Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! World Premiere of a Brilliant New Work By Austene Van at Yellow Tree Theatre

Delayed from opening by a week, due to a medical issue with the artistic team, Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! faces is a shortened run which is a shame. This new work written by and starring the hardest working woman in Twin Cities Theater, Austene Van as Josephine Baker is a bold unflinching look at a legend. There is a line from the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that goes “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. As portrayed in Van’s new play, or is this a musical? (more on that later) Josephine Baker takes the Orson Welles approach to personal history. Take an anecdote from your life and embellish to your heart’s content, repeat often, until even those who know better begin to believe it and thus the legend becomes fact. Deciphering what is true and what is fiction is one of the themes explored in Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker!. Whatever the reality is, when it comes to the details, Baker led a fascinating life making her an ideal subject matter. The story is told through the conceit that Baker is writing another autobiography and that the publishers has sent a young woman named Mac to assist her. Through their conversations we learn many things about Baker’s story (including the discrepancies), along with her temperament. Through the interactions with her band member Douglas, we get clarifications that we assume are closer to the true story. A few of the remembrances are played out for us, usually with the assistance of local legend Jim Lichtscheidl playing Baker’s Manager, lovers, husbands, and even Walter Winchell.

This show began and ends with Austene Van whose script is complex yet clear in it’s exploration of this legendary woman. The question of whether this is a musical or not is a difficult yet also irrelevant one. There doesn’t seem to be enough songs to be considered a musical, the songs that are performed are sometimes instances of Baker performing for an audience, and other times the characters singing to each other. The reality is, I’d guesstimate that less than 20% of the shows running time is spent musically. Ultimately it doesn’t really fit cleanly into either category but it succeeds because it is it’s own thing. Van understands exactly how much music it needs and doesn’t try and add music unnecessarily. I’d say Van’s performance was a revelation but did anyone ever seriously have a doubt that she would be amazing? I didn’t and of course she is, with her background as a Choreographer as well as Actor, Director, Artistic Director of Yellow Tree, Writer, Time Manipulator, (I am speculating on that last one, it’s either that or insomniac) it feels like a role she was born to play. Dramatically, vocally, and movement wise she is flawless, she allows Baker to be difficult and unsympathetic at times but earns our empathy as the facades begin to fall away. The script is peppered with generous amounts of humor, that come from the characters naturally, not feeling like quick one liners. Director Maija García understands the script and how it functions creating transitions between the scenes and indeed times and places seamlessly. Staging everything on Sarah Brandners well designed two-level set with Baker’s living quarters above the club in which she performs.

Mac, the young journalist assigned to assist Baker with her book is played by Tolu Ekisola who nails the balancing act that Mac has to perform of humoring Baker and giving into her own “let’s cut the bullshit” world view. Ekisola is becoming one to watch having caught our attention this spring in The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington at Mixed Blood. She can next be seen as Motormouth Mabel in Hairspray at the Burnsville Community Summer Theatre, given her vocals here, I’ll likely try and fit in this production if I can. JoeNathan Thomas as Douglas utilizes his deep rich voice to emphasize the comedic effect of his combative exchanges with both Mac and Baker. There is something about his low vocalization combined with the booming power he puts behind it in contrast to the others that draws the audience immediately to him. It adds a sense of authority and wisdom to his dialogue that leads us to assume what he says is based on fact, whether it is or not, that is certainly what the character believes and thus so does the audience. It’s the kind of voice that can sway you to believe anything and Thomas utilizes it skillfully almost surgically to cut through the chaos of Baker and Mac’s arguments. Lastly, I do want to point out the wonderfully realized costumes by Samantha Fromm Haddow. From Baker’s Classic performance outfits, the banana dance costume and her feathered dance costume to the 1970’s period outfit worn by Mac, they are all beautifully realized.

Once Upon a Time… Josephine Baker! runs through June 30th at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/onceuponatimejosephinebaker . And I don’t usually do this but if you’ve seen a show at Yellow Tree Theatre you probably know the quality work they produce. It’s a small theater in the suburbs that produces top-notch shows, and I believe they’re an important step on the path to creating new theater audiences. If you care about the future of live theater please consider a donation to Yellow Tree Theatre so they can continue their mission. https://yellowtreetheatre.com/support-us-2

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