Umbrella Stage’s ‘Hundred Days’ Combines Concert and Drama

by Tom Boudrot

‘Hundred Days’ – Book by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher; Music and Lyrics by The Bengsons; Brian Boruta, Producer and Director; David Wright, Music Director; Ryan Bates, Scenic Designer; Brian Simons, Costume Designer; Seif Allah Sallotto-Cristobal, Lighting and Video Designer; Elizabeth Havenor, Sound Designer. Properties Design by Sarajane Morse Mullins; Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company, 40 Stow Street, Concord through February 16th.

If you’ve been cooped up with the cold weather and ready to get out for an evening’s entertainment, Hundred Days may be the perfect choice for combating those winter blahs.  Why? Because it’s a smorgasbord of delights that has everything you’d like to see in a live show. Is this a concert? A musical? A comedy? A moving drama of love and loss? Yes, yes, yes and yes. It is all of the above.

This is a show that defies labels. Trying to escape being boxed into an easily-defined genre can be risky, but the rewards can also be great. Hundred Days is not only unique, but it’s still evolving years after its New York workshop and debut. In this iteration, we have what begins as a concert of upbeat, American-folksy music (think: Imagine Dragons) put on by The Bengsons, a real-life husband and wife team played here wonderfully by Kirk Vanda (Shaun) and Jess Andra (Abigail). But the show evolves into more or less of a true-ish biography of the couple as they meet and instantly realize they are meant to be. Or so it seems.

Two of the all-pervasive elements of this work are doubt and the fear of loss. The conundrum of falling in love is that it comes tied to the fear that one day you may lose that love, and this story contemplates the fear that you may only have one hundred days together. You can run from the fear or you can try to fill every day with an appreciation of each other. Between songs – and even during songs – we see how The Bengsons try to deal with that fear. Like great art often does, this show will make you consider your own life, the choices you make, and why you make them.

While the cast/band consists of eight people, the driving force of the play is the relationship between Shaun and Abigail. Shaun provides much of the humor, and it pays to listen to his often cerebral off-the cuff lines, such as when he recalls striving to be “number one in being egoless”. I barely recognized Jess Andra, whom I last saw playing the middle-aged Mother in The Umbrella Stage production of Tuck Everlasting. I was impressed with her transformation to the lively young Abigail Bengson, bringing a powerful voice and raw emotion to this production. And Vanessa Calantropo and Andrea Giangreco sing beautifully and play in the band while also providing a sort of Greek Chorus for the story.

To give a few examples of how outside-of-the-box this production is, some people in the crowd were cheering the conclusion of each song as if they were at a concert, while others were pulling out handkerchiefs. The line between concert, musical comedy and drama is so blurred that at one point even one of the musicians got up and started leaving before the show was over. As Abigail would say: “True story.”

This regional premiere of Hundred Days is a worthy addition to The Umbrella Stage Company’s ambitious inaugural season at the versatile black box theater in Concord Center. For tickets and information visit https://www.theumbrellaarts.org.