West Michigan Debut of The Keeper in Lowell
This was originally published in the Lowell Ledger 3.8.23
In addition to his wife and three children, Alto resident and musician extraordinaire Kyle Rasche loves a bunch of things. Among them are writing and performing music, musical theatre, Michigan, the Great Lakes, and lighthouses. If you appreciate one or more items on that list, then you should probably secure a ticket for an event Sunday March 12th at 4 pm at the Sound Check in Lowell.
Sound Check is a great little music venue located at the Lowell United Methodist Church at 621 East Main Street. The event provides a unique opportunity for lovers of music, musical theatre and the Great Lakes to participate in a workshop for “The Keeper”, a brand new musical written by Kyle Rasche in collaboration with Annie Bacon, a singer songwriter based in Ann Arbor.
When artists “workshop” a production like “The Keeper”, they perform it without a full cast, set changes or costumes in front of an audience. Think of it as a Focus Group for a musical. Bacon and Rasche will be playing the parts of six main characters and two auxiliary characters in the show as well as singing all the music. Once the performance is done, Kyle and Annie will solicit feedback from the audience. In addition to welcoming constructive comments from the attendees, this allows for them to get a sense of the flow of dialogue and music and the story line in general. “It is a way for us to see if our story and characters resonate with people,” Rasche said. “We actually have a hat for each character and we literally switch hats.”
The Keeper is set in the year 1942, but Annie and Kyle strongly believe that the story line has appeal to the modern world because of some very universal themes. There is a family dynamic between Sam, the aging lighthouse keeper, and his troublesome nephew Eber who shows up unannounced. Another set of circumstances that Sam is dealing with is the advance of technology and a shortage of qualified workers. (Can I get an “Amen”?)
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| Annie Bacon and Kyle Rasche |
We seem to think that wrestling with labor shortages and the incessant creep of technology is something new, but people in 1942 faced similar challenges. World War Two was taking away most of the men in the country and at the same time there was an increased demand for the products of war which meant shipping on the Great Lakes was at an all time high. If that were not enough, Sam is also dealing with evolving technology in that the lighthouses were changing from the old method of burning oil lamps set in the middle of the Fresnel lenses that sent the light sweeping the lake to electricity supplying the power to the light. Ships were being outfitted with early versions of radar which lessened their dependence on lighthouses for safe navigation.
“The Keeper” had been germinating in Kyle’s head for seven or eight years. He grew up listening to recordings of musicals and dreamed of creating one himself. He was confident in being able to write the music, but was unsure of his ability to produce the libretto, the script of the play. The meeting of Rasche and Bacon was one of those magic moments. They met online and then connected in person at the Folk Alliance Conference near Chicago. When Kyle shared his idea for “The Keeper” with Annie, he had no idea of the fire his spark of an idea would set off.
Bacon was born in Maine within view of a lighthouse. She loves bodies of water. She has written a folk opera and generally loves to write. Immediately after the conference, she went home and wrote about eight pages of the story and fleshed out some characters. Annie said that she loved diving into the history of lighthouses and quickly educated me about how keepers were also called “Wickies” because one of their main jobs prior to the introduction of electric lights was the dirty task of keeping the oil fed wicks trimmed to maximize the flame reflected out over the lake through the lenses. They had to keep the lenses clean of the soot generated by the oil-fed flames as well.
“It was an idea that was really ready to be pounced upon,” Bacon remarked. “We both came up with everything in a pretty short amount of time.”
To give you an idea of just how well thought out Kyle’s musical is, his setting it in The White Shoal was no accident. The White Shoal is an actual lighthouse at the West entrance to the Straits of Mackinac. It happens to be the tallest lighthouse in the Great Lakes and it is the only one painted like a barber pole. Kyle figures that by setting the musical in a simple setting that does not demand an elaborate or ever changing set, it will allow more local and regional theatre companies to present the play. Genius.
Learning about their writing schedule is enough to make one want to take a nap. They both have partners, children, and other jobs and responsibilities. Their routine was to collaborate from 10pm until the wee hours of the morning. Once their creative fires had been lit, it seemed they were consumed with “The Keeper”.
Annie said, “Kyle is an amazing collaborator, friend, and song writer. I was blown away by his work ethic and song writing prowess.” She followed these remarks by relating how one night while they were working on the script, they felt a song was needed. Bacon was amazed when Kyle got back to her in about a half an hour with a fully developed song. She praised his ability to tie together elements of the story into music. For his part, Kyle was so impressed with the way Annie grabbed the skeleton of his idea and fleshed it out that it never occurred to him to be more possessive of “The Keeper” as his creation.
Listening to these two talented people talk about each other gives a glimpse into how such musical partnerships are born and mature into music and musicals that stand the test of time. We might be privy to the start of something great right here in Lowell. Tickets for the workshop event are $20 and you can get them at www.facebook.com/SoundCheckLowell.
Learn more about Kyle Rasche: www.ChainofLakessongs.com
Annie Bacon is at: www.AnnieBacon.me
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