element with the my-paragraph class Some people in the family Ms. Bengson grew up in dont talk to one another anymore, but for the musical the Bengsons interviewed all of them including the older sibling, so-called, who committed the crime. Bursts of banter lead into . Roger Catlin, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association,is a Washington D.C.-based arts writer whose work appears regularly in SmithsonianMagazine.com. This poignant 90-minute show, which opened on Monday night at the New York Theater Workshop, is a response to one ineradicable and devastating fact of life. The new Broadway play cancelled its opening night December 20 due to a case of COVID-19 within the company. Tickets are now on sale forManhattan Theatre Clubs New York premiere ofWhere the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nomineeJeff Augustin(The New Englanders, The Morning Show) and directed by Princess Grace Award winnerJoshua Kahan Brody,with music byThe Bengsons(Hundred Days,The Lucky Ones). The result is a raw and personal expression, wrapped in splendid music and honesty. A look at an Equity-approved musical, an immersive experiment, and an amateur teen show. The one-day-only event, starring Olivier nominees Rachel Tucker and Rachel John, arrives to the West End October 11 following a digital production earlier this summer. But as the show picks up momentum, their own music sweeps them into galvanizing eruptions of passion and existential anger. (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour). Like Hundred Days, The Lucky Ones is directed by Anne Kauffman and has a book co-written by the playwright Sarah Gancher, who is the Bengsons neighbor across the hall in Ridgewood, Queens. The Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from Ohio features performances by artists including Barrie Lobo McLain, Vuyo Sotashe, and Allan K. Washington. The Bengsons. The Off-Broadway production will now play until June 5. })(); Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo based in NYC and VT who have performed across the country and around the world. Adina Verson, at center, in The Lucky Ones, which considers the impact of a killing on Ms. Bengsons seemingly idyllic childhood. April 19, 2022, By Eleven years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson met. The concert's creative team also includes assistant director Keenan Tyler Oliphant, lighting designer Alejandro Fajardo, projection designer Jeff Sugg, scenic and costume designer DOTS, associate projection designer Simon Harding, producer Wendy vanden Heuvel, and executive producers Kendra Bator and Tom Casserly. I love you, too, Ms. Gancher said, and exited. Presented by Z Space and piece by piece productions with Encore Theatre Company, the show is conceived and created by married couple Abigail and Shaun Bengson, who double as a band called. Eliots work. Logan Culwell-Block It was from Robert Fleming, a gay Black man who is executive artistic director of Actors Theatre in . By Logan Culwell-Block styleElement.type = 'text/css'; would be just as splendid live, but the ability to capture its creation in real time where it happened amid moving music that seems to pour forth simultaneously adds a much deeper impact. And she has a deep affection for the Bengsons. For tickets and information visit zspace.org. | | Their return also marks the launch of their 40th season in operation. var s = document.getElementById('sleeknoteScript'); January 10, 2022, By Would just being grateful and happy during the same period be a better approach? The letters pile up outside, but if they unplug the radio and the phone, they're disconnected. We wanted to make it really intimate and trying not to replicate the experience of being in a theater with us, but figuring out what would be most enjoyable over this medium.. By 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant recipients Abigail and Shaun Bengson share what this grant means to them in a virtual acceptance speech. I love you so much!. The stage and screen favorite stars in and directs an adaptation of T.S. You have entered an incorrect email address! July 1, 2021. The story looks at embracing uncertainty, taking a leap, and loving as if you only had a hundred days to live. The play is currently in previews at the August Wilson Theatre. By Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors. By By Hayley Levitt, | | He ha (read more about this author). January 11, 2022, By The task, I think, of storytelling, she said, is the reintegration of the dark and the light going back and saying, Yes, this darkness is here and its true. And, There was light on us once, and there will be again.. Andrew Gans And maybe hurt us so badly that we will hurt other people.. | | The Great Performances broadcast includes interviews with Adrienne Warren, Norm Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Aaron Tveit, Chita Rivera, and more. A Childhood Eden Seared by Violence. Set to Music? "The most important theme of 'HundredDays' is moving through fear in the name of love," Abigail said. And Ms. Bengson, in particular, finds herself opening baggage from her past that would seem to make happiness with someone else impossible. Then, in one cataclysmic season, it all falls apart, beginning with a killing that might have been prevented if only the parents hadnt been so committed to a you-choose-your-feelings worldview that they dismissed the signs of mental illness in one of the kids. Copyright 1991-2023 Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved. Which turns out to be all thats needed for a show that celebrates and laments the elusive radiance of a shared life. "So at the time, we started writing music as a way to process those feelings and get closer and move through all the fear.". Part of that was an awareness, new to Mr. Bengson, of what a fragile thing a family can be. But The Bengsons find catharsis and direction through music and convey a triumphant humanity no matter what the obstacle. Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting the New York premiere of Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nominee Jeff Augustin (The New Englanders, The Morning Show) and directed by Princess Grace Award winner Joshua Kahan Brody, with music by The Bengsons (Hundred Days, The Lucky Ones). the Musical!, Tina, David Byrne's American Utopia, Stomp, Jersey Boys, and more. programming. | The Broadway revival, on hold due to the pandemic, will now begin previews March 9, 2022. | The first two months of performances take place with social distancing. 'Is It Possible To Tell the Truth Kindly?' - WRAL.com s.parentNode.insertBefore(sleeknoteScriptTag, s); Theres a line near the start of the new musical The Lucky Ones thats a deliberate hedge an explanation of the rules of the show that also leaves those rules a little murky. Kauffman's staging makes full use of Z Space's cavernous performance space at Project Artaud, with the band and the world retreating behind a slowly lowering warehouse door. Dan Meyer By By July 6, 2021. My Joy Is Heavy! See who is performing and learn how to purchase tickets! Andrew Gans Their theater work includes. Folk-Punk Musical Hundred Days Opens Off-Broadway | Playbill The Bengsons nightmare scenario is to have family drama break out in the audience, where they would have to witness it from the stage. But accompanied by a wonderfully droll quartet of singing musicians Colette Alexander, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham and Reggie D. White the Bengsons are stirring, and surprisingly witty, company. Hundred Days now takes place entirely in New York City (mostly in Astoria, Queens), with lots of internal detours into the twisty corridors of each partners mind. Over the past few weeks, the folk-rock/theatre-making duo and a team of collaborators have been experimenting at the Brooklyn venue on the development of their new work. The album is produced by The Bengsons, Ian Kagey, and Kurt . By The change in the Off-Broadway theatre's guidelines was tweeted yesterday. Copyright 2023 DC Theater Arts. Performances are set for April 15 and 16 with indoor and virtual audiences. Shaun and Abigial Bengson. Dr. Shaun Rodgers, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Cohen Children's Medical Center part of Northwell Health in New York said his hospital is still seeing an above-average number of brain . To their amusingly and typically chaotic pandemic era home - with instruments, toys, food, books and art strewn all about - they quietly deal with chronic pain (hers) and depression (his). "Hundred Days" runs at La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum until oct. 21, 2018. Their music has been featured several times on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). La Jolla Playhouse | Sovereignty Hymns | La Jolla Playhouse Yet the acceptability of drawing bystanders into ones own art is one of the great ethical debates in any kind of autobiography. Primarily for ethical reasons, Ms. Bengson said, they did not contact relatives of the person who was killed. But those three weeks in between meeting and tying the knot, the pair told NBC 7 San Diego, was the . By July 20, 2021. They were so sure that each was the one for the other that they married three weeks after they met, having summarily displaced a pre-existing boyfriend (in her case) and roommate (in his). September 22, 2020. The Harold Pinter classic opens October 21 as part of the theatre companys Welcome Back season. The production, directed by Anne Kauffman, premieres December 4 after beginning previews November 15. At least at the start, they also nursed the nave wish to repair what had been broken in Ms. Bengsons adolescence to Parent Trap the family, as Mr. Bengson put it. paragraph.style.width = '0px'; Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. Theyre people with a lot of pain and a lot of damage, she said, but also a lot of strength and a lot of magic., They are also so intertwined, personally and professionally, that they share a bio in the program for The Lucky Ones., Is that gross? Ms. Bengson asked recently, in the tone of someone checking to make sure she doesnt have lipstick on her teeth. For a musical that's so much about creating memories to last and evoke a lifetime, Hundred Days succeeds brilliantly in etching its eloquent lines and infectious melodies indelibly on the brain. // Create a new style element Arena Stage debuts the Bengsons' musical 'My Joy Is Heavy!' - The | And each of the songs are terrific; one an apology for how a bad pandemic era had gotten worse, another about light in the darkness, and one that recalls heartbreak but commits to happiness. Ryan McPhee They've learned the best from indie music videos and are able to convey the beauty and reality of Vermont winter while eking out metaphors in its landscape. Logan Culwell-Block Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Chris Myers, Billy Eugene Jones, Billy Eugene Jones, Chris Myers, Shaun Bengson, Abigail Bengson, Billy Eugene Jones, Joshua Kahan Brody, Jeff Augustin, Chris Myers, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Abigail Bengson, Jeff Augustin, Joshua Kahan Brody, Billy Eugene Jones, Chris Myers, Billy Eugene Jones (center); Abigail Bengson and Shaun Bengson (background), Chris Myers (foreground); background: Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, and Billy Eugene Jones. By the time of its making, the two and their young son have made their way to her childhood home in snowy Vermont with the likely intent of chronicling their time there in song during an already strange time. From the moment Shaun and Abigail Bengson met 11 years ago, there was a third wheel in their relationship a matter for no small measure of stress and apprehension. Now, they invite the public to participate in a hybrid congregation., In our new work, the idea is that loss is the mechanism by which God comes close, says Abigail Bengson. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille. Sovereignty Hymns features a series of original songs exploring questions about reproductive liberty. This year has really been about connection, and we have connected to people all over the world in a very real and humbling way.. No doubt "My Joy is Heavy!" 'Hundred Days' - the anatomy of a rock opera - SFGATE Ms. Bengson is sure of her right to tell such a story onstage because it is a fundamental trauma of her past, overlapping though it does with other peoples pain and struggles. And the sound of Ms. Bengson wailing like a banshee as she considers the mangling trap that is love will echo in your ears for days to come. March 15, 2022, By The storied venue will next present The Tap Dance Kid as part of its Encores! Running time: Twenty-seven minutes, followed by a 15 minute discussion between The Bengsons and Molly Smith. Stephen Mallatratts adaptation of Susan Hill's novel will again play London's Fortune Theatre. October 12, 2020. Celebrate the return of live theatre with some backstage photos from the companies of Six, Moulin Rouge! So The Lucky Ones is wounded autobiography veiled in fiction. Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. September 10, 2021. Logan Culwell-Block The various safety protocols were released as both new and returning shows enter rehearsals. April 15, 2021. SHUCKED, SOME LIKE IT HOT Lead Nominations for 2023 Drama Desk Awards, Ars Nova Original Off-Broadway Production, 2018. A couple's intimate portrait of celebrating joy during difficult times. Dan Meyer Huge News for Theater Couple with Dayton Roots! | Dayton937 For their part, the Bengsons composed a new memoir musical titledMy Joy Is Heavy!, which is currently streaming on Arenas website for free. The theatre company expects to resume performances, on Broadway and off, this fall. Allen Willner's shifting lights accentuate that live-gig atmosphere, bathing the stage in one color or another when it's time to really rock out. July 29, 2021. Married Couple Explores Falling in Love in the Face of Fear in Ars Novawill celebrate its 20th Anniversary and honor its foundersJenny & Jon SteingartatNova Ball, Ars Novas annual benefit-turned-party of the season. Even the notion of miscarriage is for some reason socially shrouded in silence, leaving shattered would-be parents to mourn alone. styleElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(cssRule)); Ill eat those eggs. Certainly there are heartbreaking moments in the play, but the overwhelming experience of Hundred Days is one of joy. Photo by Paul de Luna. Manhattan Theatre Club has announced full casting and performance dates for Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nominee Jeff Augustin (The New Englanders, The Morning Show) and directed by Princess Grace Award winner Joshua Kahan Brody, with music by The Bengsons (Hundred Days, The Lucky Ones). The songs are so catchy, propulsive and soul-soaringly jubilant that at some point I realized that I'd spent a large portion of the show with a silly grin on my face. Anyone can read what you share. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Natan Zamansky With a full rock band, a choir of singers, dazzling sets, and breathtaking music, Hundred Days is the Bay Area's hottest world premiere of the year. Know Theatre Favorite Indie-Folk Acting Duo The Bengsons Produce the Id be like, Hey, its Friday, talking about nothing, and then Id sing this heavy piece of music, talking about everything, she said, and she realized thats not so different from what shes doing with the show itself. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Even days afterward, having heard the songs only once, I get a surge of visceral pleasure every time one of them runs through my head. Here's What to Know, Nathan Fletcher's Accuser Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Filing Lawsuit, Escondido Middle School Teachers Sue Over District's Transgender Pronoun Policy, Hundreds of Migrants Arrive at San Ysidro Port of Entry as Title 42 End Looms. At other times, particularly toward the end, the Bengsons fully embody the roles of Will and Sarah, bringing the whole emotional impact of their musical performance, presence and obvious chemistry into the bittersweet tale of this other, fictional couple. You join them in an absolutely stunning ride that careens into life themes at every turn. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.. | A Childhood Eden Seared by Violence. Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. I know that in taking this on, I cant be meek, I cant glaze over, I cant allow fear or denial to be the story of our family, because that was toxic, too.. In a quieter, more reserved performance, Shaun Bengson is played by the talented Alec Phan, with Royen Kent alternating in the role on weekends. Their theater work includes Sovereignty Hymns (La Jolla Playhouse), The Keep Going Song (Actors Theatre of Louisville), My Joy is Heavy (Arena Stage), Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (ATLs Humana Festival; Manhattan Theatre Club), Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theatre Festival), Youll Still Call Me By Name (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow), and Iphigenia in Aulis (Classic Stage Company). | The Bengsons' Hundred Days to Release Cast Recording Shaun Bengson, Abigail Bengson, Jeff Augustin, Joshua Kahan Brody, Billy Eugene Jones, Chris Myers From: Photos: Go Inside Opening Night of WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA at Manhattan Theatre Club Sonya Tayeh, currently Tony-nominated for Moulin Rouge!, serves as movement director. Marc J. Franklin Hundred Days, the luminous musical memoir by the Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, is an everyday horror story with a very provisional happy ending like so many chapters of human existence. Hundred Days - New York Theatre Workshop - Abigail and Shaun Bengson June 24, 2021, By } else { The Atlantic Theater Company production features Anyanwu, Daniel J. Watts, and Xavier Scott Evans. Ryan McPhee Do Broadway and Off-Broadway Theatres Still Require Masks? May 10, 2021. By March 16, 2022, By Then, they dreamed bigger: a Broadway musical! Ms. Bengson, 35, has a tale to tell about the autumn she was 15, when her family shattered and the seemingly safe Eden she grew up in was lost forever. More than a dozen shows are part of the promotion, including Hamilton, Hadestown, and more. Because of past trauma in her life, Abigail said, getting close to anyone in a short period of time brought on an enormous amount of PTSD. | Leah Putnam Andrew Gans Im like, here I am, sending tapes to them, 20 years later.. Then, the pair started to strip the concept back and they arrived at theirpresent concept: "using the theatricality that we gathered and learned along the way, but in service to a humbler story that is hopefully more honest as well," Abigail said. const cssRule = '.my-paragraph { margin-bottom: 0px !important; }'; A young couple meets, falls in love and gets married right away, only to find out that one of them has a terminal illness and not long left to live. But three weeks is a long time in the newly discovered country of young love. Its possible that we have all been raised in a way that hurt us, Abigail says in the show. Mr. Bengson, 34, cracked up at this, seated beside her in the apartment in Alphabet City where they stayed through early previews, to be close to the theater. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Anns created the Urban Canvas public art platform on their facade, presented a series of pop-up concerts, and streamed a number of international works. | Abigail Bengson is such a compelling, empathetic figure, with a voice grounded in a folk, shape note singing and gospel as she expresses herself further with upraised hands. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Ryan McPhee | They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who . Dan Meyer Andrew Gans July 8, 2021. March 4, 2022, By They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who take on roles in the story as needed, and they deliver the songs with such quirky exuberance that it's impossible to resist following wherever they want to take the narrative (with a smart book by Kate E. Ryan). We filmed it at my moms, in the house I grew up in, which is where we have been staying for the past six months, Abigail said. Leah Putnam I recognize its a little codependent.. Those interviews became part of the piece. ExPats Theatres production of The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield, directed by Karin Rosnizeck, features two great actors, but stumbles with low production quality and a script which doesnt do its characters justice. October 15, 2020. Wearing a black leather biker jacket over a slinky white dress, the long dark haired Ms. Bengson has an alluring presence, a powerful voice and plays drums. January 2, 2022. The premise of Hundred Days, the new indie-rock musical at Z Space, sounds like it would be a huge downer. By La Jolla Playhouse has announced the presentation of Sovereignty Hymns, a commissioned work that features a video series of original songs exploring questions about reproductive liberty. The Bengsons Pack a Lifetime of Joy into Indie Rock Opera - KQED "Hundred Days," the luminous musical memoir by the Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, is an everyday horror story with a very provisional happy ending like so many chapters of human existence. raises the possibility of continued commissioned filmed projects from theater companies long after theaters reopen. Andrew Gans Three weeks later, the couple got married. Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were married! For a new series of song-based works from Arena Stage, artistic director Molly Smith commissioned new work from music-minded artists with some experience on stage. May 26, 2021. There'd be much more unplugging to be done today. Then in early July a pivotal phone call came. The first, "My Joy is Heavy!" Shaun's contributions include a deft melodic touch, technological prowess and musical ear that allows the inclusion of drums, guitar, accordion, and all manner of other instruments as well as. September 5, 2021. St. Anns Warehouse will reopen its doors this spring with a pair of concerts from The Bengsons, performing their new work-in-progress The Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from Ohio. And saying, 'yes the world is a terrifying place, yes we don't know how long we'll have with the ones we love, but I'm going to live anyway and I'm going to keep moving forward and let my heart be open and let my heart break as it will.'". Ms. Bengson says that she and her husband are both profoundly introverted, but you wouldnt know it from talking with them. Their video for, has been viewed over 4 million times. Even the parts that never happened.. Dan Meyer The limited engagement of the Jason Robert Brown revue will begin in February 2021. The subsequent revisions suggest that autobiography is a highly mutable art form. Dan Meyer The Bengsons drove to Dayton, Ohio, to stay with Shauns parents, and they put together an hour-long concert for the Louisville theater. | In 2017, the couples Off-Broadway theatrical concert, Hundred Days, toured across the U.S. and was a big hit. Shaun is clearly a talented musician and Abigail a powerful singer, even if she does occasionally overindulge in the sort of bluesy caterwauling that even Janis Joplin would find over the top. CREDITS Created by and featuring the music of: Abigail & Shaun Bengson Director: Anne Kauffman Book by: Kate E. Ryan Producer (Z Space): Lisa Steindler Recent notable theatre interviews include legendary actor Ben Vereen, Broadway make-up artist Angelina Avallone and the extraordinary Idina Menzel. Either way, the closest Ms. Bengson has felt to how she did before her family cracked apart is with the artistic family behind The Lucky Ones, a show that allows her to spend time again in her childhood Eden, if only in her imagination. Three of their singles have been featured on "So You. Dan Meyer comes from the first rate married couple and musical duo The Bengsons, who have previously channeled their exuberant, personal music through theatrical performances.