“Huzzah!” tells the story of two fighting sisters who must put their differences aside to save their family’s struggling Renaissance Faire.
Creators and Broadway veterans Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin worked for more than a decade to bring “Huzzah!” to the stage.
“It’s kind of our life’s work,” said O’Keefe.
The couple, who first started working together in college and later went on to marry, said some friends introduced them to the Renaissance Faire and they were immediately hooked.
“Everybody was good at something. Everybody loved their work, whether it was reenactments of, you know, accurate historical facts or whether it was making potions or dressing up as a fairy,” O’keefe said.
Benjamin added, “There were crafters who made their own stuff. There were, people who had put together their own shows. And you didn’t buy tickets ahead of time. You saw the show and then put money in the hat if you liked it, which is, for a theater person, really badass, right? Like, that’s how much confidence you have. And we just thought, these are people doing their fun, nerdy things the way they want to do them, and that spoke to us really strong because that’s who we are.”
Their time at the faire inspired them to write a musical.
“It’s as theatrical as it gets. We joke that the Venn diagram between, like Renaissance Faire folk and theatre folk is just one circle. Like, we all want to put on a show,” Benjamin said.
15 years later, “Huzzah!” is finally hitting the stage.
“It’s so exciting, every step of this process. Coming into the rehearsal space, meeting our fabulous company of actors who are all more than you could possibly want for these roles that have been in your head for 15 years, Benjamin said. “It’s very emotional in, in a way I haven’t experienced at all, that to see people take your dream and run with it.”
“Huzzah!” continues at The Old Globe through October 19th. You can find show times and ticket information here.