The newly opened The Hive Collaborative is doing a lot of interesting things, if you haven’t stopped over to check them out yet I highly recommend it. So far I’ve been to 16 bar Bingo, which they host the final Monday of every month and now Mood Swings. The Hive Collaborative is located in what used to be Dreamland Arts, it was recently purchased by local theater professionals Laura Rudolph Morris and Eric Morris, you can learn more about their dreams for the space on a recent episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat here. To find out what’s on their schedule and to purchase tickets to upcoming events you can go to https://www.thehivecollaborativemn.com/ Mood Swings in running through Monday February 19th, so there’s still a chance to see it, but don’t think about it too long.
Billed as an Exploration of the Concept Albums of Frank Sinatra. The show is conceived and performed by Eric Morris along with Music Director Luke Aaron Davidson who accompanies him on piano and adds vocals in a couple of instances. Morris has taken two Sinatra albums In the Wee Small Hours and Songs For Swinging Lovers! It’s not an impersonation of Sinatra, it’s not a run through of the albums in order, there isn’t really any dialogue but there is story. The albums themselves were considered as the first “Concept” Albums, In the Wee Small Hours was melancholy with the mood of failed love, lost love, and other more introspective aspects of romance. Songs For Swinging Lovers! was the upbeat jazzier album focused on celebrating love. What Morris has done is mixed the songs together contrasting the downbeat and the upbeat. The unspoken setup is of a man on a psychiatrist’s couch who may be bipolar. Thus the mood swings, and the title of the show. When I say there is a story, it’s really what we the audience decide to imprint on it. You can see each song as it’s only little narrative or choose, as I did, to see it as one man’s attempt to recount and work through his relationship issues. Either way, you’ll be swept along by Morris’s rich vocalization the clever bit of humor devised by Morris and show Director Joey Miller. For a show that runs about an hour in length and set in one location, a lot of thought has gone into the lighting design by Tracy V. Joe and the costumes by Sarah Christenson.
I really like this idea of taking the work of a popular entertainer and then exploring it further and look forward to other upcoming events along these lines. I highly recommend getting on The Hive Collaboratives mailing list so you’ll get the latest on what they are up to. Looking ahead the schedule is eclectic and unique, making it a great addition to the Twin Cities Theater scene.
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