Theater-goers who saw the musical comedy "Don't Hug Me" when it opened three years ago to rave reviews in Los Angeles will be tickled to know that a
sequel is now on the boards, bringing the same zany fun and frolicking musical
routines to audiences like the original -but with a new burst of seasonal color
livening up the old Minnesota tavern setting.
By Judith Gabriel Vinje
As the playbill proclaims, "It's 'Fargo' meets ‘A Christmas Carol,' without the
wood chipper or the Cratchits."
And judging from the response from the Los Angeles audience at the October 13th
world premier of "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol," fans are already looking
for more. It's the kind of musical theater that is complete with a lovable set of
characters, a story full of surprises, and a laugh a minute.
You don't have to be a Norskie or a Midwesterner to get the humor. The characters
on stage have fun with "Yah, sure, you betcha," and "Nidelven," and some polkas
emanate from the bar radio, but this is definitely not another Ole and Lena joke.
There's no denying that the play catches many aspects of the Midwestern
Norwegian American personality -including that certain sense of reserve and
social distance that playwright Phil Olson has dealt with in all his plays.
Tall and quiet in person, but quick to smile, Olson, a Minnesota native who is
"Norwegian on both sides," actually plays the lead in the new play, set to run
until December 31st at the Lonny Chapman Repertory Theatre in the NoHo
Arts District of North Hollywood of Los Angeles. The run includes a special
matinee performance for Sons of Norway members December 2nd. "A Don't
Hug Me Christmas Carol" -a "holiday love story with singin' and stuff" -is set in
a small northern Minnesota bar in the fictitious town of Bunyan Bay. The comfy
rural tavern isbedecked with fishing gear, Minnesota license plates, miniature
Norwegian flags, mounted moose heads, a light-bedecked tree- as well as karaoke,
the music-blaring gadget that is very prominent in the unfolding of the story.
It's Christmas Eve, and cantankerous bar owner Gunner Johnson gets in an
argument with his wife, Clara, and pro- claims that he's skipping Christmas
this year. He storms out of the bar and goes snowmobiling across the lake,
but he falls through the ice and ends up in a coma. In his comatose state he
dreams that he returns to the bar, where he's visited by world famous
crooner, Sven Yorgensen, who plays the ghost of Christmas past, present, and
future. Sven escorts Gunner on a journey similar to the one Scrooge was taken
on in Charles Dickens' classic tale, "AChristmas Carol."
The play bursts to life with 17 original song routines, with music written by
the playwright's brother, Paul Olson, who in "real life" is chief of nephrology
at the Allina Medical Center in Minneapolis. The songs are all crowd-pleasers.
Some of the musical numbers are: "It's Christmas Time so Water the Tree,"
"The Christmas Cheese Polka," and "I Love You More Than Football."
The musical numbers aptly showcase the talents of the characters, from
Gunner, the bar owner, played in this production by Olson; Gunner's wife
Clara, a former Winter Carnival queen, played by Therese Lentz; Bernice Lundstrom,
the pretty waitress, exuberantly played by Minnesota-raised Scandinavian-
American actress Emily Trempe; her former fiance, Kanute Gunderson,
played by Mark Atha; and Sven Yorgenson, played by Chris Winfield. The
play was directed by Sean Mulcahy, with choreography by Stan Mazin, and
produced by Stefanie Ibanez and Doug Engalla.
Midwestern audiences won’thave to wait long to see the play, it opens in
November in four Midwest locations: St. Cloud, Minnesota; Hudson,
Wisconsin; Batavia, Illinois; and New Rockford, North Dakota. Based
on the success of the original "Don't Hug Me" production, three of the
cities booked the new musical before it was even written, according to
Olson, noting that "this is unprecedented for live theater." In the meantime,
the originnal "Don't Hug Me" is being staged throughout the U.S., with
an off-off-off Broadway opening set for the New Jersey Repertory
Company in Long Branch, New Jersey, on December 9th and runs through
December 31st.
"Don't Hug Me" opened in Los Angeles in November 2003 to rave reviews and
sold out houses, and has been booked in 35 cities around the country since
it opened. It won four Artistic Director Achievement Awards in Los Angeles,
as well as other top honors. The musical then went to Minneapolis where
it ran for nine months. Olson had earlier success with his "Crappie Talk,"
also set in a Minnesota bar; and the more socially complex "A Nice Family
Gathering," about a Norwegian-American who loved his wife so much, "he
almost told her." Both received several awards in playwriting festivals
and competitions, "One theme I carry over in each one of my plays is the
‘emotionally conservative’ nature of Scandinavians," Olson said. He writes
about the awkwardness of hugging, or of having to express emotion. But he
is quick to add that he had a great upbringing, and that his parents were
"the most wonderful people in the world."
He grew up in Edina, Minnesota, his father's grandparents came over
from Norway and homesteaded a farm north of Fargo, North Dakota.
His mother's grandparents also came over from Norway and ended
up in Virginia, Minnesota; the iron range. Olson deals with it in a loving a
nd comedic fashion. And no matter from Where members of his audiences
hail they find the themes strike a familiar chord. "I think the themes are
very universal, I've heard that quite a lot. So even though the setting is
a Scandinavian town in Minnesota, people in California can relate to,
say, their parents not being able to say, 'I love you,' or not hugging you."
In Los Angeles, he works as a stock broker by day. Besides his award-
winning plays, Olson has also written several screenplays, and is hoping
to see his Scandinavian musical comedy creation made into a motion picture.
