Category: Village Theatre

@showsiveseen Congrats to Village Theatre for a successful 4-show weekend marathon of The 21st Annual #Festival of New #Musicals. 3 true stories, 2 folky scores, & 26-ish hours to prepare for most staged reading performances. As @Brandon Ivie said, it was a feat worthy of the current Olympic season. Totally better than the Olympics or Sky Angels! Read More: showsiveseen.com/9328 "The Oscar Micheaux Project" By Alphonso Horne, Jesse L. Kearney, Jr, @Cara, & Peter Mills "Wakeman" By @jenngrinels "We Ain't Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical" By Gregg Hammer & @Louis Pardo "And Sometimes … Love" By @Michael Mott & Gretchen Suárez-Peña #showsiveseen #theatre #musical ♬ Summer Never Dies – The Foxies

Elevator Thoughts (aka Tweet): Congrats to Village Theatre for a successful 4-show weekend marathon of The 21st Annual Festival of New Musicals. 3 true stories, 2 folky scores, & 26-ish hours to prepare for most staged reading performances. As Brandon Ivie said last weekend, it was a feat worthy of the current Olympic season. Totally better than the Olympics or Sky Angels!

Review Caveat: Due to the shows’ dynamically developmental nature and the theatre’s preference, I’m holding back my rants, raves, and reviews of the musicals featured in this festival. This post will be more factual than opinion. If you want to hear my personal opinions about these shows, feel free to email me.

Festival Lineup:

• The Oscar Micheaux Project:
  • Creators: Alphonso Horne, Jesse L. Kearney, Jr, Cara Reichel, & Peter Mills
  • Director: Kimille Howard
  • Music Director: Nathan Young
  • Stage Manager: Laurel Nichols
• Wakeman:
  • Creator: Jenn Grinels
  • Director: Kelly Kitchens
  • Music Director: Elisa Money
  • Stage Manager: Miranda C. Pratt
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical:
  • Creators/Performers: Gregg Hammer & Louis Pardo
  • Director: Scott Weinstein
  • Stage Manager: Laura Karavitis
• And Sometimes … Love:
  • Creators: Michael Mott & Gretchen Suárez-Peña
  • Director: Peter Flynn
  • Music Director: R.J. Tancioco
  • Stage Manager: Anna Vraney

My Synopsis:

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: True story about one of the first great black film producers/directors. Set to a unique Jazz-ish sound.
• Wakeman: True story about a woman pretending to be a man so she could fight for the Union in the American Civil War. Folky music with a 90s PNW flair.
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: Fast-paced random hilarious hijinks throughout American 20th century history between two childhood best friends performing folk music.
• And Sometimes … Love: True story about the love between a middle-aged older woman and a younger Italian Frenchman. Based on a video the creators saw on Facebook.

Synopsis from the Licensor or Theatre Company:

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: Cinematic pioneer Oscar Micheaux’s legacy as Hollywood’s first Black filmmaker comes to syncopated and soulful life in this tuneful and historic new jazz musical.
• Wakeman: This incredible true story of American Civil War soldier Rosetta Wakeman — who dressed as a man to fight for the Union army — chronicles her heroic journey with a thrilling modern-folk-rock-meets-Americana score.
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: A zany, laugh-out-loud jukebox musical about — and featuring the songs of — a band that never existed, with a hilarious score spoofing your favorite 60s-70s folk artists.
• And Sometimes … Love: An intimate and emotional story of a Latina empty-nester working in France who experiences romance for the first time with a man she’s just met: her passionate Italian lover, many years her junior.

Attended Performance Date: 8/2/24 to 8/4/24 – One weekend only!

Type: Musical

World Premiere: These shows were “pre-world premiere” in development

Several or Few Scenes: Several

Several or Few Settings/Locations: Several

Static (Stationary) Set? N/A, these were staged reading performances still in development without any set design.

Prior Exposure/Knowledge Required:

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: No, but you’d probably appreciate this more if either 1) you’re familiar with black film industry history, 2) you enjoy black art history in general, 3) or you liked History of Theatre.
• Wakeman: No, but you’d probably appreciate this more if you grew up in the United States
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: No
• And Sometimes … Love: No

Defined Plot/Storyline: Yes

Live Band/Orchestra: Each staged reading performance featured minimal live accompaniment to give the audience a taste of what the score could sound like with a full-fledged band or orchestra.

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: Piano
• Wakeman: Small band with drums, bass guitar, regular guitar(?), and piano.
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: Guitar, piano … and spoons all played by the actors. This will probably stay the same since the show will debut its world premiere next month.
• And Sometimes … Love: Piano

Equity Actors:

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: 7
• Wakeman: 7
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: 2
• And Sometimes … Love: 2

Total Number of Actors: These numbers are subject to change as the shows develop further.

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: 9
• Wakeman: 12
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: 2
• And Sometimes … Love: 3

Perceived Pace of the Show: Email me for my answer!

Was there an intermission? This is subject to change as the shows develop further.

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: Yes
• Wakeman: Yes
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: No
• And Sometimes … Love: No

Length (Including Any Intermission): These numbers are subject to change as the shows develop further.

• The Oscar Micheaux Project: 2.75 hours
• Wakeman: 2.25 hours
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: 100 minutes
• And Sometimes … Love: 1.5 hours

Was This the First Time I Attended a Production of this Show? Yes, these shows are all still in development.

Would I See It Again 3 Years from Now? Email me for my answer!

Mainstream Appeal: Email me for my answer!

Other Musing(s) and Observation(s)

• Wakeman: Throughout the musical, I kept thinking that it reminded me of Jagged Little Pill. Ironically, Jade McLeod (who starred as Wakeman at Village Theatre) was in the national tour production.
• We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical: The creators/performers performed multiple stage reading iterations of this show for a couple months/years already. In fact, they’ll debut its world premiere at the Phoenix Theatre next month. It was like seeing a free polished preview performance of [title of show] or Gutenberg! The Musical!. 🙂
• And Sometimes … Love: This reminded me of the TV show Younger featuring the ageless Sutton Foster.

Theatre Company: Village Theatre

Venue: Francis J. Gaudette Theatre at Village Theatre

Venue Physical Address: 303 Front St N, Issaquah, WA 98027

Price Range: Free, thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wilke Family Foundation

Dates: August 2 to 4, 2024

Seating: Assigned Seating

Parking: Free street parking and certain free parking lots. Lot parking availability is very difficult to find though. I’ve basically given up on that. I usually end up parking on Rainier Boulevard North. As a last resort, you can always find parking at the library but it’s a little far. Remember, there’s a bottom floor parking lot under the library’s main parking lot that mostly only locals know about.

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Buy a Ticket or Learn More:

• https://villagetheatre.org/new-works/festival-of-new-musicals/

Cast and Production Team: See below.