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The Best of Hank and Rita is a real-time concert performance taking place long after this singing-songwriting duo's brief moment in the Top Ten. The show opens with audio of Rita's breakup letter written earlier that day and left behind at the hotel for Hank to find after the show.
The duo takes the stage upbeat and polished per usual, Rita resolved to have one last good time together, Hank in his usual game face buttering up the audience as best he can. When a fan makes an unexpected request, the show veers off the safe set list and into deeper cuts now requested by each other from the duo's past, songs chronicling of pain, lust, revenge, and hope.
The story and songs are written by Joe Tougas, drawing on two decades as a regional arts and entertainment journalist who regularly covered bands like Hank and Rita, bands whose popularity peaked long ago but who carry on, finding loving audiences in small towns and small venues.
Tougas performs as Hank along with Ann Rosenquist Fee as Rita. Tougas and Fee are real-life performers and songwriters in the acoustic duo The Frye. The show also features Madison, Wis. standup comedian Dan Vierck as Danny Vee, Hank and Rita's opening act.
"The Best of Hank and Rita" received funding from both the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council.
Since its debut in summer of 2015, the show has performed to sold-out audiences in small venues, of course in Mankato, New Ulm and at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, where it returns for another three shows.
"Funny, sad, smart and really original."
Jim Walsh, author "The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting: An Oral History"
"Tougas and Fee hit every note perfectly in their uncanny depiction of a couple's onstage disintegration."
Becca Marx, Co-Editor, Rift: Local Music and Art, Minneapolis
"Charming, Heartbreaking. Funny. Touching. A brilliant song cycle that nearly plays like a novel."
Rich Larson, Editor, Southern Minnesota Scene
"A breath-holding night."
Rebecca Davis, novelist, "Allie Cat."
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LocationBryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater (View)
810 W Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55408
United States
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