The stage packed with band instruments, amid lamps and candles arranged on coffeehouse rugs, sends a strong signal before Keegan Theatre’s Hundred Days has even started that we’re in for a good hang.
Especially for anyone partial to the Mumford-y sounds of stomp-and-clap folk rock, the show, with music and lyrics by The Bengsons, has much to offer, from the first song to the last. And the cast of performer-musicians assembled by director Christina A. Coakley rips into every number with gusto.
The self-described folk-punk score is the standout feature of married couple Abigail and Shaun Bengson’s autobiographical odyssey into their love story and life leading their family band. Originally performed by the Bengsons themselves — who co-wrote the show book with Sarah Gancher — Hundred Days evolved over several productions before becoming a hit in its 2017 Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop.
The musical memoir has since spawned regional productions from coast to coast, all of which must contend with the fact that the show was clearly molded around the unique personalities and rapport of its two lead subjects.
The Bengsons had the benefit of playing themselves, telling their own story through the musical language that bonds them. Though not actors by trade, they could draw on the deeply ingrained personal history they wrote into the script, transforming their lived experience into compelling theater.
But that script provides spindly threads of plot and characterization for actors not named Bengson, and, in this case, Coakley’s direction finds the earnestness in their storytelling but not enough of the authenticity. Kylie Clare Truby as Abigail and Bradley Foster Smith as Shaun don’t register the enduring, life-affirming love that begets songs and plays, but rather a more tepid connection as bandmates.
When not singing the role marvelously, Truby sounds something like a saleswoman as Abigail, narrating the pair’s romance in a seminar on how to stick with your gut and live every single day like it’s the last. Smith, not blessed with as powerful a vocal instrument, does convey a striking contrast between Shaun’s generally unassuming demeanor and his sometimes fiery delivery during their songs.
Again, the production’s Bengson band, under the musical direction of Lucia LaNave, really rocks — thanks in no small part to Jared Kirschenbaum’s driving drums. Truby’s soprano soars with range, from raucous to gentle as a feather, and Lydia Gifford, as bandmate Barrie, lends solid support on vocals and accordion.
The cast might collectively look awkward shuffling through Kayla A. Warren’s choreography, but they earn points for doing it all with instruments slung over their shoulders. For the most part, though, whether named or not, the band members don’t contribute much to the Bengsons’ sudden-in-love story of meeting then marrying three weeks later.
As Abigail informs the audience, the only dark cloud hanging over their future life is her nearly unshakable belief, fed by a recurring dream, that they’ll only have 100 days together. The Bengsons, onstage and in real life, translate that fear into purpose, in the form of the show’s anthemic title song, and, of course, with the show itself. Even as the couple confront a serious illness, they persevere together.
A late passage in the play, positioning the two on stools facing each other to bare their hopes and expectations of the future, runs a bit long, and a bit cold compared to the music — it’s like the exercise that closes the seminar. The script provides context but rarely matches the sincerity of the songs, where the charms of Hundred Days truly lie.
Hundred Days (★★★☆☆) runs through Nov. 15 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $65, with discounts available for students, seniors 62+, and patrons under 25. Rush tickets are available at the door, starting an hour before showtime. Visit keegantheatre.com.
1524 Spring Hill Rd.
Mclean, Va.
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