Idina Menzel with the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall

Idina Menzel has had a finger in three of my favorite musical theater pies - she was in the original casts of my favorite musical RENT and the phenomenon that is Wicked, and she had a recurring role on Glee, aka a musical theater geek's TV dream come true! And she featured all three of them in her concert with the Minnesota Orchestra, led by conductor Sarah Hicks, as well as some classics and original compositions.

Idina captured the audience as soon as she walked onstage in her gorgeously draped purple dress, long loose dark hair, and bare feet (if there's one thing I admire more than a fabulous pair of shoes, it's bare feet!). She said she first performed in bare feet when she threw her back out lifting her 14-month old son Walker Nathaniel Diggs, and realized she could sing better that way. She was continually fidgeting with her dress because there was a pin left in it from the dry cleaners, which is just one example of how real and normal she was up there on stage. There was a sign language interpreter on the side of the stage that she was continually fascinated with. Every time she said an interesting word, like bitch or breast pump (did I mention she was real and relaxed?), she'd look over to see how he translated it. It was a running joke throughout the evening.

In addition to entertaining the audience with stories about her career and growing up on Long Island, she of course sang many familiar songs. Idina won a Tony in 2004 for her fearless portrayal of Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West, in Wicked. The first Wicked song she sang was my theme song, "I'm Not that Girl," and later in the evening she sang Elphie's signature song, "Defying Gravity." It was a thrill to her her do it live after hearing it so many many times on the soundtrack. Towards the end of the concert she did her thank yous, and then put her mic down, waiting for silence. I just knew she was going to sing something "unplugged," which is always my favorite moment of any concert. When the words came out of her mouth and filled Orchestra Hall, they brought instant tears to my eyes.

It well may be that we may never meet again
In this lifetime so let me say before we part
So much of me is made from what I learned from you
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friends!

It was her personal thank you to the audience, and the second time I teared up that evening; the first was when she sang a gorgeous rendition of "No Day but Today" from RENT. Idina was nominated for her first Tony in 1996 for her portrayal of Maureen. She spoke about how the show changed her life in many ways, not the least of which was dealing with the death of creator Jonathan Larson the night before the show opened. She said that at a time when all the success and acclaim and attention could have gone to their heads, it was really all about communicating Jonathan's music and message to the world, because he no longer could. No day but today. Idina had the audience sing the refrain back to her, which was magical.

There's only now
There's only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other path
No other way
No day but today.

A few years ago Idina sang "Don't Rain on My Parade" for Barbra Streisand when she was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors, and told a funny story about her interaction with Ms. Streisand at the after party. She sang "Funny Girl" for us (which she also did on Glee), followed by "Don't Rain on My Parade." If there really is going to be Funny Girl revival on Broadway, I vote for Idina playing the role of Fanny Brice rather than Lea Michele. I love Lea, but she already has a steady gig and I'd really love to see Idina back on Broadway.

Idina has a couple of solo recording available, in addition to the cast recordings of RENT and Wicked. I just downloaded a 6-song EP that includes live versions of "Defying Gravity" and "No Day but Today," as well the original song "Gorgeous" which she sang at the concert. She also did a song that she wrote for her son with her husband, actor Taye Diggs (who was also in the original cast of RENT and currently appears on ABC's Private Practice). It sounds like they have a lot of fun singing to Walker around the house. Oh to be a fly on that wall!

Idina talked about her role on Glee, and her initial horror at being asked to play the mother of a 24-year-old! But she had just had a baby and was happy to be working again. When she read the script and saw that the reunion song between her character and her daughter was Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," she was a little confused. But someone it all worked! She sang the song for us with full orchestra accompaniment.

Idina's encore song was "Tomorrow" from Annie, which was a song her parents used to ask her to sing when she was a little girl. She sang it for her dad, who was in the audience. And with that, she was back on a plane to Los Angeles. I was so happy to spend 90 minutes with someone who's had such a huge role in many of the musicals I love. I hope to see her again someday, perhaps on a Broadway stage!

"Life's A Dream" by Ten Thousand Things at Open Book

I attended my first Ten Thousand Things production, My Fair Lady, earlier this year. I've been hearing about them for years, but just hadn't gotten to a show. After that first show, I was hooked, and bought a season pass for this year. If you've never seen a TTT production, it may be a bit jarring at first. They perform in an open room with almost no set, simple costumes, and full lights. The actors look you in the eye as they deliver their lines a few feet in front of you. The reason they perform like this is because their main focus is to bring theater to people who don't usually have the opportunity to go to the theater - people in prisons, homeless shelters, and treatment centers, for example. "Because theater is richer when EVERYONE is in the audience." For those of us fortunate enough to be in the position to go to the theater, they also hold public paid performances, but they perform in the same style as they do for their less fortunate audiences. It's theater unlike I've ever experienced it before. With no distractions, it's all about the acting and the piece. And they use some of the best actors in the community (and apparently also draw some of the best actors to the audience: I spotted Sarah Agnew from 39 Steps at the Guthrie across the aisle from me!).

But on to the show at hand: Life's a Dream. With mistaken identities, women dressing as men, kings and princes, prophesies from the stars, and swordfights, it felt a little like a Shakespeare play. It was written around the same time, although not by Shakespeare, but by Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca. King Basilio of Poland receives a prophesy before his son is born that he will cause destruction to the land. When Sigismund is born, Basilio has him imprisoned in a tower, where he grows up and lives his life, never knowing who he is. When it comes time for Basilio to name an heir, he decides to give his son a chance to defy fate. He is brought to the palace unconscious and given one day to prove himself a worthy king. If not, Basilio will take him back to the tower, where he will wake up and be told it was all a dream. From which comes the central theme of the show: Is life a dream? And if so, what should we do with that dream, when we know it could be over at any moment?

The cast is wonderful. Dennis Spears plays King Basilio as an elegant and powerful man anyone would gladly follow. Namir Smallwood is his son Sigismund and makes you feel every bit of his torment, rage, and hope. Elise Langer is the comic relief as Clarion the clown, and Maggie Chestovich is Rosaura, the scorned woman who goes on a quest to win (or kill) her love and find her father. She's a spitfire who wields a sword and wears a pretty party dress (check out Maggie's blog to find out more about the places they've performed the show).

The next TTT show is Doubt starring Kris Nelson and Sally Wingert - the Meryl Streep of the Minneapolis/St. Paul theater scene, fresh off of her Broadway debut in La Bete. A must see in my book, as is the last show of the season, Man of LaMancha. If you want to see theater in its purest form, unencumbered by elaborate sets, fancy costumes, or dramatic lighting, go see a Ten Thousand Things show. If you believe in the power of theater to change the world, or at least to make one person's life a little better, support Ten Thousand Things in the work that they do.

Life’s brief
So let us dream.
Let’s all remember
that we must wake up when we least expect it.



Celebrity Sighting
I saw Sarah Agnew sitting in the audience across the aisle from me, watching the play.  She's currently appearing in the uproarious 39 Steps at the Guthrie, where she was doing two shows that day.  In between shows she ran across Washington to take in a little theater.  I ran into her at the bathroom and couldn't resist telling her how much I loved the show, and that I didn't know how the cast didn't crack themselves up every night.  She said they did!

"The 39 Steps" at the Guthrie

The 39 Steps is a wild, zany, fun ride of a show. It's broad slapstick humor, with the cast of four playing dozens of characters. They clearly have as much fun as the audience, almost cracking themselves up at times. I saw the show this spring Off-Broadway in New York and loved it, so I was excited to see it at the Guthrie with this fabulous local cast. Set in 1935 England and Scotland, the play is based on 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. It's a spy story, but the story is really mostly an excuse for the crazy antics that surround it.

The main character, Richard Hannay, is a bored English gentleman who suddenly gets involved with a spy and goes on a cross-country adventure, trying to save England from some unknown evil. Robert O. Berdahl is perfect as Richard; he has the suave elegance, raised eyebrow, and dark wavy hair to bring him to life. Robert is a regular at the Guthrie, most recently playing Macduff in the bloody great spectacle that was Macbeth. But my favorite memory of him is at the Guthrie cabaret a few years ago (which they're not doing this year, boo!) when he sang Tom Waits' song "Waltzing Matilda." It was achingly beautiful and made me kick myself for not seeing his show Warm Beer Cold Women a few years ago. I can only hope he'll reprise it sometime.

Richard's love interests were played by Sarah Agnew, another Guthrie regular (most recent: Dollhouse). She was very funny as the German spy Annabella Schmidt; the simple farm wife with the unfortunate overbite Margaret; and Pamela, the woman who unwillingly gets pulled into Richard's spy life and ends up falling for him. She has great comedic chops and reminds me a little of Molly Shannon in her expressive face and the way she throws herself physically into the characters.

All the remaining characters were played by Luverne Seifert and Jim Lichtsheidl, who are credited simply as "clowns." And so they are. A sort of Laurel and Hardy comedy team, they played cops, paper boys, spies, innkeepers, farmers, even natural elements like puddles and the wind! With the simple change of a hat or donning of a coat, combined with a new accent, they transformed into a completely different character. I've seen both of them do this sort of thing before. Luverne Seifert was in Ten Thousand Things' brilliantly sparse production of My Fair Lady earlier this year, in which he played several characters, including Eliza's father (get me to the church on time!). Jim Lichtsheidl is one of my favorite local actors. He has a great physicality about his acting, and is able to completely transform himself through the tilt of his head, a gesture of his hand, or the cadence of his speech. He starred in the one-man show Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at Park Square Theater last year; a retelling of A Christmas Carol in which he played all of the characters in the story. He also appeared in Tiny Kushner, a collection of short plays during last year's Kushnerfest at the Guthrie, and in one of the plays he portrayed dozens of different characters. It was truly amazing to witness. So this play was right up his alley.

The 39 Steps is a fun and thrilling show with a top-notch cast. If you go, and you should, be prepared to laugh a lot and forget about the worries of the real world, as you're immersed in the wacky world of Richard Hanney and the dozens of characters who fill the stage, in the bodies of four mere mortals.

"Spring Awakening" at the Orpheum

This is how much I love the musical Spring Awakening: I named my kitty Moritz after my favorite character.  Fortunately my Moritz doesn’t share too many traits with his namesake.  He is sweet and loveable, and a bit of a rascal, but he’s not nearly as tortured and lost as Moritz of the musical.  The life of a cat is much easier than the life of a teenager coming of age in late 19th century Germany.  Or anywhere and at any time, for that matter.  That’s what this show is about: how difficult and frustrating and wondrous it is to grow up.

Spring Awakening opened on Broadway in December of 2006 after a successful run off-Broadway, and went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Choreography, and Best Direction.  The original cast included John Gallegher Jr., who won the Tony for his portrayal of Moritz, as well as future Glee stars Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff.  The musical Spring Awakening is based on the late 19th century German play of the same name (Fruelings Erwachen in the original German) by Franz Wedekind.  In some ways it's a big ad for sex education, because it deals with the destruction that can result when kids aren't told the truth, and don't have an outlet for their feelings and experiences.  Melchior (MEL-ki-or) is the popular and confident boy who thinks he has it all figured out, until he finds out he doesn't.  Wendla is the girl who loves him and ends up pregnant, in part because her mother refuses to tell her the truth.  "Mama who bore me, mama who gave me no way to handle things, who made me so bad."  Moritz is the troubled misfit who sees no way out of the confusion he's in.  He sings my favorite song (and one of my theme songs), "Don't Do Sadness."  Perhaps I relate to this show about angsty teenagers more than a 30-something-year-old woman should, but we all have a bit of the teenager in us, don't we?

Despite dealing with such heavy issues as teen pregnancy, child abuse, and suicide, Spring Awakening is also a fun and spirited rock musical.  It's a period piece with period costumes, but the characters whip out hand-held mics to belt out modern-sounding rock tunes.  I first saw in on Broadway the year after its Tony wins.  The original cast was mostly intact, with the exception of Tony-winner John Gallegher Jr. (who's currently starring in American Idiot on Broadway).  His replacement, Blake Bashoff (aka Karl on Lost), also gave a phenomenal performance.  Lea and Jonathan were riveting together and individually (one of the many reasons why I love Glee is that they reunited Melchi and Wendla in my living room week after week!).  The show has an amazing youthful energy and makes you feel everything along with the characters.  Here's a clip from the Tonys with the original cast and slightly toned-down lyrics:

This is the second time I've seen the show on tour; this time it was only a two-night engagement. Despite the limited number of performances, the set was mostly unchanged from what I've seen before (with the exception of the hanging platform). A few lucky audience members get to sit on the bleachers onstage with the cast (someday I'm going to figure out how to get those seats!). This production features a young and talented cast. Every part was really well cast, they all played and sang their roles very well.  Coby Getzug was adorable and tragic as my poor sweet Moritz.  The applause after the song "Totally F**ked" was perhaps the longest applause I've ever heard in middle of a show; it went on for several minutes.  And well deserved, it's an energetic song (and a great song to sing in the car to relieve the stress of the day ;).  The cast came out for an extra bow at the end; the audience clearly enjoyed the performance.

To paraphrase a song from the show, "We've all got our junk, and my junk is theater."  Lucky for me I'll get another fix in just two days when I see 39 Steps at the Guthrie!



my Moritz



"String" at Yellow Tree Theatre

I've had a busy week. I saw three shows in four days: a touring production of the 80s rock musical Rock of Ages, Theater Latte Da's sublime Evita, and last night I saw what may be my favorite of the week: an original play called String at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. It's definitely the one that made me laugh the most, and touched my heart the most. What more can you ask for from theater?

If you've never been to Osseo it's worth a visit. Only a few miles from the consumer mecca that is Maple Grove, when you're in downtown Osseo you could be in any small town in Minnesota. There's the butcher shop, the barber shop, the mom and pop diner, a great Thai restaurant, and a lovely wine bar and bistro (OK it's not like every small town). So when I heard about this theater, now in its third season, I was curious to check it out. It's in a strip mall not far from downtown, and doesn't look like much from the outside. But once you get inside, it's a warm and inviting space with a cozy lobby (with a tree in it, of course) and an intimate little theater. Yellow Tree was founded by husband and wife team and native Minnesotans Jason Peterson (Artistic Director and actor) and Jessica Lind (playwright and actor). They moved to New York for a few years after college, but soon realized Minnesota might be a better fit for what they wanted to do. "We were living in New York and were sitting on this gorgeous play," said Jason in an article in the local press. "It became a pipe dream to start our own company and produce String ourselves. That dream morphed into wanting a permanent home for our work, and that's how Yellow Tree was born."

String was written by Jessica and is a romantic comedy. But not in the bad Katherine Heigl movie kind of way, more in the quirky indie movie kind of way. Raina, played by Jessica, is the epitome of the "English major" that Garrison Keillor always jokes about. She wants to be paid for writing poems despite everyone telling her that she should get a job teaching high school English. But she wants more out of life. Ryan, played by Jason, is the pizza delivery guy whose car breaks down outside her house, so he has to come in to use the phone. She continues to run into him, and despite the fact that she's dating a man who seems perfect for her on paper, she can't seem to get Ryan out of her head (or her dreams). Meanwhile, her sister, the delightful Jessie Rae Rayle, is struggling with a new marriage and trying to start a family. When Raina receives flowers and a poem, she assumes it's from her medieval literature professor boyfriend. But she soon finds out that the pizza delivery guy is the one who wrote her the beautiful poem (which inspired the name of the theater):

If I am not the right one, there has never been an ocean.
A yellow tree never grew where it grew.
The sun never exchanged places with the moon.

At one point Raina describes a poem she's writing as something like, "it's about breaking free of the strings that hold us down, while coming to terms with them." That's a great way to describe this play, too. Jessica and Jason have great chemistry, and Jason's Ryan is an utterly charming goofball. I don't understand why it took Raina as long as it did to fall for him! I guess it's those strings and expectations she had to break loose of first.

I was really taken by the set design, it's an innovative use of the small space. The apartment setting has a chalkboard wall behind it that opens up to reveal a second floor bedroom, or a sign for the cafe. By the end of the play it had transformed into a train station with a single bench. I also really loved the music they played between scenes. If it were a movie, I would have bought the soundtrack. Instead I came home and listened to the Garden State soundtrack, which has a similar feel and even one song in common - Simon and Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy in New York."

It's obvious this theater and this play are a labor of love. It's a great find (thanks Vicki!) and I'm excited to go back. They've got a great season ahead of them which includes the classic American play Our Town (which I've never seen) and the musical [title of show].

I'll leave you with this quote from their website:

"We at Yellow Tree Theatre have this dream. We see the people of this community gathering together and getting excited about theatre. We see our theatre as a meeting place where everyone feels welcome, an artistic venue where people of all ages and walks of life can mingle together. Maybe we’re a little romantic, maybe this sounds like a crazy convoluted idea, but we’re okay with that. We like crazy."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go order a pizza.

"Evita" by Theater Latte Da at the Ordway McKnight Theater

As is quite obvious from reading this blog, I attend a lot of theater. Most of it is by myself, but once a year I get a group of friends together for something we like to call "Girls' Night Out at the Theater." For some of my friends, this is their once a year trip to the theater, so I take my responsibility seriously and try to choose a good show, preferably by a local theater. This is the second year in a row I've chosen a Theater Latte Da production. Last year we saw The Full Monty, which was was a huge success. Everyone loved it (which might have had something to do with the naked men ;), and it was one of my favorites of last year. So I was confident in choosing Latte Da's Evita this year, knowing they'd do a great job again, and I wasn't wrong!

As everyone probably knows, Evita is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about Eva Peron, the Princess Diana of Argentina. It chronicles her rise from a poor family in a small town, to actress in Buenes Aires, to wife of the president and "spiritual leader of the nation." I've never seen the stage show but I have seen the movie and have the soundtrack, so I was very familiar with the music (unlike the previous night's show, Rock of Ages). But what I had forgotten is that there's very little spoken dialogue; it's pretty much two and a half hours of singing.

This was a pretty large production for Latte Da; they usually do more intimate shows with smaller casts. It was beautifully directed by Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. There was a lot going on - costume changes, set changes, people constantly moving in and out. All done to music, and all accomplished very smoothly. The four-person band led by Musical Director Denise Prosek was off-stage, but sounded beautiful. The choreography was amazing and made me want to take tango lessons!

Like all Latte Da shows I've seen, this show was perfectly cast. I don't know how they do it, but they seem to always find the perfect actor in the Twin Cities (or elsewhere) to play each role. The strong ensemble includes Erin Capello and Kahlil Queen, whom I saw in Latte Da's concert at Lake Harriet this summer. The title role is played by Zoe Pappas who has worked frequently with Latte Da, the Chanhassen, the Ordway, and other local theaters. She has an amazing voice (which is good because she pretty much sings for two and a half hours straight), and also beautifully embodies Eva's passion, drive, and ultimate physical collapse. Kevin Leines is a suave, elegant Juan Peron (and the only man in the cast who's taller than Zoe!). The character of Che, who functions as a narrator, is played by Jared Oxborough. I first saw Jared in Footloose at the Chanhassen earlier this year (in which he co-starred with Zoe), and was immediately struck by his voice and presence, and wanted to see more of him. I also saw him perform a song from Urinetown (a smart, funny musical that's at the top of my wish list for Theater Latte Da) at a cabaret performance called Where's My Tony? Che is a perfect role for him; he really carries the show and drives the narrative. Eva and Che are the main characters and are both onstage for most of the night, but they rarely interact. Che is mostly observing and commenting to the audience, rather than taking part in the action. But they do have one waltz together, which really illustrates their opposing viewpoints in the way they dance and sing together. Was Evita a selfless hero to her people? Or a ruthless politician? My guess is a little of both.

Evita is the first production in Latte Da's four-show season. Their annual Christmas concert with vocal ensemble Cantus, All is Calm, will be followed by a new play with music, Song of Extinction, at the Guthrie Studio early next year. Their final show is Steerage Song at the Fitzgerald Theater next summer, a collaboration with my favorite pianist Dan Choinard (OK I don't know many pianists, but he's very talented and entertaining!). If you're looking for a fun night at the theater with great music and great performances, you really can't go wrong with any of these shows.

"Rock of Ages" at the Orpheum

Rock of Ages is an 80s rock jukebox musical and the first show of the Broadway Across America season at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis (which also includes Billy Elliot, Shrek, my recent obsession Hair, Jersey Boys, and West Side Story).  Friends, I have a confession to make: I don't know 80s music.  And what I do know, I'm not a big fan of.  Yes, I was a teenager in the (late) 80s, but I didn't listen to music; I spent most of my time watching TV and doing homework.  ;)  So I didn't know much of the music in this show, except when they would get to the chorus of a really popular song, or anything that's been covered on my favorite TV show Glee (or as I like to call it, a theater geek's TV dream come true).  Of course knowing the music isn't a prerequisite to enjoying a musical, but in this case I think it might have helped.

Like most jukebox musicals, the story was pretty thin.  Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.  Girl wants to be an actress but instead becomes a stripper.  Boy wants to be a rock star but instead joins a boy band.  The usual stuff.  But what I like about the show is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.  The character of Lonny, an energetic and entertaining Patrick Lewallen, also serves as narrator.  He often breaks the fourth wall to talk about the show, at one point reading from a book called "Musical Theater for Dummies" about how to end the first act (the answer - jazz hands).  It's a cute little wink to the fact that they're not trying to do high theater here, they're just trying to entertain.

The strong cast is led by Constantine Maroulis, who originated the role of Drew on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony.  I was a fan of Constantine when he was on season four of American Idol, and had seen him as Roger in a touring production of RENT before his Idol days.  I can see why he was the first Americal Idol contestant to be nominated for a Tony.  His Drew is sweet, vulnerable, awkward, and completely adorable, and his voice is perfectly suited to the screaming rock anthems and bombastic ballads of the 80s.  And he still knows how to work the crowd.  His leading lady, Rebecca Faulkenberry, has an equally strong voice, and their duets are powerful.  The characters are pretty broadly drawn stereotypes which the cast fills out gamely.  MiG Ayesa plays rock star Stacee Jaxx with a powerful voice and some freaky muscle definition, and Casey Tuma gives hippie protestor Regina energy and spunk.  There were a few too many scenes in a strip club for my taste, but for the most part it was an entertaining evening, which had me on my feet and singing along (to the Glee theme song "Don't Stop Believing") by the end of the evening.

Someone behind me said "It's like Mama Mia but with rock."  I thought that was a very astute observation.  If you long for the 80s, or are looking for a fun, silly, entertaining evening, this show's for you.  Personally, I prefer ABBA to 80s music, but it's the same general idea.

Minnesotans on Broadway

When I was in New York City last weekend I was thrilled to see Minnesota so well represented on (and off) Broadway.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of them (too many shows, too little time), but I did walk by the theaters and smile at seeing their names "in lights."

Guthrie favorite Sally Wingert is making her Broadway debut in the comedy La Bete, which also stars David Hyde Pierce and Mark Rylance (who recently played the title role in Peer Gynt at the Guthrie).  Whether she's playing a leading role in such shows as Third or Faith Healer, or stealing scenes in a small role in Private Lives,  she's always amazing.  She's appearing in Ten Thousand Things Doubt next February, so if you (or I) want to see her on Broadway, you better act fast!

I was tickled to see that directly across 45th street from Sally's show at the Music Box Theater was another Guthrie alum, TR Knight.  He's performing with Patrick Stewart in the David Mamet play A Life in the Theatre at the Schoenfeld Theatre.  You may know TR from his role as George in Grey's Anatomy, but before that he was an actor at the Guthrie and other local theaters, beginning with his first role as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol at the age of five.  Unfortunately I began my Guthrie subscription a year or two after TR left to find his fortune in NYC and LA, but I did get to see him in a reading of The Laramie Project a few years ago.  Since leaving Grey's he's returned to his theater roots, so I know it's only a matter of time before he returns home to do a show.

Last but not least, my favorite local actor Dieter Bierbrauer (Violet, Parade, and Floyd Collins with Theater Latte Da; Oklahoma and West Side Story at the Chan) is performing in the off-Broadway musical Power Balladz.  The show was created by local artists Mike Todaro, Dan Nycklemoe, and Peter Rothstein (Artistic Director of Theater Latte Da) and was performed at the Lab Theater in Minneapolis last summer.  Dieter is the only member of the three-person cast that made the move to NYC.  Unfortunately I missed it while it was here so I was hoping to see it in NYC, and actually had tickets for the Sunday night show.  But they cancelled Sunday night performances so I wasn't able to see it.  Maybe next time!

I wish all three of these Minnesota actors much luck and success in the Big Apple, but I hope that they continue to return home to the "Minnie Apple" and grace us with their talent!

"The Master Butchers Singing Club" at the Guthrie

The Master Butchers Singing Club is a stage adaptation of the novel by local author Louise Erdrich.  I've read one or two of her books, so when I heard the Guthrie Theater was opening their 2010-2011 season with this play I decided to read the book.  I loved it.  It's beautifully written and full of rich characters and intersecting storylines, and deals with the epic themes of life, love, and death.  It takes place in the fictional town of Argus, North Dakota, where several of Erdrich's novels are set.  Fidelis Waldvogel has immigrated from Germany where he was a sniper in WWI, bringing along his wife Eva and their sons.  Fidelis and Eva run a butcher shop in town, and one day Delphine wanders in, changing the course of her life forever.  The daughter of the town drunk, she has spent several years touring the Midwest with an Ojibwe man named Cyprian in a balancing act.  All her life she's been searching for her mother and a sense of home, and comes to find it at the butcher shop.

Whenever a book you love is turned into a movie or a play, it's easy to get caught up in the things that were cut out or changed.  So I felt a little of that when I watched the play, but I tried to just let it go and let the play be its own entity.  And I came to like the slight changes they made, I think it's stronger piece because of it.  There's a lot of narration in the play, mostly from a woman whom the townspeople calls "Step and a Half."  She walks restlessly through the town, collecting things that people have thrown out and selling them.  She narrates the action of the play, as do many of the characters, often describing what they or other characters are doing.  It's an effective way to get Erdrich's beautiful prose into the play.

The strong cast is full of Guthrie favorites, as well as a few newcomers.  Lee Mark Nelson, who plays Fidelis, has been one of my favorites since he charmed me in She Loves Me a few years ago.  Not only does he sing in this play, but he sings in German!  Recent Ivey award-winner Katie Guentzel plays Eva, and Emily Gunyou Halaas is Delphine.  All three fully embody their characters' passion for life and love for one another.  That's one of the things that struck me about the book; Delphine and Cyprian truly love each other despite the fact that he's gay so they can never have a true marriage.  Fidelis and Eva truly love each other even though he married her as a favor to his friend who died in the war.  But the love between Delphine and Eva may be the strongest of all.  Eva is friend, mentor, and mother to Delphine, and Delphine helps Eva through some difficult times and takes care of her family.  At several points during the play I was wishing I had a tissue!

I love that the Guthrie commissioned this play because it's so specific to this region, in the same way the musical Little House on the Prairie was a few years ago.  Being a descendant of German immigrants to the Midwest, it's a story that feels very familiar to me, as if I could be watching my own history on stage.  I speak a little German, so it was fun to hear some German words thrown in here and there.  There are also several Native American characters in the play, and their culture blends with the German culture beautifully through music.  It's an interesting coincidence that I've seen two shows this week that deal with the history of Native Americans, although in very different ways.  The brilliant new Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson deals with the "Indian removal" of the early 19th century and the Trail of Tears, while in this show Step and a Half is a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre in the late 19th century. It's an important part of our history, especially here in the Midwest, so it's nice to see it being explored in theater.

"Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" on Broadway

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a bloody brilliant musical! It’s everything I want musical theater to be: original, challenging, engaging, thrilling, thought-provoking, hilarious, and with a rocking score. This is not your grandmother’s musical, nor is it for kids. But if, like me, you love the art form that is musical theater and believe it can and should make a strong statement about the world we live in, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Walking into the Jacobs Theater, we knew we were in for an awesome experience. I’ve never seen a theater decked out like this. It was red. Everywhere, everything, red. There were strings of red lights covering the ceiling and walls, which made everything a bloody glow. Portraits of President Andrew Jackson adorned the walls, as did (hopefully faux) animal heads. And in the middle of the theater, hanging upside down, was a dead horse! (I’m glad I didn’t have a seat directly below that.) It set the tone for the evening, and when the actors walked on stage, the lights went down and the show began.



the bloody red Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

the dead horse hanging in the middle of the theater

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson tells the story of the seventh president of the United States of America, from his humble beginnings on the frontier of Tennessee, to “hero” of wars against the Spanish, English, and Indians, to the White House. It’s a “period piece,” but with many modern conventions, language, and anachronisms, including microphones, phones, video games, and even a Cosmo magazine. It’s a wonderful mishmash of current popular culture and history, which makes it easy to draw parallels between the story that’s being told about the early 19th century, and our own time.  The show is a political satire that illustrates just how much things haven't changed.  Even though the musical has gone through several years of development, the subject is very timely and some of the jokes refer to events in recent weeks.  I have a feeling they'll continue to add and tweak jokes to reflect the political scandal du jour.

Andrew Jackson has dreams of overthrowing the Washington “elite” and becoming “the people’s president,” but he soon discovers that a president has to make the hard decisions, and is never going to please everyone. “The president doesn’t have the luxury of having friends.” One of the things Jackson is most known for is “Indian removal,” having convinced many Native American tribes to sign treaties and move west, resulting in the infamous Trail of Tears. As the narrator (a hilarious woman in an ugly sweater and glasses, riding a scooter) said, historians are still debating whether Jackson was a hero or a genocidal murderer.

The cast is gorgeous and talented, dressed in a sort of pioneer/modern/hip wardrobe. The action is largely over the top and campy, and a heck of a lot of fun. The score is what they call “emo-rock” and is great to listen to; I’ve been singing “Populism, Yea, Yea,” and “Life sucks, and my life sucks in particular” all day! The band consists of a drummer and two guitar/keyboard players, who also at times function as characters in the action. The choreography was cool and edgy. The show reminded me a little of the equally brilliant Spring Awakening (which I’m going to see in November at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, go see it if you’re interested in a great modern rock musical). Both are set in a specific time in the past, but the themes easily translate to today. The rock score and use of hand held mics is also similar, but Spring Awakening has a more somber tone, where BBAJ is pure campy fun and dark humor. I hope this show receives the acclaim and success that Spring Awakening did.

After the show we waited at the stage door to talk to the actors. You can tell it’s a new show (it officially opens on October 13 after a few weeks in previews and a successful run at the Public Theater downtown earlier this year).  There wasn’t any organization to the stage door and the actors seemed quite pleased to sign our playbills and chat with us. For many of them, this is their Broadway debut. The entire cast is marvelous; it really is an ensemble piece with everyone playing several parts. I especially enjoyed Bryce Pinkham (who appeared recently at the Guthrie in A View from the Bridge) who plays both Indian chief Black Fox and Henry Clay, a creepy ferret-holding politician. Jeff Hiller (who's appeared on such NY based TV shows as 30 Rock, Guiding Light, and Ugly Betty) is a scene stealer in all of his many roles, including the mentally challenged John Quincy Adams and the White House tour guide. The title role is played by Benjamin Walker with strength, vulnerability, humor, a little wackiness, and a whole lot of charisma. He truly is a rock star president in tight jeans! He was very pleasant and friendly at the stage door and happily posed for a picture with us. Unfortunately he’s engaged – to Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer!

me and Kendra with Ben Walker who plays Andrew Jackson

with members of the cast of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

If you’re in NYC or planning to be there anytime soon, go see this show. It’ll blow you away, make you laugh, and make you want to cry at the messed up state of politics 200 years ago and today. And maybe it’ll even get us thinking about a better way to do things. It’s encouraging to me that this show is on Broadway at the same time as Scottsboro Boys. Both shows deal with unpleasant periods in the history of our country and the horrible way we’ve treated people, and still are. Original musical theater as social commentary? I’ll take that over Spiderman the Musical any day!



Update: watch a video about opening night here.

"Brief Encounter" on Broadway

Brief Encounter is a production of the Kneehigh Theatre Company out of Cornwall, England. It made three US stops, including at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, before landing on Broadway at Studio 54. I saw it in March of this year and absolutely loved it, one of my favorites of the year so far. It’s innovative, fresh, and perfectly lovely. I didn’t notice any differences between the show I saw at the Guthrie and the one I saw on Broadway, except for a few casting changes. It’s a nine-person cast, some of whom function primarily as musicians and some primarily as actors, but almost all of them do some of both. Brief Encounter is technically a play (it was listed as such on the TKTS board), even though it contains just as much music as a musical. But it’s more like a play with musical interludes, rather than a traditional musical with characters breaking into song. It’s based on the Noel Coward play Still Life as well as his movie adaptation, Brief Encounter. It uses film and music to help tell the story of two people who meet at a train station and fall in love, despite the fact that they’re married. Their romance is doomed from the start, but that doesn’t stop it from being beautiful, life-changing, and buoyant.

There are frequent little vignettes in the show that interrupt the main action of the play, which makes it feel almost vaudevillian. Here is where the ensemble cast shines. Before the show starts they walk around the theater, dressed as 1930s movie theater ushers, and singing and playing songs of the period. They all play multiple characters and multiple instruments. The sweet and funny “new love” story between Stanley and Beryl and the “love again” story of Myrtle and Albert serve as a nice contrast to the doomed love story of the main characters.

Brief Encounter is innovative in the way that it uses media to depict the inner and outer action of the story. There’s a screen at the back of the stage where images such as sky or water are projected. At times scenes are projected onto a smaller screen made of vertical strips at the front of the stage, allowing the actors to step in and out of the picture. The train is depicted as a little toy train pulled across the stage, and also by a projection onto yet another screen pulled across the front of the stage. At one point the lovers literally swing from chandeliers. There was a Q&A after the show, and one of the actors commented that what is normally felt internally is expressed externally in this show.

Every movement is so specific, so full of meaning, that not a moment is wasted on any corner of the stage at any time during the show. From the way someone holds a teacup, to a gentle touch between lovers. It’s a delightful show that will break your heart, make you laugh, and give you hope. It feels like something that should be done at some little experimental theater, which I think it was, and I’m thrilled that it ended up on Broadway.

Update: watch a video about opening night here.

"A Little Night Music" on Broadway

When you go to a Stephen Sondheim show starring Broadway legends Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, you know you’re in for a treat. I have recently decided that I need to see more Sondheim. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak earlier this year, and the life he’s lived and the things he’s experienced in the world of musical theater is amazing. His friend and mentor was Oscar Hammerstein of the great Rogers and Hammerstein, so he learned from the best, but he has a style all his own. A Little Night Music is only the second Sondheim musical I’ve seen (not counting West Side Story and Gypsy, for which he wrote the lyrics), the other being Sweeney Todd. It was first produced in 1973, and the current revival opened late last year starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Although I would have loved to have seen the divine Ms. Lansbury, I’m quite happy with the replacement cast. I saw Bernadette in Gypsy a few years ago, and with the Minnesota Orchestra earlier this year. She’s amazing in everything she does (and is my hair role model ;). I must confess, I mostly know Elaine as Jack Donaghy’s mother on 30 Rock, but she’s also had an extensive career in the theater, so it was a privilege to see her on stage. I don’t believe she’s known for her singing voice, so she sort of spoke her solo song. But I found that interesting and moving, because you could really hear the lyrics, and she spoke them with such meaning and passion.

I didn’t know much about A Little Night Music before seeing the show. For some reason I thought it was a serious piece, maybe because the most famous song is the mournful “Send in the Clowns.” But it’s actually a light-hearted comedy for the most part. Based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it’s set in Sweden in the early 20th century. Bernadette plays an actress named Desiree who travels a lot and has left her daughter Fredrika to be raised by her mother (Elaine). Desiree’s ex-lover Fredrik, who is Fredrika's father, is recently married to a beautiful, flighty young woman. They have yet to consummate their marriage, which may have something to do with the fact that she’s in love with her stepson! Fredrik surprises his wife with a night at the theater, where Desiree is performing. Fredrik later visits Desiree and they re-ignite their old flame, only to be interrupted by Desiree’s married lover! She decides to invite them all to a weekend in the country at her mother’s estate, where hijinks ensue, and everyone eventually ends up happily ever after.

One of the features of the musical is a Greek chorus of five actors, who come out and sing commentary on the action and ease the transitions between scenes.  The set is simple and elegant, and the period costumes grand.  It’s a wonderful classic musical with beautiful, poignant, and funny lyrics, and an extremely talented cast. It was a lovely afternoon at the theater and an appropriate choice for my first New York City blog post!