CLAIRE MCKENZIE AND SCOTT GILMOUR
Bernhardt Wichmann III, better known as Ben, had an incredibly sad life and a miraculous one at the same time. Born in Davenport, Iowa, his parents suffered from mental illness and committed suicide. Ben had dreamed of becoming an architectural draftsman and fought in Korea to earn a college degree. He moved to New York City to make it happen and never looked back.
An operation on his larynx left him without the ability to speak, a condition that lasted more than three decades. Living without speech in a tiny one room apartment at 74th Street and 3rd Avenue, above J. G. Melon Restaurant, one would imagine Ben becoming a recluse, angry at his fate and at life. Yet, armed with a notepad and a pen, Ben ventured into a cruel and impersonal city and turned strangers into friends.
Some of those friends were two doormen at a nearby hotel, Jorge Grisales and Juan Arias, who learned to speak English thanks to Ben’s writing efforts and a news reporter Joan, who with her dog Clementine, often treated Ben to a ticket to the opera, a pastime he loved, even getting him a tuxedo once so he could go in style.
On the indifferent streets of the city, Ben and his notebook reached out to passersby and started a conversation. Before long, he had forged a community, one that chipped in to pay for his funeral when he died
from cancer. Only one year before his death, Ben experienced a miracle. During an M.R.I. procedure,
Ben’s voice was restored and, in gratitude, he started talking and never wanted to stop.
In 2016, a Scottish writing team of Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie were visiting New York and chanced upon the obituary of Bernhardt Wichmann III and saw the germs of a musical. Invited to the Writer’s Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, they used their time there to craft the story of a simple man who lived his life in capital letters. With the cooperation of Noisemaker, in collaboration with Dundee Rep, one of Scotland’s leading theatres, you are invited from May 17 to June 9 to experience “Hi, My Name is Ben” at the Terris Theatre, 33 North Main Street, Chester.
For tickets ($49-54), call the box office at Goodspeed at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The team interviewed the many people who viewed Ben as a trusted friend to recreate his life and explore his “unique character.” From his tiny window above the restaurant, Ben used his time to learn about the cab drivers and waitresses who lived and worked around the corner. The walls of his small living space were filled with a collage of thousands of photos of his new friends. He asked for so little, but he gave of his time and of his heart, to listen to people’s stories and show he genuinely cared. Using folk infused music, with Ben’s “friends” speaking his words, they give voice to how Ben lived his life on his special terms.
Gilmour and McKenzie want audiences to hear this quiet story of a man who “found happiness through strangers, using a notebook, and poetic language.”
They want you to “take a walk through his brain” and discover a chunk of his life in this amazingly true story.
Their message is to “make time for others” and they feel Ben would have loved their musical efforts, maybe dressing up in a tuxedo as if he were going once again to an opera at the Metropolitan.
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