Chamber Theatre returns to 'Roads' less traveled

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Check out this great video for a behind the scenes look at MAIN-TRAVELLED ROADS!"

Musical is based on works of Wisconsin native Hamlin Garland

By Jim Higgins of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 13, 2010

The Milwaukee Chamber Theatre loves a show with a literary pedigree. With "Main-Travelled Roads," MCT has embraced a homegrown one.

This musical is based on three stories from an early collection of the same name by Wisconsin native Hamlin Garland (1860-1940), a realistic chronicler of farmers and rural life.

Door County's American Folklore Theatre premiered "Roads" in 2007. The project began when AFT's Jeff Herbst, who'd tapped other Garland stories for a different project, suggested that playwright/lyricist Dave Hudson look into "Roads."

"The thing that grabbed from the beginning - the lyricism of the language," Hudson said in a phone interview. "People don't write that way anymore. It's almost poetic."

From the start, Hudson and his partner, composer Paul Libman, wanted a cast of only four people, which necessitated multiple roles. They picked three stories - "A Branch Road," "The Creamery Man" and "A Day's Pleasure" - and changed a few things to make the characters fit.

Garland's stories were not always happy ones.

"I think Garland was not in the best state when he wrote those," Hudson said.

The author had returned home to see his mother, and was shocked by the way the hardships of farm life had affected her.

"I looked for stories in the book that had hope," Hudson said.

While the other two stories are full of pathos, the lighter "The Creamery Man" "is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given," Hudson said. "Nina is one of the best characters ever put on stage."

Nina, the daughter of a Dutch farmer, is desperately in love with the title character, who often stops to eat the pie she offers him and to schmooze, but has no clue about her feelings.

The music, Hudson said, is best described as Americana. So people with a post-Farm Aid letdown will now have a place to go for a couple of weeks.

Hudson and Libman have also written AFT favorites "Muskie Love" and "Cheeseheads, the Musical." Molly Rhode, who performed in AFT's 2007 premiere production of the musical, is making her directorial debut with this production.

Hudson and Libman will give a free pre-show presentation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in The Skylight Bar & Bistro, upstairs from the theater.