I Am Betty Returns to the History Theatre After Last Years Delicious Debut

I Am Betty the hit musical from History Theatre’s 2023 season returns for a second helping this holiday season. Steeped in Minnesota details it celebrates the countless women behind the myth of Betty Crocker. The story tracks the roles of women throughout the 20th century and we see what Betty Crocker, the marketing icon, has represented to different women at different times over the past 100 years. With book and lyrics by Cristina Luzarraga and music and lyrics by Denise Prosek, directed by Maija Garcia with Musical Direction by Sonja Thompson, and featuring a cast of nine of the Twin Cities most gifted female performers, it’s a show that practices what it preaches. The female voice, onstage and backstage, is vital to telling this story. It reminds us how far we as a society have come. I Am Betty celebrates the far too often undervalued accomplishments and contributions of woman throughout the past century. A testament to the career woman as well as the homemaker, showing us the power of diversity and choice.

Luzarraga and Proseks story focuses on two woman who made a deep impact on the world of Betty Crocker. Act I follows the creation and building of the Betty Crocker brand by Marjorie Child Husted beginning in 1921. We see how Betty Crocker went from answering letters to starring on a radio and TV programs. How innovations were created by the women who worked in the General Mills test kitchens. How they created low cost recipes during the depression and creating Bisquick to help save time in the kitchen. Husted was a driven and intelligent woman who sacrificed a personal life for many years because she saw value in the work she and the women she worked with were doing. Act II follows Barbara Jo Davis whom we are introduced to as a young black woman who dreams of growing up to be Betty Crocker and does to the extent that any one woman is Betty Crocker. As we get into the 1960’s and the women’s liberation movement builds, we get a scene where Betty Friedan and Barbara Jo debate the choice to be a homemaker, both having valid points it illustrates the importance of choice, that what seems like a sentence to unpaid labor to some, is something for which others find great pride in.

The cast is a recipe for musical gold and the songs by Prosek and Luzarraga give them all the right ingredients to whip up a musical soufflet. The songs mirror the times in which they are performed, so we get everything from the jazz age to 80’s power ballads. My favorite song was “Lo Bueno Con Lo Malo” which is performed in Spanish by the understudy Lisa Vogel as a Cuban mother singing to her college aged daughter played by Erin Capello. I loved the song, I loved that it was performed in Spanish and I loved the message of those two characters who are revisited throughout Act II. I also loved seeing Vogel nail the song, it was my favorite song last year as well where I saw it performed by Kiko Laureano. Capello also plays Marjorie Child Husted throughout Act I, it’s a great performance that lends a human face and noble aspirations to what one could argue is a marketing tool. Capello lets us see the dedication and desire to help that motivated Husted and lends legitimacy to the symbol that is, Betty Crocker. Lynnea Doublette plays Barbara Jo and really grabbed my attention with her 60’s style girl group song “I Want to Be Her” which is my kind of music. She really takes center stage in Act II and also excels at providing a solid portrait of a role model of an intelligent successful career woman who finds her life’s work in home economics helping to develop Hamburger Helper. The entire cast is great but I have to say my favorite was crowd pleaser Jennifer Grimm, who’s vocal talents are always stunning but who really surprised me with some very comical parts frequently as men. From a Bing Crosby impersonation to a Marketing Exec modeled on Chris Farley I suspect, she meets every challenge drawing both laughs and wowing us with her voice.

I Am Betty runs through December 29th at the History theatre in Downtown St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2024-2025/i-am-betty

Photo: (l-r) Ruthie Baker, Jennifer Grimm, Liv Kemp, Stephanie Cousins, Anna Hashizume, Kiko Laureano, Lynnea Doublette, Erin Capello (Photo by Rick Spaulding)