In the Green at Elision Playhouse

In the Green by Grace McLean began a three week run last night at Elision Playhouse in Crystal MN. The Elision website summarizes the plot as:

“As a young girl, medieval saint, healer, visionary, exorcist, and composer Hildegard von Bingen was locked in a cloister’s cell after demonstrating a preternatural sensitivity to the world around her. Sequestered with Hildegard is Jutta, a woman who has spent her life secluded in an effort to recover a whole self after the deepest of trauma. Under Jutta’s guidance, Hildegard attempts to reassemble her own fragmented self while her mentor proselytizes a rejection of brokenness.”
Elision Theatre Website

So that tells you the outline but what it doesn’t prepare you for is how it tells that story. Hildegard is played by three different actors simultaneously each playing one of the pieces of Hildegard’s splintered self. Abilene Olson is Hand, Annie Schiferl is Eye, and Deidre Cochran is Mouth, it’s an astonishing collaborative performance, even when one part take center stage you feel as if the others are still a part of what is happening. The performances are highlighted by the exactness of their vocal synchronization, their voices sound hauntingly beautiful together and it is the music that makes this production worth checking out. Like Hildegard the character of Jutta is also played by two performers, Christine Wade plays the present Jutta while Emily Hensley plays the younger Jutta, listed in the program as Shadow, she is the darkness that Jutta has buried in her cell. Both also have incredible vocals, Wade has the added challenge of performing while operating a Looper board. This is a wonderful device that allows for the recording of a sound, vocal or otherwise, that can then be played in a loop while the same performers sing another part, allowing for the layering of sounds in unique ways. It’s also for me, as an audience member, a stressful tool as I worry about the tightrope act that operating the machine during a live performance. Hitting the wrong button could throw everyone off and ruin the flow and mood of the music.

When it comes to music “it had a nice beat and I could dance to it” is about the extent of my expertise so I’ll direct those interested in a more nuanced discussion of the musical elements to my fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Keith at Life in Revue https://lifeinrevue.blogspot.com/?m=1. What I can say is that It didn’t have a nice beat and you can’t dance to it, but it was amazingly complex and I found myself in awe of every aspect of the music. Harrison Wade’s musical direction and Christine Wade’s vocal direction are the high calibre one has come to expect from Theatre Elision. The Looper board adds a layer that could be used to make things easier on the music department but they use it to add complexity. The staging and design by Director/Designer Lindsay Fitzgerald is at once minimal but like the soundscape surprisingly complex. Using screens and projection in concert with Laina Grendle’s lighting design to accomplish visual what the Looper was doing aurally. Madeline Wall is the Movement Coordinator whose work seems to tie everything we see and hear together, making the complicated premise of three Actors simultaneously playing the same person work. This is a production you go to to see how talented people all collaborate to create a piece that feels cohesive in every possible way, nothing detracts from the atmosphere of the piece. Is it fun? No, there are a couple of line readings that get a chuckle, they are well placed, and lighten the mood when needed. At 90 minutes it’s the perfect length for something that is more to be appreciated than entertaining. It’s thoughtful and very impressive, and I enjoy something that’s a little more moody and serious sometimes.

In the Green runs through March 9th at the Elision Playhouse for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.elisionproductions.com/in-the-green

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The Hatmaker’s Wife From Ten Thousand Things

Kimberly Richardson, Jim Lichtscheidl, Michelle De Joya, and Clay Man Soo. Photo by Tom Wallace

The Hatmaker’s Wife is only my second show from acclaimed theater company Ten Thousand Things and they are quickly becoming one of my favorite Theater Companies. Performed in the round with minimal sets, props and costumes, basically whatever they can fit in a Van, the focus on connection with the audience. The lights are on the only concession to creating mood or atmosphere is the accompaniment of live music, the focus is on the story and the performers skills in communicating it. One of the goals of this company is to provide access to theater to those who would not ordinarily have it. Part of the reason for the way they stage their shows is so they can travel with them and perform anywhere. Their schedule is divided into traveling dates out in the community which are free of charge and then two Thursday thru Sunday Weekends and two Minneapolis location which are paid admission, which help to fun the free performances. It’s a beautiful mission and it aligns perfectly with that of The Stages of MN, which is to create new theatergoing audiences. There are two steps to accomplishing that goal, the first is to get people who don’t make theatergoing a regular part of their lives into a seat at a performance. The second is to present something that will make them want to see another show. Ten Thousand Things does both of these steps incredibly well.

The Hatmaker’s Wife is at once complex and simple. Like a fairytale for adults with a straight forward message, but told through jumps backward and forward in time. The narrative technique does not confuse the audience but enriches the story adding layers of meaning and emotion in what is otherwise on the surface mainly comedic. This blend creates an entertaining work that has an emotional resonance by the end beyond what one expects given the humorous tone of the play. This is a story not of our world, but one very similar. Voice played by Michelle De Joya moves into a rental house with her boyfriend Gabe played by Clay Man Soo only to discover that the Wall, who is played by Tyson Forbes, has a story to share with her. Feeding her pages that flashback to the story of Hetchman, the Hatmaker of the title, and his Wife, who are played by the wonderfully physical comedic actors Jim Lichtscheidl and Kimberly Richardson. Hetchman loves his hat more than anything else in the world, his wife longs for a hat of her own, but Hetchman does not provide her with one. One day his hat goes missing and Hetchman is sad, next his wife goes missing and Hetchman is sad that his hat is still missing. His neighbor and best friend Meckel, played by Pedro Bayon, tries to help Hetchman to find his wife and convince him that she is the more important of the two things that have gone missing from his life. It’s a story that uses fantastical ideas to remind us of what is really important and how we can lose sight of that at times in our lives.

To engage an audience fully and tell a story without the usual trappings of lighting and sets means you have to have the best material and talent. The Hatmaker’s Wife Written by Lauren Yee is a wonderful script and the direction by Joel Sass displays that has a perfect understanding of the material and how to bring it to life. You couldn’t ask for better casting than Jim Lichtscheidl and Kimberly Richardson. They open the play with a nearly, perhaps entirely, wordless scene that relies on the their gifts as physical performers, of which they are among the very top in the Twin Cities. I have noted and wondered at their talents in Physical Comedy in past performances, Lichtscheidl recently in Dinner For One at Jungle Theater and Richardson so memorably in The Red Shoes at Open Eye Theatre, which impressed me so much I went back a second time. For them alone the show is worth seeing, everyone else is gravy on top, but it’s a rich and flavorful gravy that brings out all the nuances of the play. Tyson Forbes along with playing Wall, which magically talks, also plays Golem a symbolic creature from Jewish folklore is a costume designed by Sonya Berlovitz. Forbes does nice work covered in a massive costume without a face giving the Golem a personality and presence through movement and body language alone.

The Hatmaker’s Wife is a thoroughly entertaining and magical night at the theater with a superb cast performing a work that feels timeless in the way a fairytale does. It runs through March 17th at various locations, for more information, performance locations and to purchase tickets go to https://tenthousandthings.org/our-season/hatmakers-wife/

Honey, I’m Home a Hilarious Solo Show at Open Eye Theatre

Honey, I’m Home is Madeleine Rowe’s one house show which combines comic clowning, inspired physical theater and very clever writing. It’s part of Open Eye Theatre’s 2024 Guest Artist Series, and a remount of a successful run at The Southern Theater in 2022. I recently saw Rowe in Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some) at Yellow Tree Theatre and found her clowning most enjoyable. I expected some laughs, what I got were more laughs than you can shake a plunger at. I could explain that but like a lot of comedy shows the fun is in the unexpected, the laughs come from your spontaneous response to what his being presented. Open Eye Theatre is such a small but wonderful theater space, I’ve seen some of my favorite performances in this little theater with it’s tiny brick enclosed stage that usually feels like it’s about eight feet by eight feet. Tonight though, it felt especially spacious, possibly because it looked to have been freshly mown. Rowe plays a house for sale and it’s open house day so she’s a little bit excited. She’s very welcoming and even gives us, the audience, a pre-open house tour. That should give you the gist of the show. The entire performance is a direct address to the audience and you are expected to join in. The notoriously anti-audience participation Blogger Cherry and Spoon was able to avoid joining the show but I believe had a wonderful time with it as well. So don’t let that put you off.

Rowe is a first rate clown and performer, brave and impishly mischievous, she has the audience in stitches for 70 minutes straight, which is another wonderful aspect of the show, it’s about 70 minutes long and so no need for those annoying intermissions. Rowe could hold the audience all on her own without set and props and costumes and dummies, but the addition of those things pushed this into the realm of something really special. Roofs off to I’m Staying Home with Madeleine Rowe and Michael Torsch for their Set Design. Sound Design by Dan Dukich and Lighting by Ariel Pinkerton add the perfect touches. Whoever designed the projections and puppet work deserves a big round of applause, there’s a duet sung with the aid of those elements that is a moment where I realized this was exactly what I needed tonight. It was a hard day today and I almost stayed home to process, I’m so glad I didn’t as Madeleine Rowe and her brilliant show lifted me up when I most needed it. Honey, I’m Home runs through February 24th at Open Eye Theatre in South Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.openeyetheatre.org/honey-im-home

Bosom Buddies a Paired Down Drag Show That Goes the Sweet Rather Than Sour Route

I don’t have a lot of experience with Drag shows, but the ones I have seen have trended to the risque and/or Diva end of the spectrum. For this performance Timothy Kelly, co-founder and Managing Director of Fringe favorites Melancholics Anonymous and local operatic soprano, Gillian Gauntt make their Drag debuts to promising results. I’m really shockingly uninformed on drag culture so apologies if I misunderstand or mistate anything, please feel free to correct me in the comments as I do endeavor to get these things right and learn. This show contains a bit of a narrative, albeit underwritten about two performers a Drag King and a Drag Queen who are accidently booked to perform at the same time. After a little sass they decide to take turns performing sets. Antagonistic at the outset, by the end they are becoming friends, though their duet “Bosom Buddies” show they still have a little sting in them. Rather than battle it out between songs throughout the evening they pretty much take turns doing a few songs with a little genial interaction at the changeovers. It’s just the two of them and Nick Love doing a fabulous job tickling the ivories, I’m not even sure there was anyone in the tech booth. This is not that supper polished 5 Drag Queens with 17 1/2 costume changes each, disco balls, and glitter & tinsel in dizzying amounts. Kelly has a costume change during intermission, and Gauntt loosens their tie, the lights just sort of stay on at an appropriate level. My feeling, this is a first stab to see if it’s worth developing, and I for one think it is.

Gauntt is dressed as a man with beard stubble applied with makeup. They dress as male but sings songs in the range of a female, what’s a soprano to do? Kelly dresses as female and sings like a female in a somewhat smokey voice that reminded me of Lauren Bacall. If the point is to attempt to plausibly perform as the gender that fits the costume and character name, Kelly triumphs. The wig, the voice, the vocal quality, and indeed the character. I suspect that singing is Gauntt’s specialty and that acting is not their first love. The performance is fine it’s just missing that little something that a born actor like Kelly can’t help but bring to any role. I didn’t allow myself to get to hung up on the rules of gender transformation if there are any, instead I sat back and enjoyed the two performers voices which are both exceptionally good. Their song choices frequently fit into the slight narrative of the show about half or two thirds of them I knew, which I appreciate. I hope they continue to develop these characters and flesh out the show, I’d definitely be in for the next incarnation. It’s a little, not rough, but not polished, but it’s also really kinda sweet where it ends up and there are a couple of really fun songs and some beautiful ones. I’m glad I stopped over to the Phoenix Theater to check it out. Tickets are on a sliding scale from $10 to $40 the show runs this weekend only for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://tix.gobo.show/events/event/kOTpBfuSZmpxTz4yVqcc

Toil & Trouble a Millennial Retelling of the Scottish Play at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo

Olivia Kemp, Jason Ballweber, and Alex Galick Photo by Alex Clark

I’m not an expert of shakespeare but I am a fan so I try to and engage with his work whenever I can. I’m not a purist either, I love a good retelling or modern take, everything from Branagh’s Love’s Labours Lost to Strange Brew has a place in my film collection. Toil & Trouble by acclaimed playwright Lauren Gunderson is a modern riff on Macbeth set during the 2008 recession featuring thee thirtysomething friends who, inspired by a fortune cookie, conspire to take over a small island country off the coast of Chile. You know, instead of getting real jobs. Adam and Matt sit around their apartment as Adam comes up with one hairbrained idea after another for inventions to make money, while Matt shoots them down. Their friend Beth is a junior Sportscaster for Action 6 News whom they both “like” like. The characters have morals on par with the characters on Seinfeld, Adam hatches the plan, Matt follows along thanks to a fortune cookie message that says “Matt will be King hereafter”, and Beth is ruthless ambition incarnate. What starts as a strong comedic play about slacker roommates and the friend they both want to get with takes some very strange turns as it attempts to tell it’s story while loosely following some aspects of Shakespeare’s Scottish play. What is recognizable at the start as our world peopled by characters we can recognize, if not relate too, by the end has become a complete fantasy with the characters frequently interspersing their dialogue with snippets from Shakespeare. It’s an odd approach that doesn’t entirely add up to much and the fault dear readers is not with the production but in the script. I loved everything about the production, the performances, the design, but the sum of its parts left me wishing these elements were in service of a better script.

Jason Ballweber who usually is to be found behind the scenes plays Matt in a performance that goes a long way to making this near miss still worth checking out. His Matt and Alex Galick’s Adam end up complete opposites by the end of the play from where they started. As it opens, Ballweber plays Matt as the realistic, intelligent, and more mature seeming of the two, has an air of authority over the flighty Adam who thinks anything that Rhymes is an innovation. By the end he’s a pug snorting follower who passes out at the sight of hot sauce whereas Adam has become confident and holds the upper hand. Both actors handle the transition well and make the reversal seem plausible. Olivia Kemp plays Beth as someone who knows what they want and how to get it, masterfully playing off the men’s desire for her to manipulate them into doing exactly what she wants. Well directed by Brandon Raghu who along with Lighting Designer Alex Clark stages a dramatic looking play to be sure. I also enjoyed the set design by Sarah Brandner which has a depth that is well utilized particularly in a scene when Adam comes home late at night and leaves the refrigerator door open after heading to bed in the pitch black apartment.

Ultimately, I enjoyed much of the production but found the script absurd and out there but in an unfulfilling or engaging way. Gunderson’s idea of filling the final scene with Shakespearean dialogue is less effective that the modern rewordings or nods used earlier in the play. She needed to go one way or the other. The plot is insane but not in a ‘this is wild’ way, but more I can’t find any sort of grounding for this story so that it lands with some sort of impact. It’s a rare for a script by Gunderson not to work completely but this just comes up short. That said, there’s enough good stuff on offer with the play to make it a fun excursion to the theatre. Having a decent knowledge of Macbeth will increase your appreciation of the piece, some humor really does work only if you know the play. Also, it feels like my fellow bloggers and I have been saying this a lot lately but if your play can be done in 100 minutes or less, you don’t need an intermission. Toil & Trouble runs through March 3rd at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://yellowtreetheatre.com/toilandtrouble

Stones In His Pockets at Theater Latté Da Featuring Tom Reed Sigmund

Reed Sigmund and Tom Reed Photo by Dan Norman

Stones in His Pockets is Performed by only two actors Tom Reed and Reed Sigmund but they people the stage with more than a dozen different characters. Providing a rich Irish soundtrack that adds emotion and depth are Jason Hansen and Theresa Elliott. Hansen in the role of Music Director and Composer is on the Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, and the Bodhran with Elliott on an beautifully expressive violin. It tells the story of a Hollywood film crew that has come to an Irish village to make a movie; however, it isn’t the story of the interlopers but of the villagers who are hired on as extras. It’s a contrast between the dream makers and those who have lost theirs or are struggling to keep them alive. The two primary characters are Charlie Conlon played by Tom Reed who lost his Video Store business when a big chain came to his town. So he packed up and has been traveling around Ireland with his tent, he’s loving the 40 pounds a day pay and free meals, but his dream is to get someone on the set to read the screenplay he’s written. He’s befriended by Jake Quinn played by Reed Sigmund who has recently returned home to the village from America because he says got homesick, or perhaps America didn’t live up to his dreams. Now he’s back and on the dole living with his Ma and doesn’t know what to do or seem to have faith in himself.

There is a lot of humor played out through a rich tapestry of characters all played with amazing specitivity by Reed and Sigmund. Within seconds an actor will turn around, pop on a cap or throw a scarf around their head, and be another character. At some points there is a conversation happening between more than two characters, astonishingly the performers have made such clear distinctions between the characters that the audience is never lost. Charlie and Jake are the most fully formed characters and are played not only with great wit but with a real compassion and relatability. They are the emotional center and comedic heart of the play, their journey from extras to dreamers is as beautiful as it is hilarious. Two characters any actor would feel privileged to play and then to add another half dozen of so and it’s either maddenly hard work or joyfully fulfilling. Hopefully a nice helping of both. There are so many wonderful side characters male and female that they play and they do it with wonderful Irish accents and Hollywood self importance, depending on the role. The accents are thick at the beginning and for a minute you might be a little worried, but it takes approximately two and a half minutes to tune into them and then I had no trouble following the dialogue. It cannot be overstated how wonderful the performances are by Reed and Sigmund two truly gifted comedic actors at the top of the game in roles they were made to play.

The play written by Marie Jones is masterful in the way it brings characters in and out of scenes in a way that the two performers can play all the roles. Would it be as good if there were 12 actors? The story would hold up, but there is an element of joy that would be lost. There is something about watching actors working like this that just adds to the experience. Marcela Lorca Directs the play keeping everything moving and flowing beautifully. Blocking the actors so that we always know when they have changed characters might seem simple, but it’s essential that every change has a visual cue to the audience and Lorca does the work to make those clear and yet unobtrusive. A nice choice was to have the actors do bows as their different characters at the end, they each had some prop or costume piece that we came to identify them with but the body language also changed and even without any dialogue you knew for whom you were applauding. With so many character changes the set design like the costumes need to be simple and versatile and Benjamin Olsen as scenic Designer and Kathy Maxwell as the Projections Designer have found a way to accomplish this and still give us a sense of the place. The use of projection is used to provide the background not as a special effect. The choice to have Jason Hansen compose and perform the wonderful Irish soundtrack and to even have them interact slightly was a brilliant choice, between the accents, the setting, and the music you leave having felt like you just spent two hours in Ireland.

Stones in His Pockets runs through February 25th at Theater Latté Da in Northeast Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/stones-in-his-pockets

Crazy For You’s Got Rhythm and it Certainly Has Music at Artistry in Bloomington.

Kyle Weiler (Center) and the cast of Crazy For You Photo by Sam Levine

Crazy For You features the music and Lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Ken Ludwig, this accounts for the fantastic songs and the generous portions of humor. With such great source material, it was likely to be a good show, but Artistry in Bloomington, who is producing this production didn’t take any chances. They got Anita Ruth back as Music Director conducting a nearly unheard of for a local production, 20-piece Orchestra. With Choreography by it’s leading man Kyle Weiler and Elly Stahlke that will knock your socks off and a cast full of fabulous voices, I went crazy for this show. The story of Bobby Child who dreams of being a dancer, but his fiance Irene and his Mother Lottie have other plans for him. Sent by his mother to Deadrock Nevada to foreclose on a disused theater, Bobby falls in love with Polly whose father owns the Theater. When Polly finds out who he is and why he’s there she will have nothing to do with him, so he disguises himself as Bela Zangler the Theatrical Producer and together they plan to put on a show to raise the money to save the theater. The problem is that the theater is in a ghost town in the middle of a desert and an hours walk from the train station. Things get even more complicated when the real Bela Zangler shows up.

First off, most shows do not have an orchestra this size and the benefits are apparent in the richness of the music. There is more room for nuances and subtleties within the songs even to my untrained ear. For that alone should any fan of the Gershwins popular songs like “Someone to Watch Over Me“, “Embraceable You“, “I Got Rhythm“, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me“, and “But Not For Me” rush out an buy a ticket. Anita Ruth masterfully conducts the Orchestra which is placed in center stage throughout the show. What they spent on 20 musicians they saved on set design, it’s staged in a way I’ve never really seen a musical done before. The actors are sitting in chairs in front of the orchestra until they needed to perform in a scene, then they step out and are in character, singing and dancing and acting. It appears like it’s going to be a concert with dancing but then the actors do actually perform the roles. It’s a strange hybrid, that puts the spotlight on the musicians and dancers by keeping everything that might distract from them to a minimum. It’s a bold choice by director Ben Bakken, that I think is largely successful because of the talent in the orchestra and of the actors.

The cast is filled with talent, the leads Kyle Weiler as Bobby and Annika Isbell as Polly are truly exceptional. Weiler’s dancing is just a joy and when there are a group of seven or so of the cast up there all synchronized, it’s awesome to behold. Isbell has a wonderful voice, I was really impressed by rendition of “Someone To Watch Over Me“. There’s a lot of fun character work to from a local favorite Carl Swanson as Lank Hawkins whose trying to Polly’s father to sell him the Theater and is constantly trying to get them to stop putting on a show! France Roberts has his work cut out for him playing Polly’s father Everett and as Eugene Fodor who comes to Deadrock to write about it for his Travel Books. If I’m not mistaken he plays both men in one scene and pulls it off admirably, he’s also got a nice singing voice that he gets to show off in a fun number “Stiff Upper Lip“.

Crazy For You runs through February 11th at Artistry Theater in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://artistrymn.org/crazyforyou