Music Director for Ten November. Nov 5-7th and Nov. 12-14th
For Music Director Robin Devereaux-Nelsen, Ten November brings a few firsts. It is her first time singing on Bay City Players stage, and first time as a Music Director for a show. Robin is an experienced musician and here at Players she has acted in and directed plays on and off since the 1980’s. She has also been on stage at Pit and Balcony in Saginaw.
Ten November brings a unique musical storytelling opportunity, with a band on stage for the entire production. The show about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, is not a musical in a traditional sense, but a drama that incorporates music throughout to weave the story and evoke emotion.
Robin is joined by Katherine Bach-Morris of the band Hoolie, who will be singing and playing guitar; Carol Levack also singing and playing guitar; Randy Bunting playing flute and mandolin; Sean Drysdale of the CDF Band on bass and guitar, and her husband James Nelson, (a former sound person at Players) playing keyboard and accordion. The music and lyrics were written by Eric Peltoniemi. The St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch calls the show “A wonderful mixture of music, historical research, and personal reflection.”
Music Director Devereaux-Nelsen says both the actors and musicians are storytellers. “I think the music carries a lot of the play’s emotion and all the different ways people try to cope with catastrophic loss and grief.” She has been a musician and singer all of her life, but Robin says “Working as a Music Director for a production for the first time has been challenging, to say the least. But exciting as well, and it has given me a chance to make music with a group of folks I really enjoy. “