SUMMER OF ’42

Area Premiere

March 7 – 30, 2008 – Hennepin Stages

Music & Lyrics – David Kirshenbaum
Book – Hunter Foster
Based upon the novel and screenplay by Herman Raucher

Hermie’s teenage summer of fun becomes a bittersweet lesson in love when he falls for a young war bride in a seaside town.  This new musical, based on the 1971 Oscar-nominated film, is funny, wistful and romantic.  “Summer of ’42” will usher you back to that innocent age of 1940s swing, when friends met at the local soda fountain, the Andrews Sisters played on every radio, and the discovery of first love felt strange and wonderful.  Relive the summer you’ll always remember.

 
Director / Musical Director – Kevin Hansen
Choreographer – Windy Bowlsby

photo credit: Roy Blakey

Scenic Designer – Andrea Heilman
Costume Designer – Renata Shaffer-Gottschalk
Light Designer – Wu Chen Khoo
Rehearsal Accompanist – Emily Hanson
Set Construction – Jay Schueller
Stage Manager – Sarah Perron

Cast
Hermie – Cade Bittner
Dorothy – Jennifer Eckes
Oscy – Nick Sahli
Benjie – C. Ryan Shipley
Aggie – Mariya Maragos
Miriam – Colleen Somerville
Gloria – Courtney Miner
Mr. Sanders – Larry J. Evans
Pete – Paul Whittemore

Dominic Papatola – Pioneer Press:  “Remember when sex was a mystery, love was a distant promise and responsibility meant getting home before you got in trouble with your folks?  It’s this gauzy era that “Summer of ’42” seeks to evoke…David Kirshenbaum’s score adroitly musicalizes some of the memorable moments of the 1971 film…The book, by actor Hunter Foster, gives some dimension to this collection of randy boys, blossoming girls and simpler times…Director Kevin Hansen has found a company of young and youngish performers comfortable with the atmospherics of the piece, which vary from soft-edged romance to hormone-sharpened obsession…Jennifer Eckes [brings] just the right blend of womanly wisdom and youthful insecurity to the role of Dorothy…Cade Bittner [gives] a performance honest enough to count but not so true as to induce cringes of recognition from the men in the audience…And their central relationship is nicely counterpointed by Nick Sahli’s leering wingman Oscy, Colleen Sommerville’s matter-of fact performance as the not-so-virtuous Miriam and Mariya Maragos, who, as Aggie, is more or less Hermie’s distaff alter ego.  The tale of moving ahead and leaving behind is a timeless one, and, set to music, “Summer of ’42” manages to produce its share of wistful sighs for a time most of us never even knew.”
http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_8521989

Graydon Royce – Star Tribune:  “Minneapolis Musical Theatre jumps ahead of the season with “Summer of ’42,” a frothy confection dipped in warm romance…Director Kevin Hansen’s production, which opened last weekend at Hennepin Stages in Minneapolis, has a pleasant atmosphere with its slightly homemade modesty — just good enough to draw out the poignant nostalgia of a momentous summer…Bittner’s Hermie, of course, is the central figure, a string bean of wide-eyed wonder wandering into this carnal awakening…As the object of his desire, Dorothy, Jennifer Eckes has a plain-spoken charm and a good voice…Three young women form a kind of Andrews Sisters counterpart to the three horny lads.  Mariya Maragos, Courtney Miner and Colleen Somerville blend well in their singing voices.  Somerville and Maragos acquit themselves well as cardboard foils for the fumbling romantic attempts of Hermie and Oscy…[This] fizzy tonic goes down easily, manipulates the heartstrings and diverts our attention from the bleak March winter.”
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/16449451.html