Theater Latté Da once again reminds us why it is one of our favorite theaters in the Twin Cities. Their production of the lesser known Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along is another feather in a cap already weighed down by an abundance of plumage. I was unfamiliar with this show going in. My Sondheim exposure, I’m beginning to realize, is not as extensive as it should be but I’m sure a few more years of 100 + shows and that will correct itself. It wasn’t a success when it first opened on Broadway in 1981 and it’s hard to imagine why.

Merrily We Roll Along has a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by the late great Stephen Sondheim. The story is told in reverse chronological order following the relationships and careers of three friends Frank and Charley who collaborate on musicals together, and Mary who is a writer. So we start with a Hollywood party celebrating the release of Frankie’s new movie. His old friend Mary is there and they discuss their friend Charley who does not appear, as he and Frank are estranged. Mary drinks too much, it’s revealed that Frank is having an affair and he and his wife are not happy together. Ultimately, Frank declares that if he could go back to the beginning to write with Charley and give all his success up he would, because he’s not happy. Each successive scene is a time jump backwards. We see the moments that destroyed friendships and marriages and then we see the ones that began to fracture them. The play ends with a projected text stating “The Beginning” and was preceded by the moment the that Charley and Frank met Mary for the first time.

In a way this feels like Sondheim’s commentary on the musical form. He has the theatrical producer Joe comment of Frank and Charley’s musical audition saying that they need to add a melody to the songs, give the audience something to hum and tap their toes too. This attitude is presented as the sellout comercial view. Frank and Charley’s songs reflect Sondheim’s own approach to music which is far more complex than verse, bridge, chorus. The structure is a 50 year-old realists version of the way to give your show a happy ending. The older we get the more we come to terms with, like the characters in Merrily We Roll Along, what our life has been and what it’s leading towards. Rarely do we realize all of our ambitions, rarely does our love life play out like the great romance we envision when it begins. The way to achieve the happy ending that a musical audience wants but maintain the reality of world, is to tell it in reverse. Begin with the old disillusioned, drunk, and absent then end with the young, idealistic, and hopeful. It’s the age old cautionary story of the cost of success. Frank is successful at the beginning, but at the cost of many things, most dearly of which is happiness.

Theater Latté Da continues to attract the most talented people on stage and behind the scenes. To start with every single member of the cast it outstanding! How wonderful to behold but how boring to read I know. But it’s true. So let me limit my praise to the three leads for the most part. Reese Britts is Frank, it’s a character who on paper makes a lot of mistakes and could be an unlikeable character in lesser hands. Britts plays him in a way that allows us not to see him as his flaws but to understand his choices. He’s a reflection of a lot of artists who struggle to find the balance between their artistic principles and making a living. It’s Britts skill that allows us to understand that struggle for the character. Dylan Frederick’s Charley is the loyal friend who puts up with a lot. He has the right instincts but Frank frequently drowns him out and he out of loyalty and friendship acquiesce to his friend. Frederick doesn’t allow that quality to let his character appear weak, he plays it as a virtue. Becca Hart gets to shine right out of the gate giving a drunken toast that rings true in a way stage drunkenness rarely does. While all of the cast, particularly the leads had great voices, Hart for my money edged out the others. A quick mention of the two supporting players that really stood out Charlie Clark as the producer Joe and Britta Ollmann as Beth, Frank’s first wife.

Peter Rothstein’s direction and set design are as bold and innovative as the shows structure. Opening the show with a curtain call and having the cast on the fully visible wings before and after their entrances. Even during the intermission the surrounding structure of the stage is like the dressing rooms of a theatre and the cast uses it as such. It somehow acknowledges that this is a theatrical presentation without robbing us of our emotional investment in the story. It’s a choice that seems to underline the commentary on the Musical and artists that the show is making. Grant E. Merges’ lighting design catches us from the very opening when the band starts playing the the dressing room lights flash in time with the music. It’s a effective way to open the show and a nice contrast to some of the more subdued and mood enhancing lighting of later scenes. Sondheim’s more complex moments are handled with ease under the musical direction of Jason Hansen his band. Like so many shows at Theater Latté Da there is a technical excellence in all departments that is flawless.

Merrily We Roll Along is a fantastic production. From it’s stunningly talented cast to the innovative set and direction this is Sondheim done to perfection. Engaging, funny, moving, and thought provoking it makes us confront our own unfulfilled dreams but also gives us a happy ending. The production runs through October 30th for more information and to purchase tickets go to. https://www.latteda.org/merrily-we-roll-along

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TRP’s 2022-2023 season opened last Friday with the type of small intimate drama that is well suited for the space. This looks to be one of the strongest season I can remember for the oldest community theatre in the Twin Cities. They are off to solid start with Doubt: A Parable. A tight 90 minute drama, a play about challenging moral issues on the surface but underneath it’s about how we perceive things, approach them, and how that can alter our capacity to achieve certainty. It’s a superbly crafted script that doesn’t waste a single word, everything has meaning, even if it isn’t apparent in the moment. This is a show to attend with your favorite debater, afterwards there will be some fun “discussions” about what happened, there are likely to be some differences of opinion. If you enjoy a play that makes you think while also entertaining, you’ll find Doubt a rewarding experience. The more you think about and discuss it the more you discover about it.

Doubt: A Parable is the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play winning work from Multi-hyphenate John Patrick Shanley. In it, Sister Aloysius is the principal of a Catholic school who believes that the Priest for the local parish has had an inappropriate relationship with one of the male students. She tells one of the teachers, Sister James, to keep an eye on Father Flynn. This leads Sister James to report something that is very possibly innocent. Sister Aloysius takes this information and though she has no facts to back up her suspicions, she has only her certainty, she attempts to confront Father Flynn and plans to have him removed. Why? The play gives us several explanations, depending on what you perceive to be the truth. It could be because he threatens her outdated ideas of how the church and school should be run and the ways in which to engage with the community and students. It may be because of some small interaction she witnessed that gave her a bad feeling. What’s wonderful about the script is there are so many ways to interpret everything that happens as long as we are open to seeing more than one point of view.

A Parable definition: A usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle

Merriam-Webster website

Within the play one of the characters, Father Flynn, tells a parable during his sermon. It’s short, fictitious, and tries to teach a lesson about not bearing false witness. The play itself, as the title suggests is sort of a parable as well, but it’s the long version. The lesson it tries to illustrate is not as simple or straightforward. It tries to show us that sometimes we can never really know things for certain, and that we have to accept that. We all want to know what is true, but when we become obsessed with it, that very determination can blind us to the real truth. Trying to interpret the play itself is an example of this. As the penultimate scene plays out your idea of what is true changes from moment to moment. And in the final scene, the character who was warned at the beginning that her innocence would make her susceptible to deception is the one who knows what she believes to be true, but does she? The person whose certainty never waivered may be left with doubts about her actions.

The four person cast is led by Miriam Monasch as Sister Aloysius in what is the standout performance. Her timing and exactitude are crucial to establishing her unquestioning dominance over Sister James’ character. She plays it so that we see her characters fierce intelligence and respect it, while also seeing the fallibility of her philosophies. Corey Boe as Father Flynn plays the character as he must in a way that allows us to both believe the best or the worst of him. Kelly Solberg plays the innocence and sublimation to her superior nicely. We can see her love for her job in the early scenes and we watch as she loses that along with her ability to sleep as she is dragged further into the conflicts the accusations create. Finally, Marshonda Austin, while only given one scene as the mother of the boy Father Flynn is accused on interfering with, she makes an impression. It’s a character that is brought in to add another layer of complexity to what at first seems like a straightforward dilema.

Director Kari Steinbach has done a nice job overall, even the one thing that gnawed at me from the opening I’ve sort of talked myself into accepting. I’m not sure if it was direction, script direction, possibly actors choice but in the sermon by Father Flynn that opens the play, he comes out from behind the pulpit during his sermon. That struck me at the time as something a priest in 1963 wouldn’t do. But now I’m thinking that Father Flynn was all about being more welcoming and reaching out to the community, so maybe it isn’t out of place. If you’ve ever been there you know that the stage is not large and surrounded on all sides by the audience. Devyn Becker’s clever set design utilizes the space in such a way that we essentially have three different settings without scene changes other than a podium being wheeled in and out twice.

Doubt runs through October 16th at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/home/season-placeholder/current_season/doubt/

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Vietgone opens the Guthrie Theater’s 2022-2023 theatre season, which is their celebration of 60 years of creating theatre in the Twin Cities. If this is the sort of thing they have in store for us this year it’s going to be an amazing season in the blue building by the river. Vietgone is the most original and innovative production I’ve seen at the Guthrie in a long time, always a bastion of quality theatrical productions, but not always the biggest risk takers. This feels like the Jungle Theater and Theater Mu were given the Guthrie’s budget and told to do what their hearts desired. Perhaps I’m thinking along those lines because the show this reminded me of in a way was the coproduction last season by Jungle and Mu of Cambodian Rock Band. While this is entirely it’s own thing there are similarities. They both tell uniquely Asian stories, both have a basis in real life and gave me a surprising new perspective on the history of their countries, and they both utilized music that I’m not overly familiar with in a way that completely engaged me. Vietgone is a stunning production from the story it tells to the way in which it tells it. Bursting with creativity from staging to production design to a script that somehow tells a cohesive story despite feeling at times like it’s flying every which way at once, shifting in time, and between reality and moments of heightened reality.

The Script is by Qui Nguyen with original music by Shane Rettig. The play opens with a note from the Playwright telling us that this story and it’s characters have no relation to anyone living or dead. So if you know his parents don’t tell them anything about this. The play is of course based in part of his parents story. Quang is a member of the South Vietnamese Air Force on the night of the fall of Saigon. He and his best friend Nhan pilot a helicopter full of refugees to an awaiting U.S. transport. Quang intends to unload the refugees and then fly back to fetch his wife and children. That isn’t possible and he ends up in a refugee camp in Arkansas. Tong is an embassy employee and as such she is allowed to evacuate with the armed forces and bring one person along. She wants to bring her younger brother but he will not leave without his girlfriend, so she brings her mother, Huong, who doesn’t really want to leave. Quang and Huong both plan to make their way back to Vietnam to rejoin their loved ones. Nhan and Tong realize that is not a viable option and will try and make the others understand this. For much of the play it’s like we are following two stories being told in parallel. Once the two groups meet, a third thread is picked up in which we follow Quang and Tongs relationship as it blossoms from one of benefits to friends with benefits and finally love. What the above attempt at setting up the plot doesn’t hint at is the humor and spectacle with which the story is told. Nor does it touch on the fact that at times the characters break into rap. What the show also did that was the most profound and completely unexpected, it showed me a different perspective on the Vietnam war. I saw it through the eyes of Quang, and that was a perspective I had never even considered.

If I had one complaint about the show it would be one in principle only, and that is that all but one of the five cast members is not local. I think we have an amazing pool of Asian actors in the Twin Cities and I would have liked to have seen a more balanced ratio of local to out of towners. But as I mentioned that’s only in principle because it’s hard to deny that the entire cast was stellar. I certainly can’t say that anyone on that stage didn’t deserve to be there. Hyunmin Rhee stars as Quang and is the only performer who doesn’t play multiple roles. He fits the role of the hero aviator well, and we believe his desire to face almost certain death in order to get back to his family. Emjoy Gavino is Tong and plays her with the confidence and sentimentality that the role needs. She also seemed the most at home with the rapping segments of the show. Rebecca Hirota plays Huong. She gets a lot of the laughs as the elderly mother trying to hit on Quang and her bluntness about Americans. Viet Vo seems to have the most roles, several of them as Americans who speak in Mericanese, basically random words strewn together, like cheeseburgers waffles football. His best character is a tough looking biker that Quang and Nhan have a couple of run-ins with. Eric Sharp, who we’ve seen on many local stages and most recently in Trademark Theater’s short film What you Can’t Keep Part 1 & 2, does great work with two particularly juicy supporting roles. One is Nhan and the other is Tong’s brother Khue.

Director Mina Morita does an amazing job staging this show, the transitions between scenes flow amazingly well. This is a very theatrical show and she embraces that and uses it to her advantage. It is her skill that keeps our bearings straight as we shift in time and place with ease, never once unsure of how what we are seeing fits into the larger picture. Pulling together all of the design elements there are several scenes that really stand out as brilliant. The handling of Quang and Nhan’s cross country motorcycle trip is fantastic. The fight with the biker and his back ups at a gas station is a highlight of the ingenuity at work, a testament to the skill of Fight Director Aaron Preusse, and worth the price of admission alone. Every aspect of the production seems to have pulled out all the stops. Scenic Designer Lex Liang, Lighting Designer Masha Tsimring, and Projection Designer Nicholas Hussong must have worked together extremely well. It’s hard to know where one begins and the other ends, it all blends and works together so brilliantly. Movement Director Darrius Strong and Rap Consultant Oscar Pagnaroth Un’s work give the rap segments a unique feel from the rest of the show, helping to establish that these are moments that step out of the narrative and I read them as almost interior character monologues.

I highly recommend Vietgone, but it is a bit on the adult side. I’d think most mature 13 year olds who are ok with profanity and the concept of sex would be fine with it. The production runs through October 16th for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2022-2023-season/vietgone/.

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The Production photo for The Humans above isn’t the best photo of the ones I had to choose from. I went with it because it showcases the two things that make this a production worth your time and attention. First The entire cast is represented and they all deserve a spotlight for their work here. Even the local favorite Angela Timberman, who has to spend most of the running time napping, and isn’t given much else by the script to do. At first I thought what a waste of her talents, but then I realized, the character makes an impression, I don’t think that would be the case if a less talented performer were cast. The second element of this production that really needs to be seen is the set designed by Erik Paulson. Look at that cross section of a two story New York apartment. It’s an impressive set in person and also brings up a good point. I usually choose to sit front row whenever I can. You do not want to sit in the first two rows for this show, trust me row three at the closest, I’d say rows F, G,and H would all be ideal.

The Humans written by Stephen Karam was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won the Tony Award in 2016 for Best Play. Set in the New York apartment of Brigid and Richard on Thanksgiving, they have just moved in but most of their belongings are still trapped in the snow on a moving truck. Coming to spend the holiday with them in their new home are Brigid’s parents Erik and Deirdre Blake, her Grandmother “Momo” who suffers from dementia, and her sister Aimee. All families have dynamics that are uniquely their own, throughout the run of the play we will come to understand the dynamics of the Blake family. Their quirks, the buttons they push with each other are at once universal generalizations but at the same time specific enough that while we recognize them they are different enough in detail from our own that we can laugh at them. As the play goes on we get a glimpse into the lives of these people, through the things they say and the things they don’t say we come to understand their struggles, their fears, their realities. It’s a look into an American family, how they deal with aging, their economic realities, their love lives, their health, careers, philosophies, and religions. At times bitingly funny, but also blisteringly cruel.

This is the second production of The Humans I’ve seen, the first was the National Touring production at the Orpheum in Minneapolis which featured Richard Thomas as Erik Blake. It was neat to see “John Boy” in person, but I have to say I enjoyed this production more. The Orpheum is too large a space for a play like this. This is a small family drama and Park Square Theatre’s space is a much better fit for the material. You need to feel like you are in the apartment with the characters and in this production, I did. That is, in large part, also due to the solid work by a true ensemble cast. No one outshines anyone else, everyone is playing on the same level which with a show like this, is crucial. There are no favorites in the cast or the characters. The cast, because they are in synch, and everyone of them seems perfectly suited for their role. The characters because they each have human moments. That is to say they all have moments where their good qualities show and they all have moments where their flaws move to the forefront. They are all deeply human.

The technical team and behind the scenes personnel on The Humans are equally responsible for the success of the show. Led by Director Lily Tung Crystal, you get the feeling that she has an inherent feel for some of these family dynamics. The set, as already mentioned, by Erik Paulson is so detailed and perfect. From the exposed drain pipes to the bars on the window, everything feels real and it helps put us in this place with these characters. Karin Olson’s lighting design helps to sell the illusion, and also plays an interesting role towards the end of the play. As does the Sound design by Katharine Horowitz, it announces itself right off the bat in the form of noises heard from the apartment above. But there is something about the lights and the noises that I think may relate to a story someone tells during the play. There are things that happen towards the end that I don’t want to spoil but that open up the scale of this small family drama, almost adding another plane of existence to the world of the play.

The Humans is playing now through October 9th at Park Square Theatre in downtown St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://parksquaretheatre.org/

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The Minnesota Fringe has made available for a short time video versions of 28 Fringe productions that were recorded during the festival. The price for each stream is determined by the Producer so they will vary from show to show. The great news is that 100% of the that goes to the artists. This is a fantastic way to support Fringe artists and to catch shows you may have missed. Click here for more information and a full list of available shows https://minnesotafringe.org/hangover

Six of the shows I chose to award the unprestigious The Stages of MN Fringe of the Day Award are included in the list and I’m sharing my short reviews of each of them below. These all come highly recommended by me.

Endometriosis the Musical. It’s a musical about Jane Smith and her ongoing struggles with extremely painful menstrual cycles. Making things worse she lives in our world where far too often women’s health issues are controlled by men. This has all the makings of an intense social drama but instead it’s an hysterically funny musical. Written by Maria Bartholdi and Kristin Stowell this is sure to be one of the hottest tickets of this years Fringe Festival. Featuring a brilliantly expressive and all in cast lead by Abby Holmstrom that brings the house down with every song. Nothing is off limits and it confronts the sad truth that for many people, the subject of this production is something that should not be mentioned above a whisper and definitely not during dinner at Applebees. I urge you to reserve your seats now this one feels like a sell out.

Who’s Afraid of Winnie the Pooh? In which Pooh and Piglet attempt to crush each others souls while Christopher and Hunny watch on in horror. Combining the world of Winnie the Pooh with the bitter marital games of Edward Albee’s classic play is anything but obvious. They seem like strange bedfellows but once you see it, well, it fits so perfectly it seems shocking that no one thought of it before. But then you think, who in the hell would EVER think of doing this? Thank God writer Alexander Gerchak did! The script, the performances, and the cross pollination of these disparate ideas is dead brilliant. Endlessly inventive, the premise never runs out of steam and holds true until the very end. It shouldn’t work but, it really works! Word of mouth should turn this into a hit. It’s easily the most accomplished script and production I’ve seen so far at Fringe. The entire cast is great but a special shout out to Thomas Buan as Winnie, best dramatic performance so far. Knowledge of the works of A.A. Milne regarding Pooh Bear and Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are not required but will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the play.

Finger Licken’ Good. For me, this was the most anticipated show heading into the Fringe Festival. I’ve seen many of these artists before both on and backstage and have really responded to and admired their work. It tells the story of Colonel Harland David Sanders and his rise to become the founder of KFC and the undisputed chicken king of America. It’s hilarious, at times a little risque, and when it comes to Colonel Sanders the play leaves little to the imagination. There are some portions of the story that don’t seem quite right, but luckily Shannon Custer is there as the fact checker to keep things more or less on the up and up. This cast loaded with local talent like Custer, Duck Washington, and co-writers/performers Heather Meyer and Nissa Nordland Morgan does not disappoint, nor does Meyer and Morgan’s script. The show belongs though to the incomparable Sam Landman, in what can only be described with the euphemism that he gives a very brave performance. Director Mike Fotis whom I’ve seen perform at Huge Improv does an amazing job as the show seems to fly by, so many fun choices like having Landman on stage as the audience comes in laying on a Chicken skin rug in a red silk robe and hardly anything else. To the staging of the Colonel’s last moments in what one might call poetic justice. Everything from costumes and props to the occasional musical number work together to make one of the wildest and enjoyable shows at Fringe.

Moonwatchers. It’s a hilarious show about two moonwatchers whose job it is to turn on the moon each night and manage various night sky activities like having the cow jump over the moon and a comet fly by. It’s all pretty routine until one night they discover the moon has been stolen. While one of the moonwatchers subs in for the moon the other goes off in search of the moon rustler who made off with it. Yes, you read that right – they are not just a myth, there really are moon rustlers. This show gives you everything: comedy, music, comets, cows, and if that isn’t enough it gives you the moon as well, literally. It’s the kind of show that sinks or swims on the personalities of it’s two performers. Nigel Berkeley and Corey Quinn Farrell are two very charming moonwatchers.

WHOOSH! The Civil War Mythology of Michael Hickey and His Perilous Precipitation Over St. Anthony Falls.!… is… Wow! What a performance by Andrew Erskine Wheeler. Portraying multiple characters throughout, each is a brilliant characterization, distinct and fully realized. It’s a story that incorporates so many different elements. The Civil War, post war, Artist Douglas Volk, it’s part ghost story, part comedic tale of an Irish immigrant and his survival going over the St. Anthony Falls. It’s so many different things yet it tells a cohesive and well structured tale. Allison Vincent does an amazing job directing the show. The timing and staging of how and when to move, pull props out, refer to visual aids, subtle changes in costume, all done brilliantly. Which brings us again to Wheeler’s performance, It is absolutely the best piece of acting I’ve see at Fringe, a true tour de force and a master class in stage acting. Saturday he has performances back to back, if you haven’t gotten to it, make sure you do. Frankly, I’m staggered by the thought of him performing twice with but 40 minutes between them, it is such a physical and intense performance it hardly seems possible.

Jesus Qhrist A phenomenally funny and politically savvy show. Christopher Kehoe is a very charismatic performer which when you think about it is a perfect fit for Jesus. It’s humorous without being insensitive to any thinking person’s beliefs. It uses the character of Jesus to give the audience a feel for the spirit of his teachings. Then it takes a turn and it uses someone else’s words as a contrast. In doing so, it shows how the words of that second person are not compatible with the character of Jesus we have gotten to know or his teachings. It’s so effective even though it’s obvious to most of us. It seems that even the unthinking should be able to see that you cannot reconcile those words with Jesus and be able to see the truth. But, of course they will not even see the play will they?

I also highly recommend the show He-Man is The Devil & Other Satanic Panic Tales is a one man show written and performed by Kyle B. Dekker based upon his own childhood. I’ve learned as a parent of a transgender child that what is more powerful in terms of opening people’s minds and hearts is not news stories or social media memes but telling your own story directly to people. I have certainly been aware of many of the things in Dekkers play, but for the first time I didn’t just hear them, I felt them. It’s a well constructed assemblage of stories of his upbringing in an ultra right wing religious family. that vividly illustrates a childhood that sounds exactly like what the adults in his life were supposedly trying to save him from. I want to applaud Dekker for his skill in taking a childhood full of stories like the ones he shares and selecting the perfect examples for creating something that flows like a narrative. I also want to thank him for sharing so much of himself. After the performance Dekker remarked to the audience that this was the first time he had ever performed at Fringe, in the past he produced and wrote shows. I’m so glad he chose to perform the show himself, it made it so much more powerful. Telling our stories directly to people like this is what creates understanding and empathy.

After a hard week and with a busy weekend ahead of me, Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret was exactly what I needed to unwind and release the tensions that had been building up. To sit back, let someone else do the cooking, and much better than I could for that matter, enjoy a drink, and just let all your cares slip away. To watch people make you laugh for two hours while you nibble on a decadent dessert, isn’t that what Friday should always be like? Don’t you deserve that too? This was my first time in a theatre other than the mainstage at Chanhassen, but I was delighted to find that the menu was exactly the same as I have come to know from attending the Mainstage musicals. I recommend the Spinach Artichoke dip and the Herb-Crusted Roasted Prime Rib, and of course the Turtle Cheesecake! They also have what I’m sure are delicious adult beverages with a full bar but for teetotalers like myself, soft drinks, and some fun N/A blended drinks.

Performing every Friday and Saturday night this is an improv show, meaning every show is unscripted and thus original and unique. In fact, even the cast changes night to night. Drawing from a pool of 14 troupe members so you never know who will be performing on a given evening. We had a special treat the night I attended as Stevie Ray himself performed alongside the hilariously talented Kip Hathaway, AJ Kueppers, Ellie Walton, and Brett Williams. Improv always makes me anxious at the thought of it, but as I begin to laugh that anxiety melts away and I’m left with a true appreciation for the talents of the performers. My dinner companion’s favorite was Kip Hathaway, who came up with several of the best one liners of the evening. My favorite was Ellie Walton, who fought a bull and also sang her heart out. The improv games that give me the most anxiety are the musical based pieces. To not only come up with something funny to move a scene forward, but to set it to music, sing it, thinking far enough ahead to make sure it rhymes! That is a skill set that leaves me awestruck. The entire cast we had was quick witted, even when pretending they weren’t, I’m looking at you Brett Williams.

For more information and to purchase tickets for an upcoming Friday or Saturday performance go to https://chanhassendt.com/stevierays/. Seating for dinner begins at 6:00 PM with the show beginning at 8:00 PM. And if you haven’t made it out to the current mainstage musical Footloose it’s running through February you can read my thoughts on that show here https://bit.ly/3NjETFKFootloose.

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These are the toughest reviews to write. It’s not a bad review, those suck to write because who wants to be negative, and it also means I just spent 2 to 3 hours of my life at a show that wasn’t worth my time, but they aren’t difficult. No, the difficult ones to write are for the shows that are good, just good. Everyone involved should feel good about their work. I don’t feel like I spent my time poorly. I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from going. But here’s the problem – it’s the opening of the theatre season, there are more shows than I can see, and I’ll see 3 to 5 a week throughout September. It’s hard to say, “this is the show you must to see!” Lumberjacks in Love is a hit or miss affair. It hits more than misses, but it would be misleading to say it’s terribly lopsided. I spent almost the entirety of the show changing my mind about how I felt about it. The cast is game and is clearly having fun, which helps the audience have fun as well.

Lumberjacks in Love has a book and Lyrics by Fred Alley and music by James Kaplan. Alley is clearly inspired by Shakespeare, with several jokes playing off lines from Hamlet and Henry V early in the play, and the plot is full of ladies disguised as men. The story focuses on four lumberjacks: Moonlight, Minnesota Slim, Muskrat, and Dirty Bob at a logging camp way up north. Also in camp is “The Kid,” who is secretly the daughter of another lumberjack who died after bringing his “son” up to the camp after his wife passed away. Each of them have their own little plot thread. Muskrat is turning 40 and having the lumberjack equivalent of a midlife crisis. Moonlight finds he is falling in love with “The Kid.” Minnesota Slim receives a letter and realizes that Dirty Bob took his drunken idea to heart one night and sent away on his behalf for a mail order bride who will arrive the next day. Dirty Bob hasn’t bathed in 31 years and will not until he finds a bar of blue soap like his mother dropped when he was a boy. There’s a lot more to unpack with Dirty Bob but let’s leave a little mystery on the table.

The issue is the book and lyrics by Alley for this musical about Lumberjacks, some of whom fall in love. The songs have nice music written by Kaplan and there are a couple, “Shanty Boys” and “It Would Be Enough For Me,” that with a few more listens could grow into songs you’d sing along to. But most of them have the feel of improvised comedy songs, you know the kind, where the performer forces an extra syllable or two into a verse. They also too often have the quality where you think, that’s funny if you made it up on the spot, but not funny enough for a fully written musical. The songs are not the strong point of the show, but they also have the benefit of being short, with 19 production numbers in a show that runs a little over 90 minutes. On top of that when it’s over you almost forget it is a musical because they play such an insignificant role in the show. As I write I think more and more that the issue is the songs. As I watched I was conscious of thinking that this is very mediocre. Mostly, as I reflect now, that feeling was most present after a song had just ended. Then a second later I’m laughing out loud at a bit of silliness. That’s the best way to describe this show – it’s silly. The characters are ludicrous caricatures and the performers commit to playing them that way, which works, as it is where most of the laughs come from. The plot is straight out of a Shakespeare comedy passed through the writers of Hee Haw. I almost don’t know what to say about this. I laughed too much to say it isn’t good, but I also spent too much time thinking this isn’t that good. But there were big laughs, usually of the “that’s so stupid you have to laugh” variety. For instance there is a lot of mileage gotten out of the fact that “The Kid” doesn’t know what a bosom is. It’s a joke that keeps on giving, and surprisingly works every time.

Unreserved praise though to this cast, featuring Ryan Lee as Minnesota Slim, Mark Palmer as Muskrat, Mark Deel as Moonlight, and Steven Ramirez as Dirty Bob. If they didn’t commit, none of this would have worked. I think it’s due to them that what does work works better than it had any right too. They sing, they dance, they play the music, sometimes a guitar, sometimes a wood burning stove. Not to take away from the other three but a little special shout out to Ramirez. True he gets the most outrageous character to play but man does he find a way to wring every laugh possible out of Dirty Bob. I’ve seen Ramirez in several productions now but this silly side is not one I’d seen before and frankly it was eye opening. “The Kid” is played by Siri Hammond and the mail order bride named Rose is played by Caitlin Burns, both of whom fit right in with this group of oddballs. I think the Director Scott Ford did everything you can with this material. Apparently it originated and is performed often at an outdoor theatre in the woods of Wisconsin. I think it probably plays like gangbusters with families who are camping or on vacation and checking out a show. In fact 8 to 12 is probably a great age for this. It has that feel, it doesn’t quite have the feel of a full blown musical comedy. The author would be better off jettisoning most of the songs and turning it into a comedy with a couple of musical moments.

I’m still chuckling about some of the bits now, so if this sounds like your cup of tea, definitely check it out. Lumberjacks in Love runs through September 25th, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lyricarts.org/lumberjacks-in-love

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. To Subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. Also you can follow me on Facebook, search @thestagesofmn and click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.