The previously announced Boy Falls from the Sky, Room, and more have new dates. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards. Her older sibling, so-called, would respond with feedback on her craftsmanship that helped to shape her as an artist. By Thats where The Keep Going Song evolved from. the Musical!, Tina, David Byrne's American Utopia, Stomp, Jersey Boys, and more. The Harold Pinter classic opens October 21 as part of the theatre companys Welcome Back season. 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. INTO THE WOODS & More Lead 2023 Drama League Award Nominations. Dan Meyer 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, it's no role at all, but real life and determinations with her husband and son, who makes a couple of key appearances. Part of it was a wish to examine how to go about making a family thoughtfully, unconventionally, as their own parents did even while aware of the unintended harm that parents can cause children in the process. Dan Meyer Ryan McPhee Phylicia Rashad and Brandon J. Dirden star in the Manhattan Theatre Club premiere by Tony nominee Dominique Morisseau. sleeknoteScriptTag.type = 'text/javascript'; 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. July 20, 2021. The shift in focus from outside to inside clarifies and intensifies what was already an affecting piece. sleeknoteScriptTag.charset = 'utf-8'; March 4, 2022, By The production, directed by Anne Kauffman, premieres December 4 after beginning previews November 15. | | Sign up for reopening news, announcements, and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows! paragraph.style.height = '0px'; Their theater work includes Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, Know Theater, Z Space, US Tour), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Sundown, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova/WP), Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, US Tour), Youll Still Call Me By Name (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow). Leah Putnam Get a first look at photos here! Stephen Mallatratts adaptation of Susan Hill's novel will again play London's Fortune Theatre. 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. Were interested in seeing if we can look at that loss as an opportunity to see the divinity in one another.. Recent notable theatre interviews include legendary actor Ben Vereen, Broadway make-up artist Angelina Avallone and the extraordinary Idina Menzel. Just last night, the American Theatre Wing presented the 66th Obie Awards, celebrating and honoring Off- and Off-Off-Broadway. | As we enter the second year of pandemic, theater companies have largely shifted from live performance spaces to film and video producers. 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. | The Bengsonss distinctive stage presence matches the story they tell. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the red carpet here! September 10, 2021. The story is of the classic boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl-because-life-is-nothing-but-loss mold. The album is produced by The Bengsons, Ian Kagey, and Kurt . 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. At first, we were thinking about one thingliving with chronic pain and mental illness, and how that affects the ability to cultivate pleasure and joy. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Keith Loria is a freelance writer and theater lover who has written about everything from business to sports to real estate with a lot of entertainment writing thrown into the mix. 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. I wouldn't want to forget a moment of it. By 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.. And I can't imagine wanting it any other way. The Bengsons Pack a Lifetime of Joy into Indie Rock Opera - KQED Their remarkable submission - just 27 minutes, streaming free through the Arena website - shows the couple sharing their lives through the cruel winter of our pandemic, but also willing and very able to sing about it in real time. That was 13 years ago, and today, the dynamic duo composes and performs together around the world. 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. June 24, 2021, By March 3, 2022, By CREDITS Created by and featuring the music of: Abigail & Shaun Bengson Director: Anne Kauffman Book by: Kate E. Ryan Producer (Z Space): Lisa Steindler Ars Novawill celebrate its 20th Anniversary and honor its foundersJenny & Jon SteingartatNova Ball, Ars Novas annual benefit-turned-party of the season. Certainly there are heartbreaking moments in the play, but the overwhelming experience of Hundred Days is one of joy. But on top of this there is hope in the form of a pregnancy. | But their self-portrait of a show, which was written in collaboration with Ms. Gancher, spends most of its time in the light-devouring shadows of doubt. Huge News for Theater Couple with Dayton Roots! | Dayton937 Visually, the piece is as bright as The Bengsons' surroundings (and outlook). Its conversational, sometimes it seems like a music video or a dance party, sometimes it seems like youre going for a walk with us, Shaun said. The message of Each Kindness should be shared to people everywhere, and the music of Rootstock Republic should be enjoyed by all. But three weeks is a long time in the newly discovered country of young love. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. 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. September 1, 2021. to the theatre so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rogers Award and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucile Lortel awards. // Add the style element to the head of the document "My Joy is Heavy!" More than a dozen shows are part of the promotion, including Hamilton, Hadestown, and more. Bethany Rickwald Eliots work. | The Bengsons | Actors Theatre 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! January 18, 2022, By The one-day-only event, starring Olivier nominees Rachel Tucker and Rachel John, played the West End October 11 following a digital production earlier this summer. Leah Putnam The personable and talented married singer-songwriter couple, Shaun and Abigail Bengson explore their lives in this uneven concert musical. 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). But open to the possibilities of what will happen - and openness is the vanguard of this duo, who are more honest to their songwriting than many people are to their own selves - they turned on cameras. March 16, 2022, By May 26, 2021. Our website is made possible bydisplaying online advertisements to our visitors. Shaun Bengson, left, and Abigail Bengson in Hundred Days at the New York Theater Workshop, a musical that charts the couples up-down-and-up-again relationship. Its become a language we speak together.. Dan Meyer | 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. The beauty part of this is that any question that I can think of to ask, theres an answer to, and the answer is always weirder and more interesting and more surprising and sort of brighter than anything that I could make up.. Not all the songs are like that, certainly; there's a lot of stylistic variety while maintaining a distinctive unified sound. By . Thats true even when you change names and details, and create what Mr. Bengson called the novel-myth version of the story. Manhattan Theatre Clubs New York premiere ofWhere the Mountain Meets the Sea, written by AUDELCO Award nomineeJeff Augustinis in its final week of performances atNew York City Center Stage I. | // Set the style properties for the paragraph element The story, which is reminiscent of the more fully-realized Broadway musical, "Once," unfolds through short dialogues that are alternately pithy, poignant and playful. Ryan McPhee paragraph.style.position = 'absolute'; But those three weeks in between meeting and tying the knot, the pair told NBC 7 San Diego, was the . Three weeks later, the couple got married. May 25, 2022, By Eleven years ago, Abigail and Shaun Bengson met. 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. Raven Brunner | You can read more of his theater writing. The result is a raw and personal expression, wrapped in splendid music and honesty. | 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. | Their notable "Hundred Days," celebrated the meeting of Abigail and Shaun Bengson even as they imagined a time when death would do them part. 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. | By July 27, 2021. So The Lucky Ones is wounded autobiography veiled in fiction. styleElement.appendChild(document.createTextNode(cssRule)); 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. They begin awkwardly and self-consciously, as if reluctant to commit even to performing. 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. (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour). The show smoothly segues from the informality of a tale told in a concert setting to more fully staged scenes.