, snowsuits, and other warm weather gear. The stage is populated with an ugly couch with mismatched afghans, a wood-burning stove, and kitchen appliances that looks rustic and barely functional. And oh yes, there are the deer heads and mounted fish one would expect at a hunting establishment. Lori Schwartz's costumes are entirely appropriate to this world, from the citiots' puffy vests to the comfy nightwear to the warm but not so stylish outerwear.

Yellow Tree Theatre has done it again - created an original holiday show, written by someone* who obviously has familiarity with and affection for Minnesota, that delights and entertains its loyal audience. Their last play featured a couple of Ivey winners, and their next play stars a brilliant actor currently playing Scrooge at the Guthrie, but Yellow Tree hasn't forgotten who their audience is and what they want to see at the holidays. With A Hunting Shack Christmas, they've delivered a thoroughly enjoyable play worthy of its popularity.

Sasha Andreev and Daisy Macklin Skarning (photo by Keri Pickett)

*For more of Jessica's funny and folksy Minnesota writing, check out her blog
Unfamous Minnesota Girl.

"Rocket to the Moon" by Gremlin Theatre at the New Century Theatre

They get me every time. Gremlin Theatre, that is. I've seen everything they've done over the past couple of years and it's always been a play I've never heard of and know nothing about, a seemingly obscure little known work. And they're always just absolute gems that reach in and grab me in the heart, gut, funny bone, or all three. Their current production, Rocket to the Moon, is no exception. It's a tragic love story set in a dentist office in 1938, but it's really about a handful of complex characters that we grow to know and care about over the course of a few hours despite, or perhaps because of, their flaws, all so beautifully and vulnerably brought to life by this excellent cast.

New York City dentist Dr. Ben Stark is offered a chance to move his practice to a bigger and better location, but is talked out of it by his pragmatic wife Belle. Part of her reasoning is that the money for the move comes from her father Mr. Prince, whom she despises. Ben has no confidence or ambition, and after ten years of marriage does everything his wife tells him to. As one character says, his unhappiness has become a habit he's not even fully aware of; he's "like an iceberg, three-quarters under water." His father-in-law is his exact opposite, a man of means brimming with confidence, who knows what he wants and goes after it. He encourages Ben to do something to shake things up, maybe even have an affair with his pretty young assistant Cleo. Which he eventually does, not because "Papa" told him to, but because Cleo is as full of life as Ben is devoid of it. She has hopes and dreams and believes she will achieve something wonderful in her life, despite her unhappy home life which she continually lies about. But this is not a happily ever after kind of play; these are all sad damaged people, some of whom make choices that may move them towards happiness, and some of whom continue to be stuck.

Dr. Stark (Peter Christian Hansen) and Cleo (Jane Froiland)
(photo by Aaron Fenster)

This is such a great cast, directed by Ellen Fenster (who is also responsible for making me weep at last year's The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds). It's truly a joy just to sit in the audience and watch them work. Peter Christian Hansen is able to reign in his usual magnetic stage presence to portray the unassuming dentist who's just going through the motions of life, emotions deeply hidden, until he begins to wake up with Cleo. Jane Froiland is effervescent as Cleo, and while I usually don't root for a man to cheat on his wife, I so wanted her and Ben to find happiness together. Ben's wife could be seen merely as the shrew who holds him back, but Daisy Macklin Skarning makes her a sympathetic character as well, a woman who's known deep grief and is surviving the only way she knows how. Craig Johnson is, as usual, an absolute delight as Mr. Prince. True he's given the best lines, speaking in unusual and descriptive metaphors, but his delivery is scrumptious. He makes Mr. Prince's offer to Cleo really quite attractive; a girl could do worse than a smooth-talking well-dressed charming older gentleman whose only goal in life is to woo her! Nicely rounding out this seven-person cast are David Coral as Ben's alcoholic partner, another sad and lost man; Jason Rojas as Ben's friend, challenging him yet protective of him; and Edwin Strout, stealing scenes as the flamboyant dance director.

I love what Gremlin has done with the New Century Theatre. The usual stage is so wide and shallow that it almost looks two-dimensional, which works for some shows but less well for others. This is definitely a piece that is more than two dimensions and needs room to breathe. Scenic and lighting designer Carl Shoenborn and his team have built out a square thrust stage with plenty of space for Ben to get as far away from his fears as possible. He's filled it with vintage office furniture and accoutrements, with evocative lighting relaying the time of day or emotion of the scene. Costumes by A. Emily Heaney add to the period feel, from Mr. Prince's smashing three-piece suits to Belle's lovely dresses and hats to Cleo's efficient uniform.

Rocket to the Moon continues at the New Century Theatre in the City Center in downtown Minneapolis through June 1, with half-price tickets available on Goldstar. This play is another one of those theatrical gems that Gremlin has plucked from obscurity and polished to it's most achingly beautiful form. It would be a shame to miss this one.