In an amazing performance, Angela Ingersoll invites us to celebrate the talent and spirit of American legend, Judy Garland. In a night club worthy, or even better yet, a Carnegie Hall worthy presentation, Ingersoll has created, written, and performs a song filled evening! She recounts Judy’s life, loves, struggles, and triumphs in a very personal conversation with the audience. And besides Judy’s story, we’ll learn about Ingersoll and why she relates to Garland and how she came to put together this show. Done with all of the drama, humor, and music that we should expect.
Get Happy cast and crew courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep
So, yes, this is a close and intimate production…just how intimate? Well, in the Stackner we all feel close to the stage. And Ingersoll is supported by a very adept and agile piano trio of Jeff Hamman on string bass, Charles Heath on percussion, and Chuck Larkin (May 5 – 15) and Jeremy Kahn (May 15 – July 1) on piano. And they are positioned right there behind her. And (spoiler alert), there’s the on stage dressing room where Ingersoll completes one costume change per act during the evening while continuing to regale us with the story.
Angela Ingersoll center, Charles Heath on percussion, Jeff Hamann on bass, courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep
And beyond the apparent physical similarities to Garland, Ingersoll has obviously studied Garland’s physical movements and vocal stylings and gives us an incredible performance. For those of us old enough to remember Garland’s various appearances on mid-20th Century television, the memories will be quite intense. For the rest of us, the show will give us a glimmer of what it might have been like to see Garland in person and the chance to experience an exciting night of song and theater here at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Chuck Larkin on piano with Angela Ingersoll, courtesy of the Milwaukee Rep
This show was nominated for an Emmy award after being broadcast on PBS. And it will continue its run at the Stackner Cabaret at the Rep through July 1st. Additional information and ticket info here. Approximate running time: 2 Hours and 10 Minutes including intermission. Recommended Age: 12 and up.
And don’t miss a chance to eat dinner at the Stackner as well. In most cases you will be seated at the same table where you will see the show. Dining information and menu here.
This is whimsy. This can get silly. This is un-ADULT-erated fun. The staging and lighting and music here will be a real treat for the intended younger audience. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a relevant story here…we are going somewhere…where there is so much to learn. Pitter patter.
Director Johamy Morales must just have had a ball putting this play together and filling out the characters and movement and action in Last Stop On Market Street. And despite the word stop in the title, there is no STOP in the action as the story unfolds over the 55 minutes presentation (without intermission). And Last Stop On Market Street is being presented at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (325 W. Walnut, Milwaukee, WI) in the round in their delightfully intimate theater. So no child will be more than a row or two from the action. No one will miss anything!!
Bubbles Cast: Christian Berman (center) and cast in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
And my goodness, hats off to the technical team at First Stage. They certainly engage everyone’s imagination with their creative use of color, costumes, props, and sets. On the face of it, many of these things verge on the minimal but the audience is never left in doubt about where we are or who the characters are. So subtle while being so descriptive (I have been amazed by this all season, but it is even more apparent in Last Stop On Market Street).
And as in all of their other plays, First Stage is using two casts to give as many young actors a chance to perform as possible. I saw the Rain cast on a lovely Mothers Day morning. The other cast is the Bubbles cast. The photos here were supplied by First Stage and I will use images from both casts.
Rain Cast: Madison Jones, Selena Deer, and Allie Babich in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
But our story revolves around CJ and his Nana as they travel to church and later across town to the last stop on Market Street. CJ has a solo at church and has a frog in his throat, although to my eyes, more like butterflies, but as most any young performer we can easily relate to the anxiety. But from there we follow CJ through some adventures, both real and imagined, that are obvious focal points in any young persons growth in awareness and experience. A lot of questions get asked, some of them answered directly, but most by observation. And that’s the true nature of the Last Stop On Market Street. Learning through experience, questioning, and observation. Quite a miraculous journey in just those 55 minutes.
The stand out performer here is Samantha D. Montgomery as Nana. She just nails it as a loving caring mentor and teacher for the inquisitive CJ. From the sparkle in her eye and in her voice to the patience she shows…she’s just the woman you’d want for your Nana! And there’s just a sense of awareness of her own mischief underlying her knowledge!
Rain Cast: Madison Jones and Allen D. Edge in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
And those 55 minutes are filled with a lot of action in the form of street activity, dancing, singing, and just watching as the actors move in and out from the stage in seemingly constant motion (making handy use of three different entrance ramps to access the central stage). But pay close attention to costume changes…many actors (particularly the adult actors) are playing multiple roles, and the clever costumes help define the character and their role in our story.
Bubbles Cast: Allie Babich and Christian Berman in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
This play is aimed at First Stage’s younger audiences: their recommendation is for families with children 3 to 7 and older. More information on the play, First Stage, and tickets can be found here! The play runs from now through June 12, 2022.
Rain Cast: Madison Jones and Samantha D. Montgomery and cast in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
But here is an Enrichment Guide with before and post show activities to enrich a young persons engagement with the play.
Bottom line, the young audience in attendance when I was there were very involved with the play and the story. And they asked some very inspired and relevant questions during the talk back with the actors as play’s end.
Bubbles Cast: Allen D. Edge, Christian Berman, Samantha D. Montgomery, and Selena Deer in LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET. Photo by Paul Ruffolo.
It isn’t very often that you get the opportunity to see a compelling contemporary play on two stages in your home town in the matter of a few years. Our first opportunity was the very challenging production performed almost exactly three years ago at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. (my response can be found here – although this was before I started An Intuitive Perspective). So when The Interchange Theater Co-op announced that they were presenting Things I Know To Be True, I was intrigued.
from The Interchange Theater Co-op website
And I am not the only one taken by the Rep’s presentation. Co-director Kimberly Laberge was as well…and she says this in her notes in the program:
When I first saw Things I Know To Be True at the Milwaukee Rep in 2019, I was awestruck by how different this felt from any other family drama I had seen. I adore the balance of elevated movement and rooted scenework, yes but it was the nuance that stayed with me.
Well, along with co-director Cory Fitzsimmons, Laberge displayed her mastery of that nuance and staged an amazing production of Things I Know To Be True. I had seen the play before. I know the characters. I know the story. Yet, this presentation completely immersed me in this family once again and I laughed at the subtle humor and I cried when things went awry. I wouldn’t have expected such a strong reaction given my previous experience with the play. And I wasn’t quite past my emotional response when I greeted Laberge in the lobby afterwards (I hope she didn’t notice). But clearly some form of katharsis that Fitzsimmons describes in his notes as a certain attribute of this play.
from the Things I Know To Be True Facebook page
And what have we here? A play about a successful middle class Midwestern American family: loving parents, two sons, two daughters. From a distance there seems nothing wrong…no dysfunction…typical nuclear family. But as we get to know them better, we realize that all six have doubts, have flaws, personal stressors, and to each their own form of dysfunction. So not quite the typical family after all but no family would have as many trials to face as this one.
Laberge and Fitzsimmons have taken all of these seemingly distinct personalities and kept them in place within the family dynamic, yet allowing each to excel at their individual monologues and stories, while guiding us through the damaged family culture as it exists. They did this with the necessary drama, tenderness, edginess, and all out family discord that the text calls for. And they added a number of silent vignettes between the dramatic scenes that help illustrate the story and relationships without unnecessary dialogue. Marvelous.
And they couldn’t have accomplished this without the perfect cast…and they have a group here who understood their characters, their place in the world, and their place in the family. And the children at least realized that their best bet to become someone: themselves, was to leave the family home…which always provided shelter when they felt troubled.
The family? Kim Emer as Fran Price (mom), William Molitor as Bob Price (dad), Chloe Attalla as Rosie Price, Mary Seigel as Pip Price, Mari Mercado as Mark Price, and Joshua Groth as Ben Price.
Kim Emer, Photo credits: Mari Mercado and Kimberly Laberge.
The key character is mom, Fran Price. And Kim Emer is outstanding in this role. Seemingly the perfect mother we soon realize that she is insecure and wants to control the family dynamic to her own ends and visions. So she often interrupts her children as they are talking to tell them how they feel or what they are doing. Late in the play, her husband Bob, asks why she is always so angry…and by that point she often is…but she’s overcome by her lack of control of the situation as each of her children are making choices that she wouldn’t have chosen for herself nor for them. Emer is dynamic in this role and never loses sight of who she is or what she wants to accomplish in life. I can’t imagine a better casting.
Chloe Attalla, Photo credits: Mari Mercado and Kimberly Laberge.
Another stand out performance comes from Chloe Attalla as the youngest daughter Rosie. After the first ensemble preamble to the heart of the play, she is the first character who defines her ‘present’ self to the audience via a monologue about her solo sojourn in Europe. She comes off as totally invested in what she is trying to accomplish but doesn’t understand how or why she came up short. And then her homecoming helps introduce us to the rest of the family. While Fran Price is something of the glue that holds the family together…although glue isn’t quite the right term…Chloe seems to be that actual vehicle that spreads love around and binds them together (despite being the butt of a rude family joke).
William Molitor, Photo credits: Mari Mercado and Kimberly Laberge.
And we mustn’t overlook Bob Price, the family patriarch who is ably played by William Molitor. Bob seems to have settled for doing what he thinks is ‘right’. Thirty years on the assembly line of a car plant that shut down and then working on his yard…mowing, raking, pruning, watering, fertilizing, and shoveling snow. Seasonal tasks the seem to define his life in retirement but he doesn’t know how to fill the time between finishing any of them and waiting for the need to repeat them. But even that doesn’t seem to make him happy. A classic example of ennui. And he seems to have ceded his place in the family to Fran and his roses. He doesn’t quite seem alive until his sons fracture his sense of moral and cultural norms.
As the lights came up and the actors were taking their final bows, I felt that this was the one performance that I’ve seen this season that had earned a standing ovation. Sadly that didn’t happen.
Side note on the play itself and not the performance: After experiencing two different performances now, I am not quite sure when this takes place. The parents seem to be of the generation of my parents or older siblings (very post WWII 20th Century) while the children feel more of the 21st Century.
This was a very short one weekend run, so by the time you read this it will be over. Sorry for that.
Besides the decidedly inspiring play that I experienced this past weekend, I am anxious to seeing future directing efforts by both Kimberly Laberge and Cory Fitzsimmons. I am expecting that they will present us with more challenging plays, well played and well directed.
and a reprise from my previous posting: When does your childhood end (and unspoken corollary: does parenthood ever end?)
