"Scarecrow on Fire" by Illusion Theater at Center for Performing Arts

Illusion Theater is closing out their 50th anniversary season with the most delightful show, Minnesota treasure Kevin Kling's Scarecrow on Fire. It's a sequel of sorts to The Wizard of Oz, presented as a radio play and featuring live music and archival footage from the 1925 silent film version of The Wizard of Oz (I know, I didn't know that existed either!). Kevin originally wrote this piece for Minnesota Public Ratio, recorded in front of a live audience and broadcast on the airwaves. They've maintained the radio play style for this production, and reunited the original team - actors Simone Perrin, Stephen Yoakam, and Dan Chouinard (who also plays piano and accordion), and musicians Michelle Kinney (cello) and the House of Mercy Band. The mix of all of these artists, with the source material that is so beloved to so many of us, creates something so unique and special. It's funny and silly and charming, but also really heart-warming and even a little profound. It may just bring tears to your eyes as it highlights the beauty and frailty of life. The bad news is it's a short run, with only six performances remaining, two of which are sold out. So act fast to catch this special event!

"Dinner For One" at the Jungle Theater

Jungle Theater has a new holiday* tradition. After gifting us the most charming Jane Austen fan fic series Christmas at Pemberley from 2017 to 2022 (the finale of which is currently playing at Lyric Arts), they debuted their original piece Dinner for One last year. This sweet little play with music is based on a 12-minute comedy sketch written in the '20s, a televised version of which has become annual holiday viewing in many European countries. Artistic Director Christina Baldwin came up with the idea for the show, and co-created it with Sun Mee Chomet and Jim Lichtsheidl, with the former directing and the latter two performing. Featuring an odd ritual of a dinner party for Miss Sophie's 90th birthday and her imaginary guests, personified by her loyal servant, it's the perfect vehicle to show off the strength of the creators. And although I would like to say it's the rare show I wish were longer (it's a scant 60 minutes), it's perfection and I wouldn't change a thing. Somehow those 60 minutes are fuller and more satisfying than many shows two and three times its length. Dinner for One continues through January 5 at Jungle Theater in Uptown.**

"Happy Holi-Dane" at the History Theatre

In addition to fully staged (and usually original) plays and musicals, and readings of new works (that eventually become the former), the History Theatre is presenting a series of concerts this season. I attended the first of four last night, an old-fashioned holiday* variety show called Happy Holi-Dane. Amiable host Dane Stauffer (star of History Theatre's smash hit original musical Glensheen) has been doing this show for several years. I hadn't seen it since 2019, and this year's show was similar but different, with a slightly different cast of special guests. A great time was had by all, but if you missed it, don't worry. You still have an opportunity to see concerts headlined by Thomasina Petrus, Lori Dokken, and the History Theatre's own Buddy Holly - Nicholas Freeman (click here for details, dates, and tickets). And get ready for readings of five new works in Raw Stages 2024 in January.

"Rondo '56: Remembering St Paul's Black Main Street" at Crooners Supper Club

The story of Rondo, St. Paul's thriving Black neighborhood that was destroyed with the construction of I94 in the '50s and '60s, has been told before (e.g., in History Theatre's 2017 play The Highwaymen), and now it's being told through music. Created by Dan Chouinard in collaboration with T Mychael Rambo, Thomasina Petrus, and Charmin Michelle, featuring music of the era, and utilizing historical photos, Rondo '56: Remembering St Paul's Black Main Street is a celebration of what we had and a memorialization of what was lost. One wonders what our community would look like today if Rondo had been allowed to continue to flourish as an integral part of the greater Twin Cities community, instead of literally splitting it in two and displacing hundreds of Black families. The celebration of Rondo continues today with two performances (click here for details and tickets).

"Talkin' Bout My Generation" by Chronofon at Crooners MainStage Tent

My second concert at Crooners MainStage Tent, created for this pandemic summer 2020, was a show by a group I've seen several times before at Open Eye Theatre. The quartet known as Chronofon (Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson) creates and performs what I like to call "edutainment" - shows that are informative around a certain composer, genre, or era of music, while also entertaining with great performances of that music. This is my fourth Chronon show, and they've all been really well constructed to tell the story in a fun and interesting way. Talkin' Bout My Generation: The Summer of '66 is no exception.

"Happy Holi-Dane" at History Theatre

A few nights ago, I attended a super fun old fashion holiday variety show, live! The one night only event Happy Holi-Dane was presented as part of the History Theatre's new History Theatre presents series. Hosted by Dane Stauffer, star of History Theatre's smash hit original musical Glensheen (which is returning next summer to St. Paul and Alexandria), the show also featured Dane's talented friends, including some of the Glensheen cast. Dane is an amiable and personable host, and the evening was full of songs, skits, laughs, singalongs, and touching moments, just like those holiday variety specials of old.

"When the Shark Bites: Hauptmann & Brecht, Lenya & Weill" by Chronofon Productions at Open Eye Theatre

The team behind the musical historical revues of Leonard Bernstein and Jacques Brel, among others, now turns their talent for crafting a well-told historical story with music to the famous German music-theater team of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, along with their lesser known female collaborators (and sometimes romantic partners) - actor Lotte Lenya and writer Elisabeth Hauptmann. These women were not only muses, but especially in the case of Hauptmann, made important uncredited contributions to their work (see also the excellent FX series Fosse/Verdon). But thanks to Chronofon Productions (aka Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson), these women are now known and recognized, at least by those of us lucky enough to be in their sold-out audience over the short two-week run. The show closes today, but follow Chronofon's Facebook page for the latest on upcoming performances of these highly entertaining and informative historical musical revues.

"Dear Lenny: Bernstein's Life in Songs and Letters" by Chronofon Productions at Open Eye Figure Theatre

Leonard Bernstein. I know him mostly as the composer of one of my all-time favorite musical theater scores, West Side Story (now playing at the Guthrie for one more week), as well as other works ranging from classical to popular. But I never really knew much about the man behind the music or what his life was like. Thanks to Open Eye Figure Theatre and the team from Chronofon Productions (Bradley Greenwald, Dan Chouinard, Diana Grasselli, and Prudence Johnson), I now feel like I have an even greater appreciation for the music as well as the person who created it. Dear Lenny: Bernstein's Life in Songs and Letters is a well constructed and entertaining deep dive into the life and work of one of the best American composers of the 20th Century.

"Underneath the Lintel" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

I've seen Glen Berger's funny and profound little play Underneath the Lintel twice at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, brilliantly performed by local actor Pat O'Brien. What starts out as an amusing scavenger hunt around the world turns into a much deeper search for meaning in life. It's the last thing I expected Theater Latte Da to do, a company that doesn't do musical theater, they do theater musically. There was no music in this play that I remembered, other than a mention or two of a song. But in true Latte Da fashion, they've added music to this play (with the permission of the playwright), and made it better, deeper, richer. It's still the same quirky librarian searching for meaning (here played by a woman, another twist, that works beautifully), but with original music (composed by Frank London) that enhances the storytelling and helps the audience feel it more deeply.

New Works Festival "NEXT" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

Last year, Theater Latte Da announced an exciting new program called NEXT 20/20, in which they committed to developing 20 new works of music-theater by 2020. Part of this program is their annual New Works Festival called NEXT, now in its 4th year. They hold workshops of three works in development and present three readings of each on three consecutive weekends. Now, when you hear the word "reading," you might think dry and dull reading from a script. But that's not what this is. Latte Da recruits some of the best music-theater talent in the Twin Cities to not just read these musicals or plays-with-music, but to really bring them to life so that the creators (and we lucky audience members) can get a glimpse of what they might become on stage. And the audience is actually an important part of the process for the creators. Each reading is followed by a brief discussion period in which audience members can give feedback to the creators that will help them continue to develop the work. It's so exciting to be part of the process of creating new original music-theater (my favorite thing)! Two previous NEXT pieces received full productions in Latte Da's 2015-2016 season (Lullaby and C.), and with their new season announcement coming up soon, I'm excited to see what new music-theater we will be treated to next season!

"Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love" at Open Eye Figure Theatre

I had never heard of Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel before attending Open Eye Figure Theatre's new original musical revue Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love. But I have heard of (and been a longtime fan of) three of the four creators of the show, so this one was definitely on my must-see list. I did not recognize any of Brel's songs in the show, despite the fact that many wide-ranging singers have recorded them over the years, from John Denver to Sting. But I found the songs to be beautiful, funny, heart-breaking, and/or delightfully silly, all well-performed by this excellent cast, with an interesting and very human story tying them together.

Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love was written, arranged, directed, and designed by talented singers Bradley Greenwald, Diana Graselli, and Prudence Johnson along with master pianist Dan Chouinard (with additional musical accompaniment by Michelle Kinney on cello and Tim Sparks on guitar). The four take turns telling the story of Jacques Brel's life, from his birth in Brussels in 1929, through the war years, through his early career singing in cabarets in Paris, through international fame and success. And of course, along the way there is music. The cast performs over two dozen of Brel's songs, either the original lyrics in Brel's native Flemish-tinged French (with English translations displayed on a screen above the stage), or in English translated by various people with various degrees of success (including a couple of new translations by Bradley Greewald - yes, all that talent and he's multilingual too!). Images and photos are also displayed on the screen, helping to set the scene and tone of wherever we are in the story. The creators have done a great job weaving together songs and story to create a portrait of a man who was not always likeable, but was passionate, expressive, funny, clever, human, and a beautiful storyteller.

Diana Grasselli, Prudence Johnson, Bradley Greenwald,
and Dan Choinard

Even though I don't speak a word of French, my favorite songs were those sung in French, because there's just something so beautiful and poetic about Brel's original lyrics and the French language. Even the best possible translation loses some of the nuances of the original language, and many of the English translations were far from best, completely changing the meaning of the song. Brel's biggest pop hit was "Seasons in the Sun," released by Terry Jacks in 1974 (which most of the audience seemed to know as it turned into a singalong). We heard both versions of the song, and trust me, the original is much different - funnier, more poignant, and less cheesy. Another favorite moment was when Bradley sang Brel's French translation of "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha, which Brel brought to Paris in 1968 and starred in.

Jacques Brel's music is romantic, playful, witty, lovely, and very Parisian. It's the sound of sitting in an outdoor cafe in Paris, sipping coffee or drinking wine, listening to music waft through the sweet warm air. Or at least that's what I imagine it to be, I've only spent about a day and a half in Paris, 20 years ago (not counting the two hours last winter that my friend and I spent trying to navigate our way through the twisted and crowded streets to the highway in a rental car without GPS or a decent map, but that's a story for another day). Listening to this music makes me want to go to Paris, or at least Jacques Brel's Paris, if such a place exists anymore.

Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love is a wonderfully entertaining trip through the life and work of a prolific songwriter who was previously unknown to me. I'm glad I got to know him a little. The show continues through next weekend only and tickets are going fast, so act now if you, too, would like to go on this lovely little journey.

"Steerage Song" by Theater Latte Da at the Lab Theater

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
     free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost
     to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

These words (by poet Emma Lazarus) were engraved on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903, at the height of immigration to the United States. But soon that welcoming sentiment began to change, culminating in the passage of the National Origins Act in 1924, severely limiting immigration, especially from "undesirable" areas such as Southern and Eastern Europe. Steerage Song, a music-theater piece created by Peter Rothstein and Dan Chouinard, explores these historical themes of immigration through authentic music and text of the time. A semi-staged version of it was first presented two years ago. Much of the cast returns in this fully staged production, with slight changes to text and songs. The result is a truly beautiful expression of ideas at the very heart of America. The (perhaps not so) surprising thing is that the arguments being made against immigration today were also being made 100 years ago, making this piece not just a historical reflection but also extremely relevant to the present.

Peter (who also directs the piece) and Dan (music director) have collected dozens of songs from the American immigrant experience between 1840 and 1924, from various languages and cultures through Europe. They have tied the songs together using text from newspaper articles, speeches, and other historical documents, and constructed them into eight parts representing the journey of the immigrants: The Call; Bidding Farewell; The Voyage; A Sonnet in the Harbor; Ellis Island; The Lower East Side; By the People, For the People; and The Golden Door Closes. The nine ensemble members portray the mostly nameless immigrants as they leave their homelands and find a new life in America. The one character we follow throughout this journey is perhaps the most successful immigrant musician from this period, a 5-year-old Russian Jewish immigrant named Israel Beilin who became one of America's most beloved songwriters, Irving Berlin. Through his and others' stories we witness the courage of the millions of people who left everything behind to come to America and make a better life for themselves and their families, and in doing so made America richer too.

Dan Chouinard and his accordian
lead the cast of Steerage Song

The fantastic nine-person cast includes six from the original production two years ago. All sing beautifully in various languages or accented English (my linguist friend was impressed with the use of language and accents), as well as expressing the emotions of the characters. The ensemble includes: Sasha Andreev (always excellent), Erin Capello (with a voice like a dream), Dennis Curley (evoking tears with his sad Irish ballad), Megan Fischer (little Annie is all grown up and can hold her own among these talented professionals), Alec Fisher (another talented youngster who fits right in), Bradley Greenwald (one of my absolute favorites, any day I get to listen to him sing in German is a good day), Jennifer Grimm (with an emotional delivery of "Bring Me Your Tired, Your Poor," set to music by Irving Berlin), Jay Hornbacher (the talented veteran of the group), and Natalie Nowytski (a natural fit for this piece, she sings in over 40 languages and has studied Eastern European styles of singing). Multi-talented musician Dan Chouinard (I've seen him perform many times and he rarely uses sheet music at the piano) does a great job leading the five-piece band playing various instruments and creating the varied musical styles of the immigrants.

waving goodbye to the homeland

The Lab Theater is a great open space in which to create a world of imagination, put to great use by set designer John Clark Donahue. A stage has been built to resemble a ship, with a wooden plank floor, raised balcony in the back for the band, masts, a rope ladder, and bannisters on the sides. In the second act this ship transforms into the Lower East Side, with laundry hung between the masts and carts rolling up and down the street. Long poles are used as the railing of the ship or form lines at Ellis Island; planks serve as work spaces or lecterns. On either side of the stage are great racks of clothing, with hats, shawls, coats, scarves, and various other pieces that help define and differentiate the many characters in the piece (costume design by Jeffrey Stolz).

It's no secret that Theater Latte Da is my favorite theater company. Musical theater is my favorite art form, and Latte Da does it in an innovative and forward-thinking way. In fact, their tagline this year is "we don't do musical theater, we do theater musically." The thing that elevates Theater Latte Da above many other theaters in town is the impeccable attention to detail, on great display in Steerage Song. Every aspect of the production is of the highest quality: sets, costumes, sound design (actors are miked but in an unobtrusive way), casting, staging, the playbill, lighting, video projections, the use of props, and the talent level of the performers. Nothing is overlooked and it all adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable evening of theater. Playing now through October 20 at the Lab Theater.

"Lover" by James Sewell Ballet at the Cowles Center

Speaking about musicals, Garrison Keillor recently said, "I don't know anything else that can really just elevate people. You walk out on air. And you walk out into the squalor and the noise and the crowded city and you feel sort of magical." Here's something else that can do that - dance. After seeing beautiful performances of three diverse pieces by James Sewell Ballet at the shiny new Cowles Center last night, I walked out into the busy streets of Minneapolis and felt sort of magical, like I knew a secret that no one else knew. I don't know what all those people were doing out in the city on a cold Saturday night, but I'm pretty sure it was nowhere near as delightful and moving as what I experienced.

As a theater geek, I don't often go to see dance performances, but I do occasionally, just to mix things up a little. I chose to see this one because the first of three pieces, Lover, features the music of the great musical theater composing team Rodgers and Hart, performed by my favorite pianist Dan Chouinard and one of my favorite actor/singers Bradley Greenwald. It was a great excuse to go see some ballet!

Lover: This is the most theatrical of the three pieces, and really tells the story of four couples. Bradley Greenwald and Maria Jette sing the songs of Rodgers and Hart, accompanied by Dan Chouinard on piano. Just these three amazing musicians performing together would be entertainment enough! If they did this piece as a concert with just the three of them onstage, I would go and I would love it (musical highlights include the gorgeous "My Funny Valentine" and a wordless scatting version of "The Lady is a Tramp" ). The singers also play characters and are so expressive that I had a hard time looking away from them to watch the dancing. But fortunately I did, because the dancing is charming, delightful, whimsical, and very accessible for a ballet novice like myself. The seven-member company, along with special guest and company co-founder Sally Rousse (elegant in a glamorous red dress with a long cigarette holder), perform the choreography of James Sewell. The four couples fight, make up, flirt, and change partners, all in gorgeously expressive movement.

the company performs Lover

Glitter Garden: This is a solo piece by company member Nic Lincoln, choreographed for him by Larry Keigwin (who also choreographed the recent off-Broadway production of RENT). The performance begins as people are filing back into their seats after intermission. Nic is in character, just off-stage, getting photographed by papparazzi and putting on his stage make-up. He makes his way to the stage as the lights go down, changes into his costume (which consists of brass knuckles, epaulettes, and a gladiator skirt), and begins the performance. It's a strong, powerful performance, with sharp, fast movements, some of which are reminiscent of a marionette. At one point it literally rains glitter upon him, as he poses for a photo shoot. I assume this is some sort of commentary on fame or celebrity. Whatever it means, it's quite beautiful and fascinating to watch.

Your Move: The final piece was choreographed by James Sewell based on recorded moves by audience members, gathered at performances over the last year. These video recordings are sometimes displayed on large white fabric that serve as screens, either simultaneously with the dancers or in rotation. It's really remarkable to see what James and the company have created based on a few moves, some silly, some quite lovely on their own. The ensemble is dressed in sporty clothes in black and grey, with orange accents and the James Sewell Ballet logo, like the JSB workout collection (which they should totally develop and sell, I'd buy it!). The audience moves are well organized into segments, some just weird facial expressions, some slow and elegant movements, some jerky staccato. All of it woven seamlessly and beautifully together to create a new expression of the shared joy of dance.

Unfortunately last night was the final performance of Lover, but I think I will be checking out JSB again. The company epitomizes the beauty of the body in movement. It's quite amazing to think that these dancers have the same set of muscles that we all were born with, but they make them do that! Of course it's more than just the movements, it's also the emotional expression, which these dancers also do quite well. They emote not just with their movements but their facial expressions as well. It really does, like Garrison says, make one feel  sort of magical.

"Trail of Two Cities with Dan Chouinard and Friends" at the Minnesota History Center

I love history (especially Minnesota history), and I love music. So the recent event at the Minnesota History Center*, Trail of Two Cities with Dan Chouinard and Friends, was just my kind of thing. I became familiar with talented pianist/accordionist/storyteller Dan Chouinard years ago through the dear, departed, MPR Morning Show, and have seen him in many concerts since, including his Cafe Europa show (about his adventures bicycling around Europe with an accordion) and Steerage Song (last summer's collaboration with Theater Latte Da). In Trail of Two Cities, Dan brings his music/storytelling format to these two beautiful cities we call home, and more specifically, to how we travel between them. Dan travels by bicycle as much as possible, which I hugely admire and envy. He encouraged the audience to bring the mindfulness necessary when traveling through the city by bike to however we travel. There's a reason the roads we travel on are where they are. The show reminded me a little of The History Channel's series How the States Got their Shapes, only with local landmarks like the crosstown (a way for livestock trucks to bypass the city) and University Avenue (an old Native American trail from the falls of St. Anthony to the bend in the river).

In addition to learning lots of fascinating tidbits about local history, complete with period photos and paintings, Dan and Friends also provided music to accompany the stories. Dan's talented Friends include several members of the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, "old-time musicians" husband and wife duo Kim and Quillan Roe, and talented vocalist Prudence Johnson. Train songs, truck songs, river songs, the music covered every mode of transportation used in the history of these Twin Cities. Modes of transportation and related songs include:

• Horse and buggy - a sing-along to "Surry with the Fringe On Top"
• Trains (a 30-45 minute trip in the late 19th century) - "The Wabash Cannonball"
• Steamboat - a song about the Lake Pepin Steamboat by the adorable Chouinard Family Barbershop Quartet (Quintet?), consisting of Dan, his dad, and three brothers
• Streetcars (which took over the train business in the early 20th century until their demise in 1956) - "Clang Clang Clang went the Trolley"
• Highways (first built in the '50s and '60s, 94 was built straight through the African American neighborhood of Rhondo) - "Drive the USA in Your Chevrolet"

It was a fascinating trip through local history that made me want to learn more. It also made me want to move from the suburbs into the city so I could make use of the growing public transportation (the streetcars return!). The show reminded me of my desire to take the train to Chicago for a theater weekend, and float down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a riverboat. I'm not sure if the latter even exists, but the former definitely does, and especially now that the Amtrak is moving back to the newly renovated historic Union Depot in St. Paul, I'll be sure to do that soon. Thanks to Dan and Friends for exploring the ideas of local travel in such an entertaining and musical way!

The Falls of St. Anthony by Albert Bierstadt

*The Minnesota History Center's auditorium is a nice venue (I'd previously seen a History Theatre production 1968 there), and it's a great museum. I've been wanting to see their current exhibit on the US-Dakota War of 1862 and was hoping to go that afternoon and make a day of it, but unfortunately they closed the center between museum time and event time. I'll have to go back another time, perhaps in conjunction with another event.

"Steerage Song" by Theater Latte Da at the Fitzgerald Theater

Steerage Song is a new concert/theater piece created by Theater Latte Da's Artistic Director Peter Rothstein and local pianist/accordionist extraordinaire Dan Chouinard.  I'm familiar with Peter through his work with Latte Da and many other theaters in town, and I was introduced to Dan by the late, great MPR Morning Show (the spirit of which lives on in MPR's Radio Heartland).  When I heard those two names attached to this piece, I knew it would be good, and I wasn't wrong.

Steerage Song is about the immigrant experience, focusing on immigration from Europe between 1840 and 1924 (when laws were passed significantly limiting immigration to this country).  The structure of the piece is similar to Latte Da's annual Christmas show All is Calm about the WWI Christmas Truce: a series of songs about the experience connected by historical text describing the events as well as the feelings of those involved.  Dan and Peter have collected over 40 songs relating to the immigrant experience.  The songs come from 20 countries and are sung in 18 languages.  They're arranged into six parts, covering the decision to leave home, through arrival in Ellis Island, to making a new life in the Lower East Side (next time you visit NYC, make sure to visit Ellis Island as well as the Tenement Museum to see how immigrants lived 100+ years ago).  The first half of the show features mostly mournful songs of leaving (I was particularly moved by the Irish "Emigrant's Letter").  As Dan said in the post-show discussion, it's slim pickings trying to find happy songs about leaving your home forever.  ;)  The second half of the show focuses on one of the most famous musician immigrants of this time - songwriter Irving Berlin (aka Israel Beilin from Russia).

In addition to assembling interesting, funny, touching songs, Dan and Peter have also assembled a talented group of singers and musicians.  The 11 singer/actors include several who have appeared on this blog before: Sasha Andreev, Erin Capello, Dennis Curley, and Natalie Nowytski (click on the tags at the bottom of this post to find out where).  All of the singer/actors were wonderful in their own way, singing and speaking in accented English or foreign languages.  I was particularly impressed by the two young boys Braxton Baker and Jake Ingbar, who held their own with all the "professionals."  The four talented musicians were led by Dan Chouinard (on piano, accordion, and tuba!) and included the great fiddle/mandolin player and composer Peter Ostroushko (another frequent guest on the Morning Show).  All of this adds up to a wonderful evening of music!

As a collector of playbills/programs (you may have noticed that every post on this blog includes a scan of the playbill), I have to note that the program for Steerage Song is itself is a work of art.  It looks like an old photo album.  The text is printed in old fashioned font against a background of sepia-toned photographs of immigrants.  It's really quite beautiful.  The show also featured projections of these photographs onto the brick wall at the back of the stage at the Fitz, as well as text describing the songs being sung or quotes being spoken.

Even though this is a period piece, the themes are quite relevant today.  The struggles facing immigrants and the reaction of those observing and legislating immigration are similar to what they were 150 years ago.  Perhaps remembering our own immigrant history (except for those of Native American descent, all Americans are descended from immigrants) will inspire us to be a have a little more compassion for those immigrating today.