Review: LOCH MESS at Open Eye Theatre

A new all-ages musical adventure from the team who created LOG JAM and HAIR BALL; set in the 1900s on Lake Superior, this comic entertainment will feature shipwrecks and a lake monster on The Bakken Museum’s beautiful rooftop lawn.

This rollicking musical melodrama follows the adventures of Beatrix Barnes (Abilene Olson) from Beaver Bay, MN, an intrepid young girl who journeys to the bright lights of Duluth (“the San Francisco of the North!”) seeking to become the first female steamship captain. But fate has a different plan, as Beatrix ends up serving as stagehand to vaudeville diva Lillian Legrand (Lux Mortenson), the headliner of the soon-to-be doomed showboat The Gooseberry Flower. 

With the audience along for the ride as steamship passengers, Beatrix and her companions are soon assailed by Superior Lake monsters and embroiled in wistful romance, requiring a detour to Wisconsin to pick up Scottish monster hunter Dangus MacMacaroney.

It was a joy to back up on the rooftop of the beautiful Bakken Museum on a summer evening to see a production of Loch Mess by Open Eye Theatre.  After seeing their last production of Hair Ball last season. 

CREATIVE TEAM

Book Music & Lyrics – Josef Evans
Stage Director – Joel Sass
Choreography – Heidi Spesard Noble
Costume Design – Kathy Kohl
Orchestrations – Dan Dukich
Sound Design – Nathaniel Glewwe
Sound Engineer – Abe Gabor

It's amazing how the rooftop of the Bakken can be turned into a performance venue. It truly proves that theater and performaning can be done anywhere. The way Open Eye Theatre interprets and adapts the space to use it for thier producitons is great. 

The story was fun and Minnesotans can appreciate that the story takes place in familiar Minnesota locations. The music was really good some catchy fun tunes and ballads. The cast was so talented and I recognized many of them from previous productions. They all fit their characters well and had great chemistry with each other. You can tell that not only are they committed to making this show enjoyable for their audiences but they are enjoying it themselves. 

The costumes were bright and colorful and fun and fitting for all of the characters. The script had many comedic moments in it as well as heartfelt moments as well as some plot twist. The audience was laughing and having a wonderful time.

I would recommend seeing this produciton of Loch Ness at Open Eye Theatre. It's a great theatrical summer experience that can be enjoyed by all!

For more ticket and show information, click the ticket link button below. 

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