What is it about one hundred days? In politics it’s used as a
standard by which to measure the accomplishments a president makes at the
beginning of his/her administration? In business it’s a benchmark to measure
how well a person might learn a new job. For married couple Shaun and Abigail
Bengsons it’s a time for them to cram a lifetime of love and life into their own
love affair/ life’s story, or ‘till death do us part’. ("Vows")
It doesn’t come as a surprise though that some limit on their
time together comes into the picture given the personalities of the two. Their
inauspicious meeting was rocky from the outset until it became quite intense. In
a heartbeat, one or both might have walked away. She’s the one with the
flamboyant personality and he, the more reserved.
It’s even apparent in their dress. She in cowboy boots,
spangled dress and leather jacket, always moving in and out of musical scenes. He is in Jeans, black tie and plaid shirt, black jacket, glasses,
beard and, sandy hair, (costumes Sydney Gallas) and the shy half of this talented duo.
But that’s not it at all. As the story goes, they met, fell
in love and got married in three weeks. An auto accident sent her over the
ledge and headed for the back door.
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| Abigail and Shaun Bengsom |
Before that however Abigail tells us in agonizing and
excruciating pain that when she was 15 her family went through some traumatic
event (‘some kind of an emotional upending) that haunts her to this day invading her dreams with
visions and prophesies including the fact that the love of her life would die after
100 days into their relationship.
“This is not a story about what happened when I was fifteen.
Tonight we are going to tell you a story about what happened next.” “The love
of my life came to me in a beam of light.” In my world they call that B'Shret, or meant to be.
Their lives were on the up swing. She moved in with him, broke
up with her then boyfriend. They shared stories about each other, (‘How do you
like your coffee?’ ‘My father was a Lutheran Pastor’.) catching up on the usual
foreplay of when boy meets girl.
He had to tell his best friend Max, who was driving across
country to move in with him, that he would have to live somewhere else. She admired the fact that he was a musician. She
thought he was the best musician ever. “Wanna start a band?”
They were headed for a rehearsal for a gig (anti-folk folk
punk old time neo soul band) and driver Shaun rear -ended a UPS truck. His
prognosis for recovery was not good.
A friend of mine used to tell me that just when things were going well, life got in the way.
A friend of mine used to tell me that just when things were going well, life got in the way.
Going back to her childhood trauma put her at loose ends. Should
she stay? Should she leave? Sean in the Emergency room, on the examining table,
sounds of him hitting the steering wheel, the florescent bulbs, I see him fall.
What if the doctor walks in and tells me he has one hundred days to live?
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| Cast of "Hundred Days" |
In her dreams she sees Shaun living one hundred days but they
challenge those odds: “We’ll have Halloween in the morning, Christmas in the
afternoon, Birthdays at sundown.” “We’ll make the snow in the freezer for
winter. We’ll grow geraniums in the tub for spring. We’ll watch the traffic
outside our window and call it the Thanksgiving Day Parade.” But the pain of
love and loss remains.
In a gut-wrenching “Three Legged Dog” anguish and rage and
despair la Joplinesque finds its roots in her voice and captures the essence of
what that loss would feel like. I was glued to my seat, mesmerized and unable
to move.
Abigail is one half of the Abigail and Shaun twosome in this relatipnship relationship and the back and forth of it in a performance/story concert
that is directed by Anne Kauffman, UCSD Grad. and written by Abigail and Sarah
Gancher with music and lyrics by the couple themselves. It is at the La Jolla
Playhouse, Mandell Weiss Forum through Oct. 21st.
They are assisted by a most talented quartet of backup
singers – musicians- Ashley Baier (drums/percussion), El Beh (a five star
cellist), Barrie Lobo McLain, (Vocals/ accordion/ guitar) and Reggie D. White
(vocals/keyboards). Shaun plays guitar, accordion and keyboards and Abigail
plays guitar and a floor tom. All make easy transitions from one instrument to
another and occasionally, lend vocals to the already story.
This is not what one might call a traditional musical; it’s more
a concert musical. It is as much story told in song as singing/performing and
alternating by telling their story orally. The give and take between husband
and wife is playful, somber, loving and informative but aside from the love
commitment and the verbal give and take, it was the music that grabbed me.
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| Cast of "Hundred Days" with Abigail in center and Shawn on stool |
“I want/ A hundred days Of bright light/ Hey Hey away/ A
hundred Days/ You’re my man/ Of bright light/Away”. “The Years Go By”, “Lift
Me”, “The Long Goodbye” and “Bells” the first song they wrote together, are but
a few of the dozen or so.
The husband and wife team and their fellow travelers had me
glued to my seat. Some of the music is definitely beyond my musical grade level
but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
There was so much more
going on around me that shifting from story to music to watching the talented
musicianship and different sounds (Nicholas Pope) of the other four on stage to
being star struck by the lights, (red, orange, yellow, green purple footlights),
two spotlights and can’t tell you how many hanging light bulbs caught my eyes,
all created by Co-scenic designer/lighting designer Andrew Hungerford.
In another magical moment, columns of crystalline looking
salt/sand came cascading from the ceiling (Salt Palace”) on to Hungerford’s two
level set with instruments placed strategically for easy access with enough room for movement director Sonya Tayeh’s well rehearsed choreography.
Did you ever wonder if you knew what the course of events
were going to look like between “I Do” and “Till Death Do Us Part”? If you did,
would you do it all over again? Of course you would.
The Bengson’s “Hundred Days” is living proof.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Oct. 21st
Organization: La Jolla Playhouse
Phone: 858-550-1010
Production Type: Musical Memoir
Where: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
Ticket Prices: $35.00-55.00
Web: lajollaplayhouse.org
Venue: Mandell Weiss Forum
Photo: Jim Carmody
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