It wouldn't affect what would happen one way or another, and it may be healthier in the long run. 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. Copyright 2023 DC Theater Arts. For the first time since the pandemic shutdown, Actors' Theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan is returning to its home stage at Spectrum Theater on the Grand Rapids Community College campus. Hayley Levitt, Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 will present NEXT@LCT3, a concert series of performances at the Claire Tow Theater. For their part, the Bengsons composed a new memoir musical titledMy Joy Is Heavy!, which is currently streaming on Arenas website for free. Critical reception of The Lucky Ones has been mixed, with Jesse Green of The New York Times calling it a gawky, powerful work in progress, while Sandy MacDonald, in Time Out New York, found it harrowing.. By Shaun has struggled with other health issues over the years, including non-cancerous cysts in his testicles, which he first noticed during lockdown, meaning he was unable to have them operated on. const styleElement = document.createElement('style'); I dont know. "Hundred Days" runs at La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum until oct. 21, 2018. | By Its possible that we have all been raised in a way that hurt us, Abigail says in the show. sleeknoteScriptTag.charset = 'utf-8'; This is a true story, Shaun Bengson tells the audience from the stage of the Connelly Theater in the East Village. The Off-Broadway company recently canceled its Under the Radar Festival due to rising case numbers. paragraph.style.width = '0px'; 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. 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 harmony vocals often on backing tapes to give the duo an added grandeur. For tickets and information visit zspace.org. You have entered an incorrect email address! At the same time, though, there's not a clunker in the whole set. 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. | Some of those tapes, she said, have been to prison and back cassettes on which her budding-songwriter self set down in music the fraught emotions she couldnt speak. | 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). Structured as a live concert, with bits of storytelling woven in (the songs are by Abigail Nessen-Bengson and Shaun Bengson, who write and perform under the name The Bengsons, and the book by the . Such music is a natural vehicle for the torturous ambivalence of falling in love as young, brooding artists steeped in mortal thoughts. raises the possibility of continued commissioned filmed projects from theater companies long after theaters reopen. | I wouldn't want to forget a moment of it. Visually, the piece is as bright as The Bengsons' surroundings (and outlook). By March 15, 2022, By A few performances deeper into previews, after they had moved back home to Queens, Ms. Bengson sat at their blond-wood kitchen table, a plastic bag of old cassette tapes in front of her. But she thinks of Eden now as a place you have to outgrow, accepting the complexity of life and the presence of darkness without fixating on the darkness. The piece is based on the couple's real-life story of how they got together and fell in love. 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. // Append the CSS rule to the style element | They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards. The stage performers' union will not re-open their audition centers, but is allowing employers to host their own in-person calls. var sleeknoteScriptTag = document.createElement('script'); 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. And I do mean overwhelming. By Their fierce 2015 production imagined a young couple whose time is cut short by illness but. programming. Three weeks later, the couple got married. That was 13 years ago, and today, the dynamic duo composes and performs together around the world. 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. July 29, 2021. 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. 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. My Joy Is Heavy! Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. 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. 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. April 14, 2022, By But three weeks is a long time in the newly discovered country of young love. By Andrew Gans | By Sign up for reopening news, announcements, and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows! Meg Masseron Ryan McPhee Ryan McPhee The Bengsons. April 9, 2021. September 13, 2021. Can they make it through the term without the worry? Ryan McPhee Copyright 1991-2023 Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved. Ill eat those eggs. 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. It's a show that forces both Abigail and Shaun to look at their life and what is terrifying them before they step on stage -- and then face it. So it was no surprise when Arena Stage reached out to the Bengsons to take part in the theaters three part-commissioned music series, Arena Riffs. Ryan McPhee By if (styleElement.styleSheet) { I recognize its a little codependent.. 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. July 20, 2021. 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. The story, which is reminiscent of the more fully-realized Broadway musical, "Once," unfolds through short dialogues that are alternately pithy, poignant and playful. Such considerations are usually private matters. A while later, this cameo struck Ms. Bengson as curious. In a quieter, more reserved performance, Shaun Bengson is played by the talented Alec Phan, with Royen Kent alternating in the role on weekends. Natan Zamansky 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. Staged with resonant economy by the talented Anne Kauffman, with sharp and subtle movement direction by Sonya Tayeh, Hundred Days is cabaret as cri de coeur, and it is advisable to watch it with a handkerchief at the ready. | Would just being grateful and happy during the same period be a better approach? See who is performing and learn how to purchase tickets! April 15, 2021. 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. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Ms. Bengson says that she and her husband are both profoundly introverted, but you wouldnt know it from talking with them. 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. 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. A cross-country road trip that occupied the shows center 11 months ago has been jettisoned. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.. | Yet she is terrified of compounding. Ancram Opera House presents AN EVENING WITH THE BENGSONS at the Circa 1799 Barn in Ancramdale. We made the whole piece on our cell phones, filming each other and things that were going on.. 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. Abigail Bengson has appeared on HBO's High Maintenance and also toured as a member of tUnE-yArDs, including an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.instagram: @thebengsonswww.bengsons.com 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. Bursts of banter lead into . Created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson (Hundred Days), the series is inspired by interviews with people whose lives have been impacted by abortion.In this work, the Bengsons queried, can we have an empathetic conversation about . 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. James Monroe Iglehart unveils the list of nominees for a season cut short due to the pandemic. A trio of the indie-folk duos songs have also been featured on So You Think You Can Dance, and one of their most recent singles, The Keep Going Song, has been viewed more than 4 million times on social media. And I can't imagine wanting it any other way. Hundred Days runs through April 6, 2014 at Z Space in San Francisco. | By We and our partners share information on your use of this website to help improve your experience. The four-week showcase will feature over 450 artists across 160 varied performances. At first, the Bengsons thought it would just turn out to be a concert or a collection of songs. Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo. All this is supposedly taking place in the 1940s, but the period setting never becomes important or even discernible, and of course it has no bearing on the musical style. September 5, 2021. Shaun and Abigial Bengson. The Daniel Craig-led production is back after cases of COVID within the company put a pause on performances. By The album, which features the cast of the NYTW production, will be released September 21. In Hundred Days, real-life married couple Abigail and Shaun Bengson (the duo behind Ars Nova's The Lucky Ones) detail the story of how they . June 24, 2021, By Three weeks later, the couple got married. Abigail and Shaun Bengson performing in "My Joy Is Heavy!" (Arena Stage) Gift Article It feels something like a privilege to be given access to the melodic intimacies of "My Joy Is Heavy!," a. 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! May 26, 2021. SHUCKED, SOME LIKE IT HOT Lead Nominations for 2023 Drama Desk Awards, Ars Nova Original Off-Broadway Production, 2018. May 3, 2021. sleeknoteScriptTag.type = 'text/javascript'; The story is of the classic boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl-because-life-is-nothing-but-loss mold. The Joaquina Kalukango-led production has been on hiatus since April 7. The Bengsons display the pleasures, joys and the emotional tolls of the events of the past year and how they managed to cultivate and hold onto happiness even during these dark, difficult times. You join them in an absolutely stunning ride that careens into life themes at every turn. 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. | 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. is streaming free on YouTube. Get a first look at photos here! document.head.appendChild(styleElement); St. Anns Warehouse to Begin Indoor Performances With The Bengsons, Track-by-Track Breakdown: The Bengsons on Crafting Their, joins New Yorks flexible cultural spaces, JoAnn M. Hunter's Exclusive Playbill Photoshoot, See Natasha Lyonne, Larry Owens, Ronan Farrow, More Celebrate The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window Opening Night. Before the pandemic hit, the couple were working on the music for a play at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and after one performance, the country shut down. | By The Bengsons A La Jolla Playhouse Commission. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical also features Rhys Whitfield as Raoul. 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. 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). Both Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker have been fighting cases of COVID, which put the Neil Simon revival on hiatus. The Bengsons performing in The Lucky Ones, which is the second part of a trilogy. while examining the way Shaun Bengson's inherited hearing loss intertwines with his journey of losing and finding faith. The family saga, starring Adrian Lester, Simon Russell Beale, and Adam Godley, plays the Nederlander Theatre. Not all the songs are like that, certainly; there's a lot of stylistic variety while maintaining a distinctive unified sound. In a dynamic staging by director Anne Kauffman, the show has the look and feel of a rock concert, complete (at least on opening night) with a roaring crowd. By Marc J. Franklin So The Lucky Ones is wounded autobiography veiled in fiction. Talaura Harms The stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's film returns to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. By The letters pile up outside, but if they unplug the radio and the phone, they're disconnected. | Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. and AARP the Magazine. 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. Up Close & Sweaty with Haus of Sequins, Nightbeast & Kiml, Vienna Light Orchestra Presents: A Tribute to Broadway & The Greatest Showman, The Map for Healing & Recovery Orientation & Sign Up, Darke County Food Truck Rally & Craft Show, Bridgerton Inspired Friends Chai Tea Party. Thats where The Keep Going Song evolved from. // Create a new style element Those interviews became part of the piece. More upcoming/ in development: Ohio (piece by piece productions). This year has really been about connection, and we have connected to people all over the world in a very real and humbling way.. But as the show picks up momentum, their own music sweeps them into galvanizing eruptions of passion and existential anger. 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. 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. Ryan McPhee It was from Robert Fleming, a gay Black man who is executive artistic director of Actors Theatre in . The Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from Ohio features performances by artists including Barrie Lobo McLain, Vuyo Sotashe, and Allan K. Washington. Logan Culwell-Block 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. September 8, 2021. Dan Meyer Abigail said in a phone interview. Dan Meyer Set to Music? Leah Putnam A Childhood Eden Seared by Violence. April 19, 2022, By 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 show smoothly segues from the informality of a tale told in a concert setting to more fully staged scenes. 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. Colette Alexander, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham, and Reggie D. White, By Three of their singles have been featured on So You Think You Can Dance (FOX). July 8, 2021. 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). 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.. Talaura Harms Ars Novawill celebrate its 20th Anniversary and honor its foundersJenny & Jon SteingartatNova Ball, Ars Novas annual benefit-turned-party of the season. Dan Meyer The Off-Broadway production will now play until June 5. July 1, 2021. In her own family, opinion about the existence of the show is divided some of those depicted vehemently in favor, some opposed. 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. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 100 Days created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson with collaborators Anne Kauffman and Sarah Gancher will be at The Public Theater in a limited engagement until Sunday January 15. 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. Though initially charming, Hundred Days goes off course during its second half. Certainly there are heartbreaking moments in the play, but the overwhelming experience of Hundred Days is one of joy. The Bengsons drove to Dayton, Ohio, to stay with Shauns parents, and they put together an hour-long concert for the Louisville theater. Logan Culwell-Block Marc J. Franklin Silhouettes appear through the windows of the rear wall as shadows of the world that carries on outside at a markedly different pace from the life lived behind closed doors. So, youre welcome, Louie., The Bengsons married 10 years ago, three weeks after their first date. 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. Andrew Gans (ATLs Humana Festival; Manhattan Theatre Club), (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow), and, (piece by piece productions). Check out Samantha Barks, Stephanie McKeon and more in costume. Eliots work. Logan Culwell-Block | The physical production is austere, with little in the way of scenery beyond a constellation of light bulbs. Her older sibling, so-called, would respond with feedback on her craftsmanship that helped to shape her as an artist. styleElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(cssRule)); Anyone can read what you share. 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.'". 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. Part co-authored memoir and part touching voyage into an emotional soundscape, this new work in development is a beautiful testament to the sort of inquires made in tandem by the human mind and spirit. Check out photos from opening night here! The musical, starring Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler, plays Sheas Buffalo Theatre through September 24. January 18, 2022, By So by bringing viewers into their homewarts and allthey will see the dirty dishes in the background as the Bengsons sing and dance together, providing that real intimacy. They begin awkwardly and self-consciously, as if reluctant to commit even to performing. And with those words, Mr. Bengson and his wife, Abigail the other half of the folk-rock duo the Bengsons, the indie-theater darlings who created the show for Ars Nova attempt to draw a cloak of privacy around themselves and the people they love. September 22, 2020. The immersive theatrical experience resumes performances at The McKittrick Hotel. const paragraph = document.querySelector('.my-paragraph'); Shaun said that the material they had been working on all got scrapped once the protests started they started to re-approach the entire project. Andrew Gans can be accessed on the Arena Stage YouTube channel. 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. By Anyone can read what you share. And Ms. Bengson, in particular, finds herself opening baggage from her past that would seem to make happiness with someone else impossible. Dan Meyer The various safety protocols were released as both new and returning shows enter rehearsals. Even the parts that never happened.. | })(); 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. 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. 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. styleElement.type = 'text/css'; When I had a miscarriage, that shaped what we were going through, and this became a healing practice for us to make this together.. No doubt "My Joy is Heavy!" We never hear about any war going on, and Christine Crook's costumes aren't noticeably informed by that period. | They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who . 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. 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. Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites. As we enter the second year of pandemic, theater companies have largely shifted from live performance spaces to film and video producers. April 12, 2022, By Its become a language we speak together.. March 3, 2022, By Performances are set for April 15 and 16 with indoor and virtual audiences. Four years ago, shortly after they got the commission from Ars Nova that would result in The Lucky Ones, Ms. Bengson had a miscarriage an event that rocked us very deeply, she said, and set us on this path of wanting to write about family and trauma.. The cast of Hundred Days was made up of Colette Alexander, Abigail Bengson, Shaun Bengson, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham, and Reggie D. White. Logan Culwell-Block Raven Brunner Use this COVID-19 protocols checklist before heading Review: Waltzing With Love and Death in Hundred Days, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/theater/hundred-days-review-shaun-abigail-bengson.html. March 4, 2022, By But on top of this there is hope in the form of a pregnancy. Dan Meyer In 2001 he began to explore beyond the Miami Valley. Their video for, has been viewed over 4 million times. The storied venue will next present The Tap Dance Kid as part of its Encores! This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Andrew Gans Bethany Rickwald Post was not sent - check your email addresses! 43K Followers, 2,442 Following, 548 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Abigail & Shaun Bengson (@thebengsons) October 8, 2020. Which turns out to be all thats needed for a show that celebrates and laments the elusive radiance of a shared life. Is it possible to tell the truth kindly? Ms. Bengson said. By By And maybe hurt us so badly that we will hurt other people.. The previously announced Boy Falls from the Sky, Room, and more have new dates. Sonya Tayeh, currently Tony-nominated for Moulin Rouge!, serves as movement director. 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. 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.