"Once" at the Duluth Playhouse

Walking along the greatest of lakes yesterday morning, watching the rising sun turn the clouds shades of pink and orange, while the waves lapped at my feet at the seagulls played in the water, I knew it was absolutely worth driving 300 miles roundtrip in 24 hours to see one of my favorite musicals in my favorite Minnesota city. I'm not saying you should also make the long drive to see Duluth Playhouse's production of the lovely eight-time Tony winning musical Once, based on the 2007 Irish movie and featuring music by stars of the film Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, but if you're itching for a Minnecation, or happen to be in Minnesota's favorite vacation spot along the North Shore of Lake Superior, you should definitely check it out, or maybe catch something else in the Playhouse's busy and ambitious 2022-2023 season on multiple stages, which culminates in the Minnesota premiere of Kinky Boots next summer. Not just for nature, adventure, shopping, and eating, Duluth is also a destination because of its incredible arts and culture scene.

"Ghost: The Musical" at the Orpheum Theatre

Ghost: The Musical is one of those touring Broadway shows that I would normally skip, not being a fan of the disturbing trend to turn movies into musicals rather than take the risk on a new original piece of musical theater. But there is one reason that I wanted to see it. Local actor Steven Grant Douglas, who impressed in several shows with Theater Latte Da* last year, is playing the lead role of Sam (i.e., the Patrick Swayze role). Steven is super talented and has a gorgeous voice, and very deserving of this opportunity, and I'm all about supporting our local actors (even when they leave us for bigger stages!). I knew that he would be great, and suspected that the musical would ho-hum, and I was right on both counts. When the thing people talk about after seeing a show is the illusion of someone walking through a door (or a falling chandelier), that doesn't point to a great piece of music-theater in my book. I'm reminded of something my favorite musical theater director Peter Rothstein says about musicals - content dictates form. That is not the case with this piece, which is perhaps its biggest flaw. At its core, Ghost is a small intimate love story, but Ghost: The Musical is a big splashy techno-heavy "show," in which the beauty of that story gets lost. The story would be better served with less tricks, a smaller cast, fewer showy songs, and a greater focus on what we really care about - the relationship between Molly and Sam.

Here's the story in a nutshell: artist Molly and banker Sam are blissfully in love, until one night they're mugged and Sam is killed. He becomes a ghost that for some reason cannot pass on. He soon discovers that there's more to his murder than a random robbery. The man who killed him is after something, and Molly is in danger. Sam finally finds someone who can hear him, the psychic Oda Mae, who reluctantly agrees to help Sam save Molly and bring his killer to justice. The supernatural aspects of this story are brought to life on stage through illusions (credited to Paul Kieve - is there another musical with an Illusionist credit?) that show people and objects flying through the air, and yes, Sam walking through a door. The movie-ness of Ghost is replicated by a liberal use of the scrim and video projections.

Steven Grant Douglas and
Katie Postotnik at the infamous
pottery wheel

Ghost: The Musical is most successful when it focuses on the relationships, rather than the big dance numbers that, while entertaining with the rhythmic, robotic choreography by Ashley Wallen, well executed by the large ensemble, don't seem to fit and took me out of the story. Steven as Sam and Katie Postotnik as Molly have great chemistry and they both have gorgeous voices, especially when singing together. Also fun is the relationship between Sam and Oda Mae, played with delicious energy and verve by Carla R. Stewart. The scene in which the subway ghost teaches Sam how to "Focus" is a highlight, with Brandon Curry rapping and leaping around the stage in a way that you can't tell how much is illusion and how much is his great physicality.

Two things that fans of the movie will insist on are both included in the musical - the song "Unchained Melody" and the pottery scene, although the latter plays out differently than it does in the movie. "Unchained Melody" is used in a clever way, with Sam jokingly singing it to Molly early in the show, and the reappearance of several phrases woven into the score later in the show. The original songs in the score range from lovely ("With You," Molly's song about grief and loss), to powerful (Sam's desperate cry "I Had A Life"), to gratuitous ("I'm Outa Here," a fun Oda Mae song that has no place in this show).

Ghost: The Musical continues at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis through the weekend. It's pretty much what you think it is, with some nice moments and great performances wrapped up in a techno-heavy show that fails to impress, as hard as it tries.



*Theater Latte Da's Peter Rothstein cast Steven in three shows last year, and now he's playing the lead in a national Broadway tour, proving once again that Peter has a great eye for talent.

"When the Moon Hits Your Eye" by Theater Latte Da at the Lab Theater

Continuing their mission to "create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater," Theater Latte Da is presenting three new works as part of "NEXT: New Musicals in the Making." The creators spend two weeks workshopping the piece with Theater Latte Da's Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, Music Director Denise Prosek, and a talented cast of local actor/singers. At the end of that period they present the work to audiences, who are invited to give feedback on what they've seen. For a musical theater fan like myself, it's an exciting opportunity to observe and maybe even take part in the creation of a new piece of music-theater.

The first installment, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, was presented last weekend at the gorgeous Lab Theater. This "play with music" was written by playwright Jon Marans (who also wrote Old Wicked Songs, which Latte Da did at the Guthrie Studio in 2008) and features several diverse songs in the public domain. It's a slice of life in the neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen in NYC, specifically the corner of 48th Street and 9th Avenue. It's a fantastic neighborhood that's rich with stories (if you're in NYC to see some shows, do not eat anywhere near Times Square, instead head over to 8th or 9th Avenue, where the real people live, work, and eat). Our characters include engaged couple Natalia (Emily Gunyou Halaas) and Larry (Rudolph Searles III), Natalia's mother Felizbella (Michelle Cassioppi), her ex Matthew (Steven Grant Douglas), and the grieving Debbie (Sara Ochs), all of whom live in the same building. Their landlord Gian Carlo (Raye Birk) also works in the barber shop on the ground floor, and the widow Liz (played by Nancy Marvy), who used to teach in the neighborhood, is friendly with the residents. These seven characters make up a little family, and the play shows us a few days in their intersecting lives - weddings, affairs, first dates, illnesses, break-ups, career changes, and other usual stuff of life. And of course, music accompanies their life. Music as diverse as an Italian opera, the plaintive Boll Weevil song ("lookin' for a home"), a haunting Scottish border ballad, a Mongolian love song, and a Portuguese celebratory song. The characters narrate each others' actions (partly due to the fact that this is a reading, partly as a story-telling choice), but in a really interesting and interactive way. They don't just blankly read the narration, rather they convey their feelings about what's going on through the reading. The language is beautifully descriptive; you can easily visualize the action as it plays out in different areas of the building. All of these pieces combined to tell a really lovely story, funny, poignant, and completely engaging. I think the creators have something really special here, and I'm excited to see where it will go next. Although I might call it a musical rather than a play with music. Characters sing to each other in character, espressing their emotions, and walk down the street singing. That, to me, is the very definition of a musical.

I know this is supposed to be about the work, but without the fabulous performances by every one of the seven cast-members, you cannot appreciate or even really see the work. They spent about two weeks with this material, and though they had scripts in front of them, they were able to create fully rounded characters with a wonderful chemistry and sense of family between them. Steven and Emily's duet on the border ballad is an absolute dream, Sara sings gorgeously in Mongolian, and Rudolph's Italian opera is thrilling. Raye and Michelle portray a sweet and tender later-in-life love story, and Nancy's character is the heart of the building. And did I mention that they all speak in authentic-sounding accents, and sing in multiple languages? This wouldn't be an easy piece to do with four weeks of rehearsal, how much more challenging with only two weeks and a constantly changing script!

As anyone who reads this blog knows, musical theater is my favorite thing in the world. But I think I love it most for what it can be, and often isn't in whatever movie has been most recently adapted to the Broadway stage. Theater Latte Da strives to elevate the art form that is musical theater and move it into the future. That's what NEXT is all about, and judging from the first selection, it's going to be an amazing three weeks at the Lab Theater. Up next is C., a new musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Robert Elhai and Bradley Greenwald. Following that is Bessie's Birthday, which has been expanded from the one-act musical presented as a part of Passage of Dreams four years ago (one of my favorite shows of the year). I remember thinking when I saw it that it could and should be expanded into a full-length musical, so I'm thrilled that they're doing just that.

If you're a fan of music-theater, or just enjoy seeing the creative process at work, I highly recommend you attend one or both of the remaining selections in "NEXT: New Musicals in the Making."

the beautiful bare stage of the Lab Theater,
where anything can happen