'Run Bambi Run,' new musical about Lawrencia Bembenek, has Violent Femmes energy to it

If "Run Bambi Run," Milwaukee Repertory Theater's new musical about Lawrencia Bembenek, plays the way the script reads and demo versions of the songs sound, it's going to be brash, funny and occasionally obnoxious.

Kind of like a Violent Femmes album.

Which is not surprising, given that Femmes singer-songwriter Gordon Gano has written the songs, including such titles as "The 1970s Sucked," "Polish-American Girl" (with a shout-out to Kosciuszko Park), "Mean Clean Lean Cold Winning Machine" and "Revenge of the Nudnik."

That's exactly the sound that playwright Eric Simonson hoped for when Milwaukee Rep artistic director Mark Clements asked who would top Simonson's wish list for scoring the musical.

Preview performances begin Sept. 13 at the Rep's Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St.

"Creating an original musical is the hardest thing to do in the theater, where the book is strong, the music strong, the narrative is clear," Clements said in February when the production was announced. So the Rep will stage a full week of preview performances, during which changes to the show can be made, before official opening night on Sept. 22.

What did Lawrencia Bembenek do?

Born in 1958, Bembenek grew up on Milwaukee's south side and attended Catholic schools before graduating from Bay View High School.

In 1980, she graduated from the Milwaukee Police Academy and was assigned to the south side. But during her probationary period, she was fired. In the wake of that disputed event, she filed a sex discrimination complaint against the department. Bembenek worked for a short time as a waitress at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, which she later ruefully said always showed up in stories about her.

She married Milwaukee Police officer Elfred Schultz in January 1981, less than three months after Schultz divorced his first wife, Christine. On May 28 of that year, Christine was found murdered. She had been tied and gagged in her home, and fatally shot with Elfred Schultz's service revolver, according to court testimony.

After Bembenek was charged with the murder, she said she was being framed for the murder, possibly because of her complaint against the police department. "The largely circumstantial case was enough to convince a jury," the Journal Sentinel reported.

Her court appeals did not succeed. In 1990, Bambenek escaped though a laundry room window at Taycheedah Correctional Institution and fled to Canada with the help of a paramour. After Canada persuaded Milwaukee officials to conduct a judicial review of her case, Bembenek returned voluntarily to the United States. Rather than go through another full trial, she pleaded no contest to second-degree murder; her sentence was commuted to time served. Bembenek never stopped trying to clear her name before her death in 2010.

Bembenek tale has a folkloric feel

Simonson, who was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Eagle, won an Oscar for best short subject documentary and was a Tony nominee for his stage directing. As a playwright, his works include "Lombardi," a big hit for the Rep, which prompted Clements to sound him out about writing another show with a Wisconsin subject.

When the Rep announced "Run Bambi Run" as part of this season, some pearls were clutched on social media about whether the Bembenek story was suitable for a musical (as if no one accused or guilty of a crime had ever been a musical theater character before). Hearing about that surprised Simonson.

"This story lends itself to some exaggeration because the story itself feels like it's exaggerated when you tell it to somebody," Simonson said. "It's very folkloric. It feels like a Bonnie and Clyde or Pretty Boy Floyd story," he said.

As a character, Bembenek gets knocked down but never gives up, Simonson said, a stance expressed in one of Gano's songs as "The deeper you bury me, the louder I'll shout."

In his script's production notes, Simonson states, "This is about the suppression of a woman who is a threat to the establishment." The Milwaukee Police Department of the early '80s is as much on trial in this musical as Bembenek is. (As the script reminds, Canada held up extraditing Bembenek because it had doubts about the propriety of the criminal justice system in Milwaukee.)

Simonson calls this musical's approach "Brechtian" (after Bertolt Brecht). It's unsentimental, it breaks the fourth wall and reminds the audience they're watching a play, it asks viewers to make judgments about the actions of the characters, he said. Simonson also said that Gano's songs for the show are written in the spirit of Kurt Weill and Brecht (whose collaborations included "The Threepenny Opera," source of the song "Mack the Knife").

People who lived through the Bembenek story will see a familiar parade of figures step forward to star in a song: Schultz (characterized here as "Disco Elfred"), Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Breier, defense attorney Donald Eisenberg and private investigator Ira Robins.

Drawing inspiration from Joan Jett

Gano said he did not come to the musical with an opinion about what Bembenek did or didn't do, so he could focus his songs on the characters and what they're trying to express.

He worked from a treatment Simonson gave him which suggested places for songs. Occasionally, Gano also musicalyzed something Simonson had written as dialogue.

For example, music director Dan Kazemi suggested turning a speech Simonson wrote for Chief Breier into music. Jumping on that notion, Gano made it into the song "Good Afternoon."

Gano also drew inspiration from earlier recordings in writing these new tunes. This musical's "Bad Boys" can thank Joan Jett and The Runaways for some of its DNA.

Gano said he has talked in detail with Kazemi about every song in the show, including its references and inspirations, in preparation for Kazemi arranging them.

"I believe he gets what I'm doing," Gano said. "He's seen Violent Femmes live and even drew from some of what we do," including some of the horn arrangements the Femmes have used.

Gano is particularly enjoying the expansive harmonies Kazemi has come up with for a chorus or a group of people. He even wrote one song with the sound of a barbershop quartet in mind, then was able to turn it over to Kazemi to make that happen.

If you go

Milwaukeee Repertory Theater performs "Run Bambi Run" Sept. 13-Oct. 22 at theh Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Rep's 'Run Bambi Run' shapes up to be brash, funny musical