Harlequin’s new ‘Hundred Days’ is part concert, part real-life love story

Molly Gilmore
·3 min read

For “Hundred Days,” opening Friday, May 5, Harlequin Productions is transforming the State Theater into a cabaret.

The black box theater’s elevated stage and some of its seating has been removed to make space for café tables, and a bar will be installed at the back of the theater for the concert-style musical, which tells the love story of creators and folk-punk rockers Abigail and Shaun Bengson.

“It isn’t a big grandiose idea of a love story like you might see in a classic musical or a film,” said Amy Shephard, who plays Abigail. “It’s a real one.

“Critics of past performances have mentioned that parts of the story might come across as trivial, but I think those critics are missing the point,” Shephard told The Olympian. “Real true-life love rarely happens in these big grandiose moments. … Real, sustainable true love happens in a million small, quiet, perhaps unimpressive moments where you choose your person again and again, every day, every minute, every second.”

The story, simple and emotionally affecting, struck Harlequin artistic director Aaron Lamb as the perfect tonic for the times.

“The show celebrates beauty in the world,” said Lamb, who’s directing. “But in order to see beauty, you have to be able to recognize it. It’s the pain, the suffering, the obstacles that give us the perspective to see beauty, and after what we’ve all been through, our eyes are wide open.”

In “Hundred Days,” Abigail and Shaun (played by singer-guitarist Denim Protégé of Denim and the Deep Pockets) sing their story, backed by a full band including many of Harlequin’s core musicians — pianist Brent Pendleton, drummer Andy Garness, guitarist Dave Broyles and bassist Rick Jarvela — all of whom also play in Shephard’s Sugar and the Spitfires.

Shephard’s band, which started playing just for the fun of it in 2018, made a splash as one of the opening acts for Harlequin’s 2022 “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” in which Broyles, Garness and Pendleton also played in Hedwig’s band.

When he heard Sugar and the Spitfires, “things really clicked,” Lamb told The Olympian. “After a conversation with Amy, and her subsequent conversation with the Spitfires, we put (the show) in the season.”

“Hundred Days” was an immediate draw for Shephard, a musical-theater veteran who of late has been spending more time singing in bands — including local Queen tribute act Mercury Rising — and performing as an aerialist and less time acting.

“I love acting, and I’ll always do theater, but as I get older, I’ve become very selective,” she told The Olympian. “It takes a lot of time and energy to put on a good performance, so I want to make sure the projects I do are things that I really love doing.”

So enthusiastic was she about this show that Shephard recruited not only the rest of the band — accordionist Heather Matthews, also well known as an actor, and cellist Jen Grady — but also her costar, Protégé, whose former band DBST used to play regularly at now-defunct downtown Olympia music venue Rhythm & Rye.

“I was always blown away by Denim’s stage presence and vocal talent,” Shephard said. “A lot of Olympia theatergoers have seen me perform, (and) I can’t wait for them to see Denim.”

‘Hundred Days’

  • What: Harlequin Productions’ latest is a concert musical about the real-life love story of Abigail and Shaun Bengson.

  • When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 5-6, plus May 11-13, 18-20, 26-27, with matinees at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 7, plus May 14, 21 and 24.

  • Where: State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia

  • Tickets: $33-$50

  • More information: 360-786-0151, https://harlequinproductions.org