element with the my-paragraph class 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 blessed news comes with some worry; they've suffered a miscarriage once before and had complications with the birth of their son. | Logan Culwell-Block | Copyright 1991-2023 Playbill Inc. All Rights Reserved. Abigail Bengson says that she. (Unlike many other such narratives, it's the guy who's wasting away before his time.) The Daniel Craig-led production is back after cases of COVID within the company put a pause on performances. By Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. 43K Followers, 2,442 Following, 548 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Abigail & Shaun Bengson (@thebengsons) Set in crunchy small-town New England (a part of Vermont that happens to be in Maine), its a follow-up to Hundred Days, a musical memoir of the Bengsons beginnings as a couple that was a hit last fall at New York Theater Workshop. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rogers Award and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucile Lortel awards. 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.. A cross-country road trip that occupied the shows center 11 months ago has been jettisoned. to the theatre so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Yet the acceptability of drawing bystanders into ones own art is one of the great ethical debates in any kind of autobiography. And maybe hurt us so badly that we will hurt other people.. Hes going to be a pirate by 5, she said, and her husband laughed again. 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. By But on top of this there is hope in the form of a pregnancy. Hundred Days runs through April 6, 2014 at Z Space in San Francisco. He majored in musicology at Indiana University and moved to. Eliots work. 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. 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. November 21, 2022, By He became a music teacher in NYC. The premise of Hundred Days, the new indie-rock musical at Z Space, sounds like it would be a huge downer. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. By BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos from the red carpet here! 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 . 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. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.. 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. 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. As we enter the second year of pandemic, theater companies have largely shifted from live performance spaces to film and video producers. (function () { Thank you, Ms. Bengson said from the kitchen. 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. 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. | No doubt "My Joy is Heavy!" Sonya Tayeh, currently Tony-nominated for Moulin Rouge!, serves as movement director. This is a true story, Shaun Bengson tells the audience from the stage of the Connelly Theater in the East Village. "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. New York's vaccine and mask dates have expired, but both are still required for Broadway audiences. They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rodgers Awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille. 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). 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. Raven Brunner 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.. Blocking belongson the stage,not on websites. 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. Log in. | Phylicia Rashad and Brandon J. Dirden star in the Manhattan Theatre Club premiere by Tony nominee Dominique Morisseau. Celebrate the return of live theatre with some backstage photos from the companies of Six, Moulin Rouge! Raven Brunner At first, the Bengsons thought it would just turn out to be a concert or a collection of songs. The production began previews at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane in August. | The various safety protocols were released as both new and returning shows enter rehearsals. 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. Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's docu-play, with music by Steve Earle, had its 2020 Public Theater run cut short by COVID. // Define the CSS rule for the .my-paragraph class Three weeks later, the couple got married. This. Abigail and Shaun Bengson in Hundred Days; photo: Mark Leialoha. The Atlantic Theater Company production features Anyanwu, Daniel J. Watts, and Xavier Scott Evans. Its possible that we have all been raised in a way that hurt us, Abigail says in the show. Sovereignty Hymns. 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. 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 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. 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. Running time: Twenty-seven minutes, followed by a 15 minute discussion between The Bengsons and Molly Smith. And I can't imagine wanting it any other way. Certainly there are heartbreaking moments in the play, but the overwhelming experience of Hundred Days is one of joy. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. })(); 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. Shaun and Abigial Bengson. Review Roundup: Sean Hayes Stars In GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR On Broadway! March 12, 2022, By | 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. The limited engagement of the Jason Robert Brown revue will begin in February 2021. | The four-week showcase will feature over 450 artists across 160 varied performances. "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. By Photo by Paul de Luna. Their return also marks the launch of their 40th season in operation. paragraph.style.height = '0px'; Their video for, has been viewed over 4 million times. The Great Performances broadcast includes interviews with Adrienne Warren, Norm Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Aaron Tveit, Chita Rivera, and more. 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. In reality, though, the person in her clan who killed someone was not a blood relative but rather a person she had been raised to consider an older sibling someone she loved and admired, who wrote strange and beautiful music, who claimed to hear voices and did as they instructed. Some have come to see it. 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. Such considerations are usually private matters. Marc J. Franklin Ryan McPhee Ryan McPhee 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. | By 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. It was from Robert Fleming, a gay Black man who is executive artistic director of Actors Theatre in . In 2001 he began to explore beyond the Miami Valley. Their fierce 2015 production imagined a young couple whose time is cut short by illness but. 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. 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. window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'AW-10891449219'); 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. } January 18, 2022, By The shift in focus from outside to inside clarifies and intensifies what was already an affecting piece. 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. Which turns out to be all thats needed for a show that celebrates and laments the elusive radiance of a shared life. The 74th annual ceremony will air in two parts across Paramount+ and CBS. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo. The Bengsons drove to Dayton, Ohio, to stay with Shauns parents, and they put together an hour-long concert for the Louisville theater. 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. January 19, 2022, By May 25, 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. Andrew Gans Though initially charming, Hundred Days goes off course during its second half. const cssRule = '.my-paragraph { margin-bottom: 0px !important; }'; Working in the first few months of the pandemic at Shaun's parent's home in Dayton, Ohio, they mustered as much uplift as they could for "The Keep Going Song," a show presented (virtually, of course) through the Actors Theater of Louisville. "We asked the question, 'well, what would we do, if we didn't very much time left together, if we did get the the terrible news, how would we handle it?'" What did our critic think of OPEN at Nu Sass? | Dan Meyer by The Bengsons arenastage1 2.96K subscribers Subscribe 1.2K 50K views 1 year ago Arena Stage is excited to present a newly commissioned filmed music series, Arena Riffs, featuring. Ms. Bengson says that she and her husband are both profoundly introverted, but you wouldnt know it from talking with them. October 20, 2020. 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). Primarily for ethical reasons, Ms. Bengson said, they did not contact relatives of the person who was killed. By Ryan McPhee if (styleElement.styleSheet) { | One isn't necessary. We made the whole piece on our cell phones, filming each other and things that were going on.. You have entered an incorrect email address! I recognize its a little codependent.. Three weeks later, the couple got married. And I really hoped that wasnt so.. 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. 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. That was 13 years ago, and today, the dynamic duo composes and performs together around the world. Logan Culwell-Block 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. 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). | October 8, 2020. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 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. And Ms. Bengson, in particular, finds herself opening baggage from her past that would seem to make happiness with someone else impossible. Shaun and Abigail Bengson met in New York City at a party and after talking, decided to start a band together. At the same time, though, there's not a clunker in the whole set. My Joy Is Heavy! Writing music together has been a profound way that we learn about each other, and what we think about the world, and how we think about ourselves. Ryan McPhee Natan Zamansky Dan Meyer var s = document.getElementById('sleeknoteScript'); | The theatre company expects to resume performances, on Broadway and off, this fall. We wrote our first song together on that first night, Abigal said. Dan Meyer By Ars Novawill celebrate its 20th Anniversary and honor its foundersJenny & Jon SteingartatNova Ball, Ars Novas annual benefit-turned-party of the season. | The production, directed by Anne Kauffman, premieres December 4 after beginning previews November 15. May 10, 2021. 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. By June 24, 2021, By | Dan Meyer | They also star in the show, with a full band and chorus who . The musical, starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone, was originally slated to open March 22, 2020composer Stephen Sondheims 90th birthday. May 26, 2021. Check out Samantha Barks, Stephanie McKeon and more in costume. 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. 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. Abigail Bengson and Shaun Bengson Emilio Madrid-Kuser. | Their first rehearsal turned into their first date, and three weeks later, they were married! Often, they jump and dance in their own kitchen, an intimacy that can't quite be replicated on stage. 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). The program, championed by the industry as the "Save Our Stages" act, was slated to begin accepting applications April 8. 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.. 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. is streaming free on YouTube. 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 8, 2021. July 6, 2021. Would just being grateful and happy during the same period be a better approach? By Andrew Gans Andrew Gans 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. 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. (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour). My Joy is Heavy! | The musical, starring Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler, plays Sheas Buffalo Theatre through September 24. October 15, 2020. By The Bengsons A La Jolla Playhouse Commission. Can they make it through the term without the worry? I love you so much!. | He seems gentle, diffident but steely underneath, while theres a sparkle to her, and a healthy dash of punk spicing her earth-mother serenity. Abigail said in a phone interview. September 8, 2021. | A while later, this cameo struck Ms. Bengson as curious. March 15, 2022, By 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. So, youre welcome, Louie., The Bengsons married 10 years ago, three weeks after their first date. 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. 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. September 5, 2021. By Ryan McPhee The Off-Broadway production will now play until June 5. Performed from San Francisco to New York to La Jolla to Florida, it got raves, awards and a cast album. By 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).