Reviews: “Hundred Days” and “I Do! I Do!” offer scenes from two marriages

Shaun (Runner Francisco) points to a aboriginal Abigail (Steph Holmbo) has occupation astatine times imagining. (Ryan Landell, provided by the Aurora Fox)

In the sweetly unsocial philharmonic “Hundred Days” — connected signifier astatine the Aurora Fox — 2 lovers rhythm done their years arsenic a mates not by increasing aged successful beforehand of the assemblage but by cramming arsenic overmuch beingness arsenic imaginable into each moment. And past telling america astir it.

An autobiographical philharmonic based connected Abigail and Shaun Bengson’s whirlwind romance, “Hundred Days” is each astir nonstop code and unabashed confession. Steph Holmbo’s Abigail is simply a vibrant over-sharer. Runner Francisco’s Shaun is much subdued (or is it sub-dude?) but conscionable arsenic acceptable and lyrically capable to recount their emotion story.

“Being live means being successful grief,” Abigail says to the assemblage by mode of introduction. “Show of hands.”

The New York-based brace joined wrong 3 weeks of meeting. Known arsenic the twangy people rocking radical the Bengsons, the mates (along with Sarah Gancher, who co-wrote the book) person packed joyousness and angst, friskiness and fretting, and immoderate good strumming, belting and handclapping into this beauteous concert-play that mightiness person verged connected TMI were it not truthful vividly written and performed.

“All my life, I’ve been looking for you,” the duo and the onstage set sing successful “Vows,” adding, “I’ll instrumentality my pridefulness and laic it astatine your feet.”

When Abigail was 15, thing dreadful happened to her, her family, their community. What that was she ne'er says here, but she’s wide it was harrowing. Some radical “lost their lives,” immoderate “were hospitalized” and immoderate “lost their minds,” she tells us. The wounds of that lawsuit person go hard-wired, a benignant of anticipatory grief.

Even not knowing each the bittersweet details of that household tragedy, we tin spot Abigail is thing of a fatalist. So not lone was she smitten, but she was besides definite of impending doom. She had a imagination that caller emotion Shaun had lone 100 days to live. That anxiousness doesn’t marque for an casual courtship. But it does infuse this winsome philharmonic astir falling hard into love, being terrified it volition shatter and knowing adjacent if it doesn’t, The End volition come.

Their fourth-wall-breaking dialog often evokes the charming, self-deprecating storytelling of The Moth podcasts. About their archetypal date, astatine a diner, Abigail recalls: “I was experimenting with not eating.” Shaun shares: “I was a vegan! Which is to say, I was insufferable.” Because he’s a benignant guy, helium adds, “Not that each vegans are insufferable.” Abigail’s a spot much complicated. She returned to her flat to interruption up with her past boyfriend. And Shaun really does person a communicative helium knows doesn’t formed him successful the champion light. What we cognize from their tuneful accounting of emotion and its adjacent implosion is that the 2 are intricately human.

The Aurora Fox was close to tout its reteaming of manager Nick Sugar and euphony manager David Nehls for this musical. Their enactment connected the Fox’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” was a revelation. “Hundred Days” is simply a little willfully noisy, much mildly brooding. It invites comparisons with “Once.”

Scenic decorator Brandon Philip Case has created a beauteous abstraction for the philharmonic to unfold with minimal fuss, hanging guitars connected the walls for applicable and beguiling purpose. There’s an adept and twangy onstage ensemble of musician-actors. Nicole DeBree (guitar), Nehls (accordion), William “Skip” Lynch (percussion), David Short (cello) and Jason Tyler Vaughn (bass) marque good usage of the instruments. They besides enactment arsenic a funny-sympathetic Greek Chorus to Abigail and Shaun’s tale.

Toward the extremity of “Hundred Days,” Abigail and Shaun ideate their aboriginal — possibly with a dash of confidence. They basal onstage envisioning the saccharine possibilities of their fourth, fifth, sixth, and truthful connected decades.

*****

Provided by The Arvada Center

“I Do! I Do!” spends decades of highs and immoderate lows with long-marrieds Agnes and Michael (John Wilson).

Across municipality from “Hundred Days,” Agnes and Michael unrecorded their decades unneurotic successful beforehand of the assemblage successful the Arvada Center’s archetypal in-person mainstage philharmonic successful much than a year. “I Do! I Do!” gives the center’s tried-and-true patrons thing conscionable arsenic tried and true: old-fashioned, casual connected the noggin’, sleekly produced entertainment.

With publication and lyrics by Tom Jones and euphony by Harvey Schmidt, “I Do! I Do!”  follows Agnes and Michael from the time of their wedding to the time erstwhile they program to manus implicit the keys of their location to a brace of newlyweds 35 years later. The show’s tagline is “A Musical About Marriage,” and a batch of crushed is covered: wedding nighttime nerves and next-morning adoration, vexation and doubts, wealth and interdependence. Although we ne'er spot them successful this two-hander, children fig in, too.

Matthew Gale, Provided by the Arvada Center

Agnes and Michael (John Wilson) observe their empty-nest possibilities in “I Do! I Do!”

The amusement is based connected Jan de Hartog’s play “The Fourposter.” And a large fourposter furniture sits successful the halfway of Brian Mallgrave’s elegant and elemental set. To the near of the furniture are Michael’s vanity and a leather armchair. To the right, Agnes’ vanity and a patterned upholstered chair. Like a gender-reveal party, from clip to time, the amusement teases a his-or-her colour scheme. Michael’s nightgown is bluish with stripes. Agnes’s wears a heavy pinkish dress. (Clare Henkel’s costumes for Agnes are particularly fetching.)

Two joined couples person been formed arsenic Agnes and Michael: Adriane Leigh Robinson and Marco Robinson and Twyla Wilson and John Donovan Wilson. The day I attended, the Wilsons were onstage. They couldn’t repress an affable vibe adjacent erstwhile their characters started to rankle each other, adjacent erstwhile Michael was spectacularly afloat of himself. And there’s a gorgeous easiness to Twyla Wilson’s singing that elevates the show.

Jones and Schmidt wrote a mates of precise beauteous songs present that became hits, the benignant that inactive clasp their ain connected oldie stations. “Together Forever” and “My Cup Runneth Over” apical that list. (Jones’ and Schmidt’s much inventive “The Fantasticks” is presently playing Town Hall Arts Center successful Littleton, done Sept. 17.)

“I Do! I Do! was nominated for the champion philharmonic Tony successful 1967. But that year’s victor suggests radical were hankering for thing edgier: “Cabaret” won. “I Do! I Do!” has go a prattle of the sexes made pleasant by its leads.

Two precise antithetic musicals featuring joined couples get astatine the aforesaid time, seemingly cozying up to 2 antithetic demographics. Neo-folk-rockers Abigail and Shaun haven’t overmuch successful communal with Agnes and Michael, yet each brace wrestles with what clip means for a couple: however it passes, however it is filled up with plans and dashed plans, and however those everlasting vows thrust connected renewed volition.

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