Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters at History Theatre a Co Production With Theater Mu

* Disclaimer: On March 28th I suffered a rupture in my right bicep muscle, which has left me without the use of my right arm. I will endeavor to continue seeing and reviewing shows however the reality is that the reviews will need to be significantly shorter. For now I will attempt to provide you, faithful readers, with a few sentences that will make clear whether a show is worth your time and money. My apologies to all of the artists in front of the curtain as well as behind whose work I may not be able to comment on. Hopefully this will be a short-term accommodation, I will do everything in my power to get back to writing full reviews as soon as is humanly possible.

Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters is receiving its world premiere at History Theatre in St. Paul. Commissioned and produced with Theater Mu, the original musical with book and lyrics by Jessica Huang and music by Jacinth Greywoode tells the story of the Kim Loo Sisters during the 1930s and 40s. From their first appearance on Broadway through their reunion in post World War II America, the musical tracks parallel lives over two decades as a quartet becomes a trio with one sister marrying and moving to China. The musical does a nice job of giving us look at the singing act and following the life of the expat sister Jenee. We also get nice moments between the Kim Loo Sisters parents, between Bubbles, the youngest sister and up and coming dancer Ann Miller, between their mother and George White the Broadway Producer, and Jenee and her father-in-law General Li. The musicals filled with so many great scenes that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact the theme of racism, which one feels should be central, seems buried in subtext. When it’s brought up, it’s front and center for a few moments and then we moved on. Maybe no one wants to see a musical that’s heavily about racism or maybe there’s just too much story here to tell that there isn’t room to layered and subtly. It feels like it’s either completely absent and then moments of “aha, racism!”. It seems like it is the motivation for a lot of what happens in the play but isn’t integrated so that we feel the impact as much as we understand it.

The show is filled with great new songs performed very well by an extraordinary cast. From the opening number “Four for the Price of One” it’s clear that the actors performing as the Kim Loo Sisters, Morgan Kempton, Suzie Juul, Audrey Mojica, and Kelsey Angel Baehrens sound and perform well together. Likewise, it’s our first look at the choreography by Rush Benson which I really enjoyed. It perfectly captured the style of the 1930s and 40s musical. As seems to be true in all singing groups one or two of the Act stand out from the others. Here it’s the character of Jenee who leaves the Act and ends up living in China with her husband and child, the daughter-in-law of a general. The other is Bubbles who is the youngest has the most charmingly confident personality of the siblings. Baehrens plays Jenee in a way that we feel the characters uneasiness with the way they’re Act is molded to appeal to White America. There’s an intelligence and thoughtfulness in the portrayal that sweeps you along and gives you a sense of this character has traveled the world and made hard decisions. Meanwhile, Mojica as Bubbles is the spitfire of the group we see glimpses of her wit in the very first number but she really shines in the song “Worship Me” which is wonderfully humorous, Mojica absolutely owns it. There’s some great numbers between the girl’s Mama played by Ann Michaels and the producer George White played by J. C. Cutler, negotiators who negotiate a couple of times in a song titled “Grateful” which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

I’m not a huge fan of video projection in Live Theater I think there are times where it can be overused and I fear for a day when we lose the craft of creating sets. That said, the use of video projection in Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters, makes a very good case for its use. Here we see it used effectively in multiple ways. First, it’s not replacing set pieces but helping to augment them, creating a backdrop for certain scenes. Secondly, they’re a few scenes at train stations that are very well done. Thirdly, and this is probably my favorite use during the song “Pantages” by Jenee and her Papa, played by Ariel Estrada, who does a great job in the dual roles as Jenee’s father and father-in-law. As the characters sing about trips to the movie theater when she was young specifically mentioning Buster Keaton and Clare Bow, we are treated to Clips projected behind them from those Legends of the silent Cinema. Anytime anywhere someone incorporates Buster Keaton into their work whether it be Star Trek: Discovery or Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters, I’m all in. So kudos to Video Designer Miko Simmons and Video Programmer Leslie Ritenour for appropriate and well executed use of video projection. Also Director Lily Tung Crystal for this well-paced energetic and Charming production.

Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters runs through May 26th at History Theatre in downtown St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2023-2024/blended-harmony In the spirit of Theater Mu’s Pay As You Are program, History Theatre has set up a special code for Mu patrons. Make sure to use the code MU23-24. You will receive 50% off Tier Five, 49% off Tier Four, 21% off Tier Three, 15% off Tier Two, and 9% off Tier One seats—making the lowest tickets start at $15. Click here for a screenshot of where to enter the code/what it looks like when it’s applied.

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