Perhaps Hundred Days is best described as an ethereal, fragile, therapeutic, ultimately joyous musical autobiography. Staged as a concert with intermittent dialogue, this show was created by and stars the Bengson’s with Sarah Gancher who also contributed to the book. Shaun Bengson is a soft-spoken musician probably best described as an introvert. Abagail Bengson is also a musician who had some major unexplained family implosion when she was a teenager. While a much bigger personality than her husband, she is also the more fragile; a worrisome type. The two meet in their early twenties and get married in three weeks. Ten years later, they tell us their very intimate and quite moving story in song.
The title refers to a philosophical question: what would you do if you knew the love of your life only had one hundred days left to live? That’s the kind of tension in Abagail’s mind. How could she go on? The music is sort of indie-rock meets folk pop and is performed by six talented people, including the Bengson’s. All of them sing, play instruments and are used effectively without getting in the way of our central couple. The staging by Anne Kauffman is beautifully austere, complementary to the story and has almost dreamlike imagery. Movement is credited to Sonya Tayeh.
Mrs. Bengson’s singing voice is a combination of so many things that it is hard to describe – rocker, banshee, yodeler, folk singer and siren. Given the character she plays is herself, the whole effect is somewhat unforgettable. Very intimate reenacted conversations where the Bengson’s discuss life, dreams and fears rounds this concert to a fully satisfying piece of storytelling. At the end, we are told that the last song of this memorable show is actually the first song they wrote together. Based on what came before, we completely understand why it was written.
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