"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.

"King Arthur: A Picnic Operetta" by Mixed Precipitation at Falcon Heights Community Garden

There's a lot of outdoor theater going on around the Twin Cities, if you know where to look for it. I partook of one such opportunity on what turned out to be a rainy day, so it was moved indoors to a warming house. But the spirit was still there. Mixed Precipitation takes classic operettas, condenses them, puts a modern spin on them, performs them in community gardens around the Twin Cities metro area, and also serves great food. What could be better? This year's selection is Henry Purcell's 1684 English Baroque opera King Arthur, with plenty of modern references and some punk rock music thrown in for good measure. It's a fun and delicious way to experience music-theater in an informal setting.

Condensing a full opera down to under 90 minutes creates a bit of a hard to follow jumbled mess, but from what I gathered, King Arthur of Cameloteapolis is building a new jousting stadium that will host the Super Joust, a costly endeavor that faces opposition from the Saxons, who are concerned about things like corporate personhood and minimum wage. Or something like that. There is fighting, jousting, magic, a wedding or two, and much beautiful music. I didn't care for the rock songs as much as the opera songs, which are so beautifully sung and played by this wonderful cast and small orchestra that it doesn't seem necessary to add modern songs (although I do kind of love the idea of a rock cello).

Grant Schumann, Peter Middlecamp, and Cassandra McNally

This wonderful cast of adults and children appears to be having a great time playing together, which always makes it more fun for the audience. And they look crazy cool in punk hair, make-up, and costumes. Young Grant Schumann leads the wildly energetic band of Saxons; Wric Larson is dark and mysterious with a commanding deep voice as the demon Grimbald; Elizabeth Windnagel is a delightfully airy imp; Jim Ahrens is our beautiful-haired and slightly out of touch King Arthur; magic is created by JP Fitzgibbons' Merlin and Naomi Karstad's Morgan Le Fay; Maggie Lofbloom's jousting champion Guinevere is a heroine to root for; and Peter Middlecamp is charming as her jousting rival/suitor. And the whole casts sounds fantastic; turns out the warming house has surprisingly good acoustics.

The most unique aspect of this experience is the food. Delicious, interesting, creative, fresh, local food is served in perfect little bites throughout the show, very cleverly worked into the plot and introduced by the characters. I think people should serve me food at the theater all the time! I do wish I had been able to experience this in the great outdoors as intended, but it was still great fun, and they somehow made the last minute change of venue work.

King Arthur continues weekends through September 21. Check the schedule for a garden near you, and then go see some fun and creative music-theater while enjoying delicious food.

"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

Fringe Festival 2012: Answered Prayers

Day: 3

Show: 11

Title: Answered Prayers

By: Nautilus Music-Theater

Created by: Robert Elhai and Jim Payne

Location: Rarig Xperimental

Summary: A musical adaptation of several of the short stories in the collection Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, Answered Prayers completes the trilogy which also includes last year's Twisted Apples (my favorite show of Fringe 2011) and Untold Lies from 2010 (which I unfortunately did not see). This year's installment introduces us to some new characters in the small town - a teacher who left Winesburg to see the world and has since returned, and therefore is viewed as a bit strange by the townspeople who never left, and the pastor of the town church, who is fascinated by this strange woman to the point of thinking that he's found God in her. The common thread with last year's piece is George Willard, a young writer whose job at the newspaper allows him the opportunity to know many of the townspeople.

Highlights: Like last year's show, the music is beautiful, expansive, and expressive (libretto by Jim Payne and music by Robert Elhai), and wonderfully performed by the two-person band and three-person cast. Norah Long and Joshua Hinck return from last year's Twisted Apples. Joshua reprises his role as George and shows us more depth to the character. Norah, who last year played George's withering mother, brings a different energy to this much different character - a woman who's seen the world and returned to the small town of her birth to find it lacking. They are joined this year by JP Fitzgibbons (performing with laryngitis!) in a powerful performance as the pastor. I wanted to know more about these characters (I'm currently reading the book so hopefully I will), and I look forward to all three acts being performed as a full production. While I was more taken by last year's show and the compelling story of George's mother and their relationship, Answered Prayers adds more layers to life in this small town. I'm curious to see how all the pieces will fit together and the story they will tell as a whole.

Tip: The show sold out the night I was there (the Xperimental seems to be one of the smaller houses), so it might be wise to buy your ticket in advance if you're going to the last remaining show on Sunday at 4.

Read more of my fringe fest reflections...

"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.