Unfortunately, it's the end of the run for
7th House Theater's new production,
The Great Work, which closes Sunday, January 3 at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio. I wish I'd seen it earlier!
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Andy Frye and Shinah Brashears.
StarTribune photo by Amy Anderson. |
7th House company members David Darrow (music and lyrics) and Grant Sorenson (book) wrote this brief (65 minutes) but intense new musical. A cast of eight performs the story of an aging composer (played by David Carey) sharing a piece of his past with his grown daughter (Kendall Anne Thompson). As a young man in Vienna, Hans (played as a young man by Andy Frye) experienced great love and great success. Bergen Baker uses her terrific soprano voice to great effect as his love interest. The music is lovely, though a couple of songs become a bit repetitive. The 6-piece orchestra, led by Jason Hansen, fills out the sound, and a variety of roles are played by the ensemble (Shinah Brashears, Aleks Knezevich, Maeve Moynihan, and Adam Moen), who sound wonderful, particularly in an a capella segment that shows off both the music and the voices.
I hope the group continues to develop the show and that we get a chance to see it again. This production seemed a bit overwhelmed by the physical staging. The piece is strong enough on its own that it doesn't need a lot of frills to be effective. It's strengths are in the story, music, and performers.
