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The Church Basement Ladies Musical Comedies To date, four musical comedies have been written, produced, and thoroughly enjoyed by audiences throughout the nation. All four are based on Martin and Nelson's books, especially their best seller, Growing Up Lutheran. The first play, Church Basement Ladies, opened September 8, 2005 at the Plymouth Playhouse (in Plymouth, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis) and closed March 2, 2008. Since then it has been touring nationally. A week after the first show closed, the sequel, Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping, opened at the same theatre running through October 2009. True to form, the third play, Away in the Basement, with a church basement Christmas setting, opened a week later at the Playhouse and ran through the holiday season closing at the end of January 2010. It was repeated at the Plymouth Playhouse during the 2010 holiday season. The first two plays toured throughout the nation in 2010-11, and the holiday show - Away in the Basement - began a national tour in November 2011. See the touring schedule below.
Original Cast Recordings of the Music (CD format) Church Basement Ladies, the first show in the series, is a humorous reflection about growing up in an era before women wore pants to church, and before men served in the church basement. Church Basement Ladies gives you heartfelt, hilarious insights into the lives of those who prepared and served at weddings, anniversaries, funerals and farm auctions. The songs on this CD reflect these insights. This CD was
recorded in
August 2005, just prior to the opening of the
first play. Vocals are by original cast members: Greta Grosch, Janet
Paone, Dorian Chalmers, Ruthie Baker, and Tim Drake. Keyboards, for
this CD, are performed by Drew Jansen who is also musical director of
the show. Kyle Nelson was the organist for live productions
performed
at the Plymouth Playhouse.
Songs on
this CD include: Closer
to Heaven, The Pale Food Polka, Get Down to Business, Song for Willie,
My Own Personal Island, Dead Spread, The Cities, This is Most Certainly
True, Sing a New Song, Mother of the Bride, and For
Good.
Based on Norwegian-Lutheran
humor books written by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson CBL-1
$15.95 CD Format
 Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second
HelpingA
Second Helping, the
sequel, takes place in 1969 and 1970. The four scenes include getting
ready for the Luther League Banquet, preparing for the Mission
Festival, the congregation's Annual Meeting, and sprucing up the church
and spring cleaning.
Vocals are by original cast members: Greta Grosch, Janet Paone, Dorian Chalmers, Tara Borman, and Tim Drake. Keyboards players on this CD are Drew Jansen, Dennis Curley and Kyle Nelson. They are accompanied by percussionist Matt Weaver and Chris Stauffer playing the bass. Songs on this CD include: Everyone Knows a Church Basement Lady, God's Way of Sayin', Cardamom, Cinnamon, Ginger and Clove, You Never Know, Mary/Martha, Old Dog-New Tricks, My Baby Wants Beef, Get Back in the Game, Vivian's Bad Trip, The Tales of Your Heart, and An Additional Gift. Based on
Norwegian-Lutheran humor
books
written by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson CBL-
2
$15.95 CD Format
 Away
in the BasementThe
CD of the Christmas production was recorded in the Fall of 2009 by five
cast members. Unlike the first two productions, this show had two sets
of cast members rotating in and out to meet the intensely scheduled
calendar of holiday shows. Vocals on the recording are by Greta
Grosch,
Robbie Mancina, Dorian Chalmers, Tara Borman, and Tim Drake. Drew
Jansen, who wrote the music and the lyrics for this show, plays
the
keyboard on the CD. Other accompanists are Andy Nelson on the sax, Vin
Parker playing percussion, and trumpeter Adam Rossmiller. (The
other
five actors, not heard on this CD, are: Shannon Herman, Judi Gronseth,
Roxanne Britz, Andrea Alioto and Greg Eiden.)
Songs
on this CD include: Away
in the Basement, The Unforgettable Christmas Program of 1958, Everybody
is a Kid Again at ChristmasTime, Just Not Mary Material, Always One
More thing, I Think You'd Like Her, Pińata, Whatsoever You Doo-Wop, Reindeer
Rendezvous, and the world's
best version of "Jeg er
så Glad."
Based on Norwegian-Lutheran humor books
written by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson
Script by Greta Grosch Music and Lyrics by Drew Jansen Directed by Curt Wollan
CBL- 3
$15.95
CD
Format
Announcing Troupe America's New Play in the Church Basement Ladies Series..... A Mighty
Fortress Is Our Basement had its
world premier at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, MN the weekend of
July 29, 2011. It opened August 12, 2011 at the Plymouth Playhouse for
an open-ended run. It is a great event for office or family holiday
parties, and people are picking up Gift Certificates for holiday
gift-giving. For reservations and certificates, click
here. Tour of Troupe America's 2011 Production of Away in the Basement
In February 2005, the first play in the Church Basement Ladies Series opened at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, MN. After the Saturday evening production, a veryLutheran Opening Night Party — sponsored by the local Thrivent branch, "Those Lutheran Ladies", and Reif Center — was held at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  Reviews
can be found by "Googling" the play titles, and snippets of these
shows from different theatres throughout the nation can be found on
YouTube.
 Photo by Paul Nixdorf Janet L. Martin, Wm Christopher & Suzann Nelson
Some viewer
comments:
All Caragana Press products are available at wholesale prices to qualified retailers, organizations, churches, schools, and libraries. Call 800 494-9124 for details. |
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Church Basement Ladies
4: A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement 
