REVIEW: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Last night was the Minneapolis premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the New Century Theatre. Produced by the Minneapolis Musical Theater Company (or “MMT”), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a raucous reflection of the life and times of one the most controversial American presidents you know almost nothing about. Unless you have a personal connection to the Native American community, the most you’ve probably thought about ‘Ole Hickory’ probably amounts to musing, “Isn’t he the guy on the $20 bill?” Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson tries to answer that in a way that is engaging and high energy in the way that a four-part Ken Burns documentary on PBS never could.
The elevator pitch for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is if you took a History Channel biopic, crossed it with Green Day’s American Idiot and ran the whole thing through a South Park profanity enhancer. It is certainly not a show for the easily offended. The show takes an irreverent look at how Jackson came to be known as either a great American hero or the “American Hitler,” depending on how you feel about his dealings with Native Americans in the South and along the pre-Civil War frontier. To that point, we were greeted outside the venue by a crowd of demonstrators who were handing out seven-page “leaflets” addressing concerns with the play. The protests may have been a little misplaced, however, as the criticism seemed to be based on the Off-Broadway production from 2010, and not the show actually playing here through June 29, 2014. The original show took much greater liberties with the historical facts than this one, and was not particularly kind in its portrayal of Native Americans. It is made abundantly clear that this show is in no way meant to be taken literally, but I felt the treatment of American Indians was considerably more sensitive than the effeminate, gay stereotypes saddled upon Washington insiders Adams, Monroe, Van Buren and others.
The actual staging of the show was much more involved than most shows I’ve seen performed at the New Century Theater. There were choreographed song and dance numbers, elaborate lighting cues and costumes with a distinctly punk-rock vibe. The biggest problem with the show I found was on the technical side. The sound mixing was unforgivably terrible and numerous microphone failures made it impossible to hear or understand much of what the performers were saying/singing over the chorus and blaring electric guitars. The lack of an intermission didn’t do them any favors, either. This could be an easy fix, but if you are planning to go, you may want to select seats closer to the front in order to hear if the mics cut out again.
In all, it was an enjoyable show. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is at the New Century Theatre through June 29, 2014. Tickets are available from the Hennepin Theatre Trust for $24-$29 depending on the night.
DEAL ALERT: 1/2 off tickets are available for the following dates. Click on each respective date for purchase information. Limited discount tickets are also available via Goldstar.