"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. Copyright 1991-2023 Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved. They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who . Our memoir pieces need to reflect whats going on in our own hearts and bodies as we process the world, Abigail said. Use this COVID-19 protocols checklist before heading Andrew Gans | Anne Kauffman and Caitlin Sullivan direct. CREDITS Created by and featuring the music of: Abigail & Shaun Bengson Director: Anne Kauffman Book by: Kate E. Ryan Producer (Z Space): Lisa Steindler Just by being so real and powerful, and serving as kind of an emotional catharsis for our own time of global trauma, "My Joy is Heavy!" The story, which is reminiscent of the more fully-realized Broadway musical, "Once," unfolds through short dialogues that are alternately pithy, poignant and playful. Phylicia Rashad and Brandon J. Dirden star in the Manhattan Theatre Club premiere by Tony nominee Dominique Morisseau. Their return also marks the launch of their 40th season in operation. Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. 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. 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. By By Like Abigail, the character she plays in The Lucky Ones, Ms. Bengson grew up in an extended hippie family that revolved around a school. Andrew Gans 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. Its title song captured and likely inspired 4 million viewers on YouTube, and maybe just nudged Smith to tap The Bengsons to create something for the series they're calling Arena Riffs. From left, Jo Lampert, Ms. Bengson and Mr. Bengson in this poignant 90-minute show at New York Theater Workshop. Nominated for a 2018 Lucille Lortel Award, Hundred Days runs in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum September 22 - October 21. Review Roundup: NEW YORK, NEW YORK Opens On Broadway! More than a dozen shows are part of the promotion, including Hamilton, Hadestown, and more. | The production runs 90 minutes and has no intermission. The Off-Broadway company recently canceled its Under the Radar Festival due to rising case numbers. | Hello friends!Here's our official Tiny Desk Contest 2020 submission!THE BENGSONSAbigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo who have performed across the country and around the world. The form in which the husband-and-wife team of Shaun and Abigail Bengson couch their response is a sort of luxuriant, sentimental-cool folk rock, in which fatalistic and angry drumming figures prominently, along with sweet, swirling chords. Andrew Gans | Actors' Equity Sets Protocols For the Return of In-Person Auditions, Playwrights Horizons Drops COVID-19 Booster Requirement, Two Years After the Shutdown, Broadway is Back, Broadway Mask, Vaccination Policies to Remain in Place as New York Lifts Its Own Requirements, Broadway COVID Safety Team Celebrates 2,000 Broadway Performances, Broadway Week's 2-For-1 Ticket Deals Extend Through February 27, Audible Theater Sets Off-Broadway Return for, New York City Center Will Require Proof of COVID-19 Booster in Addition to Complete Vaccination, The Public Theater Will Require Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination and Booster, Go Inside Rehearsal for Jason Robert Browns, 2020 Tony Award Nominations Announced October 15. All rights reserved, US Readies Second Attempt at Speedy Border Asylum Screenings, Man, 20s, Dies of Heat Exhaustion on El Capitan Trail in Lakeside, New Rules for Short-Term Vacation Rentals in San Diego Start May 1. | Ars Nova, which also co-produced Sundown, Yellow Moon, a Rachel Bonds play with music by the Bengsons, has an estimable record with nontraditional musicals that includes birthing Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. It was the company that matched Ms. Gancher with the Bengsons several years ago. Abigail Bengson in Hundred Days In Hundred Days, real-life married couple Abigail and Shaun. Ryan McPhee Sonya Tayeh, currently Tony-nominated for Moulin Rouge!, serves as movement director. January 19, 2022, By Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you! To wit: Whether by choice, chance or ultimately and unavoidably death, you will be separated from the person you love most. Hayley Levitt, Leah Putnam When not writing, Keith can be found playing with his daughters, Jordan and Cassidy. And I can't imagine wanting it any other way. Hes going to be a pirate by 5, she said, and her husband laughed again. The various safety protocols were released as both new and returning shows enter rehearsals. He seems gentle, diffident but steely underneath, while theres a sparkle to her, and a healthy dash of punk spicing her earth-mother serenity. "Hundred Days" runs at La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum until oct. 21, 2018. Thats true even when you change names and details, and create what Mr. Bengson called the novel-myth version of the story. So The Lucky Ones is wounded autobiography veiled in fiction. We and our partners share information on your use of this website to help improve your experience. November 21, 2022, By 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. Dan Meyer the Musical!, Tina, David Byrne's American Utopia, Stomp, Jersey Boys, and more. April 9, 2021. Yet the acceptability of drawing bystanders into ones own art is one of the great ethical debates in any kind of autobiography. 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. April 15, 2021. September 24, 2021. That changed a few times as our lives changed, as she ran with us as things kept evolving.. Stay informed with one email every other weekright to your inbox. But three weeks is a long time in the newly discovered country of young love. Running time: Twenty-seven minutes, followed by a 15 minute discussion between The Bengsons and Molly Smith. Do Broadway and Off-Broadway Theatres Still Require Masks? 43K Followers, 2,442 Following, 548 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Abigail & Shaun Bengson (@thebengsons) The one possible relevance that the period has (besides possible medical advances since then) is how easy it is for Sarah and Will to seclude themselves in their home and remove themselves from any indication of what day or decade it really is. 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. January 6, 2022, By The immersive theatrical experience resumes performances at The McKittrick Hotel. September 22, 2020. In her own family, opinion about the existence of the show is divided some of those depicted vehemently in favor, some opposed. Meg Masseron 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. By By In the new show, an extended family runs a school together, raising their children Abigail, her sisters and their cousins in a kind of hippie idyll. September 5, 2021. April 14, 2022, By October 20, 2020. Three of their singles have been featured on "So You. The Daniel Craig-led production is back after cases of COVID within the company put a pause on performances. March 15, 2022, By Hundred Days (the title refers to packing a whole lifes experience into that period of time) was performed in an earlier version in January at the Under the Radar Festival of experimental theater. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rogers Award and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucile Lortel awards. By | Dan Meyer 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. 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. The Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from Ohio features performances by artists including Barrie Lobo McLain, Vuyo Sotashe, and Allan K. Washington. By 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. } Three of their singles have been featured on "So You Think You Can Dance" (FOX). But its what Im trying to do., One of my sisters, she said, Dont let your fear get in the way of the truth of this, Ms. Bengson added. Michael R. Jackson, John Gallagher, Jr. & More to be Featured in Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 Concert Series, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tina Fey & More to Celebrate Ars Nova 20th Anniversary at NOVA BALL, Photos: On the Red Carpet for the 66th Annual Obie Awards, Photos: Go Inside Opening Night of WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA at Manhattan Theatre Club, Photos: First Look at WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA at Manhattan Theatre Club, Photo Coverage: The Public Theater Celebrates Launch of 13th Annual UNDER THE RADAR. The first two months of performances take place with social distancing. Andrew Gans Raven Brunner He majored in musicology at Indiana University and moved to. The musical, based on the blockbuster film of the same name, reopens at a different venue: the Savoy Theatre. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The production, directed by Anne Kauffman, premieres December 4 after beginning previews November 15. September 10, 2021. Shaun's fast and folky acoustic-guitar strumming and Abigail's delightful alt-rock vocals establish a beautifully resonant intimacy and then swell into a magnificent full-ensemble sound with the drums thundering and the ensemble singing in transcendent unison. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Visually, the piece is as bright as The Bengsons' surroundings (and outlook). Ryan McPhee Log in. March 20, 2021 Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. Leah Putnam Shaun 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. Can they make it through the term without the worry? 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. | For their part, the Bengsons composed a new memoir musical titledMy Joy Is Heavy!, which is currently streaming on Arenas website for free. At first, the Bengsons thought it would just turn out to be a concert or a collection of songs. Thats where The Keep Going Song evolved from. As we enter the second year of pandemic, theater companies have largely shifted from live performance spaces to film and video producers. Just last night, the American Theatre Wing presented the 66th Obie Awards, celebrating and honoring Off- and Off-Off-Broadway. The family saga, starring Adrian Lester, Simon Russell Beale, and Adam Godley, plays the Nederlander Theatre. "So letting love win in the battle between love and fear, something we all experience every day. The musical, starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone, was originally slated to open March 22, 2020composer Stephen Sondheims 90th birthday. The Great Performances broadcast includes interviews with Adrienne Warren, Norm Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Aaron Tveit, Chita Rivera, and more. Arriving at this realization has been the seed for all sorts of lyric reflections, be it from ancient Greek odists, Renaissance sonneteers or pop balladeers. to the theatre so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. I wonder if she really wanted to give me eggs, or if she just wanted to make sure I was O.K.. 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. "The most important theme of 'HundredDays' is moving through fear in the name of love," Abigail said. Its been incredible that weve gotten to work through the year, and how this song has gone viral, Shaun said. The Rob McClure-led musical has been facing breakthrough COVID cases among its cast. Were interested in this great loss that weve all been moving through that has many names and is communal, but is also specific and particular to each person. But on top of this there is hope in the form of a pregnancy. To whatever degree The Lucky Ones is fictionalized, she finds it really lovely to be working on a true story., I spend so much of my life making up characters or brainstorming situations or coming up with scenarios, Ms. Gancher said. May 25, 2022, By In the 27-minute piece, the Bengsons present an intimate portrait of celebrating joy during difficult times, which for the couple included dealing with chronic pain and suffering a miscarriage during the COVID-19 lockdown. By | Yet she is terrified of compounding. Dan Meyer July 29, 2021. "To do the show, honestly, I really have to look squarely at what is terrifying me right now, and there's plenty to be afraid of, and say, 'okay, let's keep moving, let's love each other anyway, let's love the world anyway and see what happens,'" Abigail said. 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. | Dan Meyer The cast of Hundred Days was made up of Colette Alexander, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham, and Reggie D. White. Three weeks later, the couple got married. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/theater/bengsons-the-lucky-ones-ars-nova.html, Abigail and Shaun Bengson, a married pair of singer-songwriters whove turned their personal stories into theater, most recently in The Lucky Ones.. 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. "My Joy is Heavy!" 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. | Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting theNew York premiere ofWhere the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nomineeJeff Augustin and directed by Princess Grace Award winnerJoshua Kahan Brody,with music byThe Bengsons. January 11, 2022, By The Joaquina Kalukango-led production has been on hiatus since April 7. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the red carpet here! 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. 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. The letters pile up outside, but if they unplug the radio and the phone, they're disconnected. That was 13 years ago, and today, the dynamic duo composes and performs together around the world. The piece is based on the couple's real-life story of how they got together and fell in love. paragraph.style.position = 'absolute'; Some have come to see it. Dan Meyer Dan Meyer sleeknoteScriptTag.src = ('//sleeknotecustomerscripts.sleeknote.com/47716.js'); 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). | Mr. and Ms. Bengson, known for their eloquent musical contributions to downtown New York theater pieces, are one of those rare couples who really did fall in love at first sight (at a massive anti-folk folk-punk old-timey neo soul band rehearsal). } else { Louie, their blond-ringleted toddler, is a year and a half old, and Ms. Bengson throws up her hands at the challenge of not swearing in front of him. By Its possible that we have all been raised in a way that hurt us, Abigail says in the show. Im like, here I am, sending tapes to them, 20 years later.. can be accessed on the Arena Stage YouTube channel. Abigail Bengson and Shaun Bengson Emilio Madrid-Kuser "In our new work, the idea is that loss is the mechanism by which God comes close," says Abigail Bengson. 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. Reggie D. White (whose Beyonce parody video "Dunkin Love" is currently going viral) and Amy Lizardo act as stand-ins for the couple in the story, sometimes silently acting out a scene while the Bengsons voice the dialogue in song, and occasionally singing the parts themselves (and forcefully, at that). styleElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(cssRule)); Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.. })(); 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. By 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). July 29, 2021. March 16, 2022, By Otherwise manning a DJ set that includes an old-fashioned gramophone, Jo Lampert gives an achingly resonant performance as Will's best friend Max, a boisterous and bawdy dude whose devotion to his friend is absolute and tinged with (seemingly platonic) yearning. As you may gather from the fact that they are now married and performing together, the Bengsons got over their crisis of faith long enough to commit to a relationship that, life being what it is, will never be a sure thing. By Ill eat those eggs. Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. 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. Rocking cellist El Beh doubles as the compassionate doctor who has to break the bad news (a far cry from the creepy nurse she played in Symmetry Theatre's recent Carnival Round the Central Figure). The Broadway revival, on hold due to the pandemic, will now begin previews March 9, 2022. | | Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Eliots work. The front-line team has provided COVID compliance safety for 1.8 million audience members seeing more than 30 shows on Broadway and beyond. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Logan Culwell-Block We made the whole piece on our cell phones, filming each other and things that were going on.. By Melissa Kaitlyn Carter is a cheery presence as Sarah's best friend Caroline, and Dalene Mason is mournfully somber as Will's forbiddingly distant father. 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. You can buy tickets here. And she has a deep affection for the Bengsons. // Define the CSS rule for the .my-paragraph class In 2001 he began to explore beyond the Miami Valley. The Bengsons. The previously announced Boy Falls from the Sky, Room, and more have new dates. The musical, starring Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler, plays Sheas Buffalo Theatre through September 24. More upcoming/ in development: Ohio (piece by piece productions). Ars Novawill celebrate its 20th Anniversary and honor its foundersJenny & Jon SteingartatNova Ball, Ars Novas annual benefit-turned-party of the season. Most of the cast will return to the roles they were playing when previews began prior to the pandemic. September 8, 2021. | By January 7, 2022, By s.parentNode.insertBefore(sleeknoteScriptTag, s); Colette Alexander, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham, and Reggie D. White, By The four-week showcase will feature over 450 artists across 160 varied performances. July 8, 2021. Their music has been featured several times on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). Their theater work includes. When I had a miscarriage, that shaped what we were going through, and this became a healing practice for us to make this together.. September 13, 2021. comes from the first rate married couple and musical duo The Bengsons, who have previously channeled their exuberant, personal music through theatrical performances. Celebrate the return of live theatre with some backstage photos from the companies of Six, Moulin Rouge! Logan Culwell-Block So Will and Sarah decide to shut themselves away from the world and live their last 100 days together as if they were 60 years, celebrating all the birthdays and anniversaries and other cherished memories they would have if they grew old together. bar mitzvah speech from sister,
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