Theater Review: Glensheen, Book by Jeffrey Hatcher, Music and Lyrics by Chan Poling, at the History Theatre

Poster for the original production of Glensheen, 2015.

The cast of Glensheen. Front row: Gary Briggle, Jen Maren, Sandra Struthers. Back row: Dane Stauffer, Ruthie Baker, Adam Qualls, Wendy Lehr.

Glensheen, the Congdon mansion in Duluth, Minnesota.

The moment in the musical Glensheen when you know it’s going to be something special occurs early in the first song, “The Ballad of Glensheen.” After Adam Qualls sings the line, “the poodle barked at three AM,” Gary Briggle pulls out a dog hand puppet and energetically barks. Then you know you’re in for a fun ride. 

Glensheen is the name of the Congdon estate in Duluth, one of the most famous mansions in Minnesota. It’s owned by the University of Minnesota Duluth and has been open for tours since 1979. Glensheen is also the site of one of the most famous crimes in Minnesota: in 1977, Elisabeth Congdon and her nurse Velma Pietila were both murdered in the mansion. 

Glensheen the musical examines the murders and their aftermath. Glensheen was first produced in October of 2015 at the History Theatre. It’s now back for its fourth run. Featuring a book by Jeffrey Hatcher, and music and lyrics by Chan Poling, Glensheen is a wonderful musical, full of sadness, humor, and amazing twists and turns. The songs are so memorable; there are several that regularly get stuck in my head. I’m still hoping for an original cast album. 

Luckily, each time Glensheen has been performed at the History Theatre it’s been the same cast, and these seven actors do a marvelous job at bringing the story to life. Jen Maren stars as Marjorie Congdon, the troubled adopted daughter of Elisabeth Congdon. Maren reveals the dark soul of Marjorie through some excellent songs, including “Torch Song.” Dane Stauffer is the hapless Roger Caldwell, Marjorie’s second husband, who was found guilty of the murders in 1978. Stauffer brings humor to Roger’s dimness, and he also gives pathos to a man who is caught up in events larger than himself. Stauffer also has several of my favorite lines in the play. After introducing himself as Roger Sipe Caldwell, he explains his middle name: “It’s an anagram for spy, if you spell it with an ie instead of a y.” And as the trustees of the Congdon financial trust express exasperation with Marjorie’s free-spending ways, purchasing a horse ranch and expensive riding outfits, Roger keeps repeating, “Marge loves horses!” Wendy Lehr portrays the widest range of characters, from Elisabeth Congdon and Agatha Christie to Marjorie’s male defense attorney. For me the emotional highlight of Glensheen is Lehr’s brief turn as Velma Pietila, the murdered nurse, as she sings “Stay with Me.” It’s a moving tribute to the victims at the center of this bizarre story.

The four other actors are all credited with being “the ensemble,” but that doesn’t mean that they are only minor parts. Each of them weaves a vital part into the fabric of the show. Sandra Struthers portrays Jennifer Congdon, Marjorie’s perfect sister, who was adopted from a different family than Marjorie’s. Struthers is the sweet counterpoint to the bitter Marjorie, and she gets to show her range with the song “No Parole” in the second act. Ruthie Baker plays a variety of roles, beginning with a Glensheen tour guide who tries to hold back the rest of the cast, portraying tourists who want to take photographs on the staircase and ask nosy questions about the murders. (Until very recently, Glensheen tour guides famously didn’t address the murders on the house tour.) Baker gets to duet with Adam Qualls on the song “A Murdering in June,” which shows us the reporter and city desk writer who break the story of the murders. Qualls plays numerous parts, from a nosy tourist to a bartender, a reporter, a detective, a Congdon trustee, and a member of a jury. He does it all with aplomb, skill, and humor. Gary Briggle, in addition to performing the poodle barks, also essays many roles, from a minister to the lead Congdon trustee, and an attorney. A veteran of the Twin Cities theater scene, Briggle adds class, style, and superb vocals to every role he plays. 

There’s only one set—an interior at Glensheen, with a staircase in back. This set transforms into courtrooms, automobiles, a prison cell, a newspaper office, and all of the other locations where the action of the play transpires. It’s marvelously simple and effective. 

Glensheen is directed by Ron Peluso, the longtime Artistic Director of the History Theatre. Peluso has helped bring to life a vivid, funny, and moving work of art. If you have the chance to go see Glensheen before it closes, go do it and experience an amazing evening of theater.

Theater Review: Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, at Theater Latte Da

Program cover for Assassins at Theater Latte Da, 2018.

Last weekend I saw Theater Latte Da’s excellent production of the musical Assassins, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman. Assassins is a fascinating look at the four successful Presidential assassins, and five others who failed in their assassination attempts. The assassins depicted in the musical are: John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, assassin of James A. Garfield, Leon Czolgosz, assassin of William McKinley, Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy (Assassins presents Oswald as acting alone, and not part of any larger conspiracy) Giuseppe Zangara, who attempted to shoot Franklin Roosevelt, but missed and instead killed Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, Samuel Byck, who planned to hijack an airplane and crash it into the White House in order to kill Richard Nixon, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Sara Jane Moore, who each tried to kill Gerald Ford in California three weeks apart from each other in September of 1975, and John Hinckley, who wounded Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster. (Zangara presents perhaps the most intriguing “what if,” as his attempt on FDR’s life occurred after Roosevelt was elected, but before he was sworn in—what would the future of the Republic have been if FDR had not been there to lead us through the Great Depression and World War II?)

The cast of Assassins is superb—standouts include Dieter Bierbrauer, whose John Wilkes Booth becomes the engine for much of the play’s action, Sara Ochs, who offers us a portrait of Sara Jane Moore as a bizarrely incompetent housewife, Shinah Brashears, whose seeming sweetness as Squeaky Fromme is quickly offset by her unwavering belief in Charles Manson’s prophecies, the always excellent Tyler Michaels as Lee Harvey Oswald, and Benjamin Dutcher as the unflappably optimistic Charles Guiteau, who seems all too happy to ascend the gallows. Assassins is ably directed by Peter Rothstein, who has directed 71 shows for Latte Da, and who created All is Calm, about the 1914 Christmas truce, which I reviewed here. There’s a funny moment as James Detmar’s unhinged Samuel Byck is dictating a tape to Leonard Bernstein and starts singing “Tonight” and “America,” which Sondheim wrote the lyrics for. (You can read more about Charles Guiteau here, in my review of Candace Millard’s book about Garfield’s assassination, Destiny of the Republic.) 

Assassins might seem like an odd idea for a musical—I’m sure the idea didn’t send financial backers running for their checkbooks—but it works. Sondheim wrote an excellent score, and he had already written a successful musical about a mass murderer—Sweeney Todd—so why not a show about Presidential assassins?

I thought about Assassins a lot, both before the show, and afterwards. I’m a history buff and a musical theater fan, so I’m probably the ideal audience member for Assassins. Historically, I think the show does a very good job of summarizing these characters. Of course, for most of the assassins, I can’t say I know much more than what’s presented in the show. How pathetic they all seem to me, these lonely souls, unable to connect with anyone else, thinking that assassination would be their ticket to fame and fortune. A recurring joke is that the assassin, or would be assassin, is telling the audience their troubles and someone else on stage says, “Well, why don’t you shoot the President?” As though that will solve all of their problems. The characters all want what they cannot have: Squeaky Fromme, pining after Charles Manson, John Hinckley, pining after Jodie Foster, John Wilkes Booth, pining for the fame and reputation of his brother Edwin, Charles Guiteau, hopelessly seeking the ambassadorship to France, Lee Harvey Oswald, craving the spotlight that had evaded him ever since he defected to Russia. As Sondheim said in a 2014 interview, “These are all people who feel they’ve been cheated of their happiness, each one in a different way.” Sondheim gives these people their moment in the sun, so to speak, so they can explain their actions, even if their reasons remain vague and opaque to rational people. I thought one of the most memorable songs was “Unworthy of Your Love,” a beautiful ballad sung by Hinckley and Fromme, all about their respective obsessions with Jodie Foster and Charles Manson. 

Does the show glorify the assassins too much? Possibly, although it certainly doesn’t cast them in a positive light. I would argue that any artistic depiction of “bad” people runs the risk of glorifying them too much. Whether it’s a play, film, or novel, we’re so strongly taught as audience members to empathize with the main character that any depiction could be taken as glorification, even if it’s not meant to be. I suppose that’s the problem with art—it asks you to step inside someone else’s mind for a while, and while you’re there, you might find them a little more human. Martin Scorsese wasn’t endorsing the behavior of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but the twisted mind of John Hinckley transformed Travis into a figure worth emulating.

Assassins is a superb show that takes a hard look at America, and it asks the audience difficult questions about violence in America, questions that are sadly all too relevant in 2018. If you’re interested in pondering those questions, go see Assassins.

Theater Review: Theater Latte Da's production of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, by Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach

Poster for All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, by Peter Rothstein.

Last week my wife and I saw Theater Latte Da’s production of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. We had both heard great things about this show, but hadn’t actually seen it. It’s a powerful piece of drama, created in 2007 by Latte Da’s artistic director, Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. All is Calm tells the true story of a brief armistice that occurred on the trenches of the Western front during the first Christmas of World War I. Rothstein did extensive research in European archives to find the primary source documents that are the backbone of All is Calm.

 

However, All is Calm is more than just a narrative of stories of the Christmas truce, it also mixes together popular music of the time along with Christmas carols and traditional songs from both sides. So Haydn’s “Deutschlandlied” nestles up next to Ivor Novello’s “Keep the Home-Fires Burning” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” a chant from the 12^th century. The power of All is Calm is enhanced by the fact that the twelve actors who portray all the different roles in the piece are also doing all of the singing, which features many beautiful blended harmonies. Oh, and did I mention that all of the singing is a cappella? It’s an impressive feat, and the twelve singer/actors did an amazing job. 

As All is Calm unfolds, we see the brief, happy interlude as both sides lay down their arms and embrace their common humanity. However, our joy is tempered by the fact that we know these men will keep senselessly fighting and killing each other for another four years. There is a real sadness when the fighting inevitably continues, and it does make one pause and wonder what might have happened had the informal truce lasted longer than just one day.

Peter Rothstein has done an outstanding job of creating a unique and powerful statement about warfare, one that will linger in the minds and hearts of audiences for a long time. As he writes in the program notes, “Their story puts a human face on war, and that’s the story I hope to tell.”