The spirit of "Chicago" (minus the jazz hands) is alive and well in "Glensheen," the new musical about the 1977 killings at the Congdon mansion in Duluth.
Cheeks full with irony, the musical by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher and composer Chan Poling opened Saturday at a sold-out History Theatre in St. Paul.
Really? A comedy about two innocent people being killed during a bungled burglary? Doesn't that seem a little callous?
Indeed, but that same winking attitude made Kander and Ebb's murder musical a ripping success. And make no mistake, "Glensheen" is a success. Hatcher and Poling exploit the bizarre circumstances and the absurd characters that informed the tragedy. Under Ron Peluso's direction, we have an engaging, swiftly paced musical, dotted with big performances, hummable melodies and forays into cabaret and fantasy.
In June 1977, heiress Elisabeth Congdon and her night nurse, Velma Pietila, were killed in the 39-room Congdon mansion on Lake Superior. Roger Caldwell, Congdon's son-in-law, was convicted of first-degree murder. His wife, Elisabeth's daughter Marjorie, was acquitted in a sensational courtroom drama that paved the way for a new trial for Roger. The state feared it might not win again and offered Roger freedom after five years in prison if he would confess to second-degree murder.
Hatcher and Poling have draped their story in the seriocomic mantel of light opera, right down to the "dark and stormy night" effects that open the show. Poling's minor-key score draws on the shanty songs of Lake Superior sailors as an excellent cast sings "The Ballad of Glensheen."
Throughout the show, Poling's lyrics are archly witty, his tunes simple and his rhythms foursquare.
Hatcher has always been best in the droll verse of sarcasm. His Marjorie, as played by Jennifer Maren, is brassy and tartly jaundiced — a bad seed who not only is comfortable with her deep flaws but embraces them as tools to get ahead. Dane Stauffer's Roger is a deliciously dumb cad who gives off a boozy glow and a lack of self awareness. He says the funniest things and doesn't realize it. We get the message, too, that he is little more than Marjorie's patsy.
