Thanks to Mississippi Valley Montessori School for their support. Located in West St. Paul since 1967, they’re an AMI-accredited Montessori school serving children up to age 6. Email us for more info.
Hannah Bakke is a West St. Paul native currently launching her debut musical, The Garden, with Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) in Minneapolis. Bakke plays the role of writer, composer, and lyricist in their Triple Threat Summer Intensive Production, a summer program for students performers.
- Show times are Friday, August 9, 2024, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, August 10, 2024, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
- General admissions start at $25 per person (the show is recommended for ages 10 and up).
- More details are available on the CTC’s webpage.
What is The Garden About?
Bakke described the musical as “A reimagination of the Garden of Eden story from Genesis one and two, except Adam, Eve, and Lucifer (Lucifer/Lucy, she’s kind of like a badass outlaw type) are in a folk band, and they play at a dive bar called The Garden.”
“It’s really about taking the story and looking at it more so from Eve’s perspective, with a big folk bluegrass community music twist,” said Bakke. “I like to say it’s loosely in the realm of Joseph [and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat] and Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s loosely inspired by the story that I grew up knowing really well, and kind of saying, ‘What if we just thought about it in this completely new context?’”
About Hannah Bakke
Bakke grew up in West St. Paul and began playing music locally at her church and local venues. She performed in her first musical in high school and started writing The Garden, her first musical, at 25.
“I love being a multi-hyphenate,” said Bakke. “I love being an actor and a musician and a writer. But I would say that the creative identity that has given me the most agency and the most joy has been writing.”
Bakke credited many of her early opportunities to Amore Coffee in West St. Paul: “It was pretty cool to have a place where it was like, ‘Oh, I can make something.’ No one’s going to stop me from making something even if sometimes I might have thoughts that stop me.”
“I think theater can feel very like I have to be so polished and so perfect all the time. And I think that’s actually to the detriment of making really brilliant art. And so when you have these community spaces where it’s like, ‘I’m not going to play everything perfectly, and that’s not going to take away from someone’s farmers market or coffee shop experience,’ it takes the pressure off of you. And I feel like you actually sing better.”
She worked as an actor until the COVID-19 pandemic canceled her next season of shows. She now lives in New York and has completed songs for Out of the Box Theatrics and Beverly Baker’s upcoming show, HAG.
Writing a Musical
During her time away from acting, Bakke began working on The Garden.
“I write very music-first,” said Bakke. “The first one that I wrote ever hasn’t really changed much since I wrote it. Which is not the same for most of the songs I’ve written… But this one kind of fell right into orbit.”
Bakke works as a teaching artist with the CTC. She said that after hearing the song, the Director of Education, Ann Joseph Douglas, offered to bring in her work for further development.
“She’s really championed this idea of bringing works in development to the education department because the main stage CTC does a bunch of works in development, but this is the first time this program has done that,” said Bakke. “And so she was like, ‘I’ll get you a dramaturg to help you out. We can do readings here. We’ll help you finish this musical so that you can take it to the next step of its journey.’”
Getting Messy
Bakke, having struggled with perfectionism in her work, shared some advice for overcoming it.
“Whenever you bring new pages that I’ve read or a new song that I wrote, it feels like you’ve promised everyone you’re gonna bring a ballerina,” she explained. “You’re like, ‘I’ve brought this. I’m bringing a ballerina,’ and then you show up with a frog in the tutu, and you’re like, ‘I’ve got it to do a pirouette!’”
“As an artist, whatever kind of artist you are, this pursuit of perfection can really cut you off at the knees. If you’re going to create and make something, it’s going to be messy, it’s going to be imperfect, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t good. And actually, we can’t be perfect. And the only way you can create something really brilliant is to get a little messy with it.”
Looking Forward
Bakke doesn’t plan to stop with just one musical. “I have a couple of other musicals that I’ve been dreaming up that are in its early stages,” she said. “I feel like I’m kind of on this new path—I didn’t know this is what I would be doing when I was 20.” Bakke explained that she could see herself acting in a musical she produced one day.
For the more immediate future, Bakke is entertaining the possibility of performing at the West Side Farmer’s Market while she is in town.
“That was another place where it was like, ‘Oh, you can just go play music for your community,’” she explained. “It’s fun and special to have those arts opportunities.”
Thanks to Hannah Bakke for sharing with us.
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