The 2010 Summer Music Theatre Festival at Northwestern kicked off last weekend with “Capathia Jenkins & Louis Rosen in Concert: ‘The Ache of Possibility,'” performed Friday through Sunday in the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive.
Broadway actress Capathia Jenkins teamed up with songwriter Louis Rosen for a show featuring their joint work in what Rosen said Jenkins likes to classify not as belonging to one genre but rather simply as “grown folk music” – that is, music for adults.
Pulling in influences that include jazz, blues, soul, folk and pop, the two performed selections from the three records they have made together as well as some unrecorded selections. Joined by bassist David Phillips, Jenkins sang while Rosen alternated between playing guitar and piano while jumping in to sing as well.
Jenkins returned to NU after her debut here last year as a featured artist in the “Centennial Celebration of Johnny Mercer Concert” in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive. The event, in honor of famed songwriter Mercer, was part of last year’s Summer Music Theatre Festival.
After her performance last year, the festival was eager to see Jenkins return to campus, said Heather Schmucker, producing director of the American Music Theatre Project.
“We fell in love with her as a performer,” said Schmucker, whose organization collaborates with the Theatre and Interpretation Center to present the summer festival. “‘We’d love to have you back,'” Schmucker recalled saying to Jenkins after last year’s show. “‘What are you working on?'”
Jenkins and Rosen worked together to bring more than just musical prowess into the Louis Theater, noted Deerfield resident Mia Evans. The show was enjoyable not only musically but also because the duo were “really in sync,” Evans said.
For Rosen, the music is about more than merely appeasing the audience. The songwriter introduced several songs by describing their origin, explaining that his most recent album with Jenkins, “The Ache of Possibility,” was written during 2008 and 2009.
Many of these recent selections betrayed “overt politicism” as they took on current events, Rosen said. “You always fear that you’ll lose half your audience,” said Rosen, who said he did not know what the political climate on the North Shore was like.
Performing music that touches on divisive political issues “takes a little bit of courage,” said Roy Evans, also of Deerfield.
“How could one be in the world in 2008 and not be political?” asked Rosen, explaining why so much of the recent repertoire added an explicit angle toward current events.
Rather than looking for one niche, Rosen said he “draws from all sorts of American music” in his songwriting. Music for him is “about how you blend and draw.”
Ultimately for Jenkins, the blend is about the experience the show gives to those sitting in the theater. “If (the audience) was able to just sit back and relax and let the music wash over them and something moved them or touched them,” said Jenkins, “I’m happy with that.”
Schmucker said the show was “new and exciting” for the Summer Music Theatre Festival, which usually puts on events more geared toward musical theater.
The festival will continue with a production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” which will run from July 1 through August 8 in the Wallis Theater, 1949 Campus Drive. The summer will also include a new musical “Not Wanted on the Voyage,” set to run July 16 through August 8 in the Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive. The program culminates with the annual Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, this year paying tribute to “Wicked” songwriter Stephen Schwartz.[email protected]
