Growing Up Lutheran by Janet Letnes Martin & Suzann Nelson
Productions
Original musical 2005 Plymouth, Minnesota 2009 West Coast Premiere 2025 Plymouth Revival Sequels 2008 A Second Helping 2009 Away in the Basement 2011 A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement 2013 The Last (Potluck) Supper 2016 Rise Up, O Men 2018 You Smell Barn 2019 Hark! The Basement Ladies Sing 2022 Plowin' Thru
Church Basement Ladies is a musical theatre series, based on a musical with book by Jim Stowell and Jessica Zuehlke,[1] music and lyrics by Drew Jansen. The series surrounds a group of women that work in their local church basement cooking meals for religious events and functions.
The original production and subsequent entries in the series are based on the book Growing Up Lutheran by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson, published in 1997. In addition to Growing Up Lutheran, Martin and Nelson, under the name of "Those Lutheran Ladies", have written other works, including Growing Up Rural, published in 2017.[2]
A revival of the original musical premiered at The Plymouth Playhouse in Plymouth, Minnesota on July 10, 2025.[3]
Production history
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Produced by Troupe America Inc., Curt Wollan, Executive Producer, the first six musicals in the series opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in Plymouth, Minnesota. Installments 7, 8 and 9 opened at the Ames Center in Burnsville, Minnesota.
In addition to touring nationally, the nine musicals have been licensed in all contiguous 48 states and Canada. More than four million audience members have attended the musical and its sequels. On November 18, 2016, the company celebrated its 3000th performance at the Plymouth Playhouse. Original Cast Recordings are available for Church Basement Ladies 1 through 7.
Synopsis
Church Basement Ladies (CBL) is a musical comedy series following the members of a Midwestern church and their relationships as they organize food and solve the problems of their rural Minnesotan town. The setting involves many characters of American-Nordic diaspora, with each of the titular ladies married to a man of Norwegian heritage.
Among those prolific in the church are Vivian Snustad, the eldest Basement Lady and widow, Karin Engleson, mother and renowned cook, Mavis Gilmerson, a farmer's wife, Beverly Signe Engleson, Karin's daughter, and Pastor E.L. Gunderson, the leader of the church and friend to the Ladies.
The series and its entries were non-chronically-produced, though rightsholder and production company In The Basement Productions includes an in-universe chronological timeline on their website.[4]
Plot
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2025)
Pastor E. L. Gunderson - Tim Drake (Sequel 2 through 8) Greg Eiden (Sequel 9)
Beverly Signe Engleson - Tara Borman (Sequel 2 through 5 and 9) Bethany McCade (Sequel 7)
Other original cast members: Peter Colburn (Sequel 6 and 7), Jeff March (Sequel 6), Michael Lee (Sequel 8)
Songs
Act One
Closer to Heaven (in the Church Basement) - Pastor and Company
The Pale Food Polka - Karin and Ladies
Get Down to Business - Karin and Ladies
Song For Willie - Pastor and Ladies as Backup
My Own Personal Island - Mavis
Dead Spread - Ladies
Closer to Heaven (Reprise) company
Act Two
Get Down to Business (Reprise) Karin & Ladies
The Cities - Vivian and Ladies
This is Most Certainly True - Karin and Signe
Sing a New Song - Signe and Ladies
Mother of the Bride - Mavis and Ladies
For Good - Vivian
Sing a New Song (Reprise) - Company
Sequels
The original production spawned a series of subsequent prequel and sequel musicals, with a total of eight as of 2025.[4][a]
A Second Helping: The Church Basement Ladies Sequel, 1969. (Music and lyrics by Dennis Curley and Drew Jansen; book by Greta Grosch.) Opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in Plymouth, Minnesota in March 2008, and at the New Theater in Overland Park, Kansas, in late summer 2009. The Kansas production featured Barry Williams as Pastor Gunderson.
Away in the Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas, 1959. (Music and lyrics by Drew Jansen; book by Greta Grosch.) Opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in November 2009.
The Church Basement Ladies in: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement", 1960. (Music and lyrics by Drew Jansen; book by Greta Grosch.) Opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in August 2011.
The Church Basement Ladies in: "The Last (Potluck) Supper", 1979. (Music and lyrics by Drew Jansen; book by Greta Grosch.) Opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in August 2013.
The Church Basement Ladies in: "Rise Up, O Men", 1964. (Music and lyrics by Dennis Curley; additional lyrics by Greta Grosch; book by Greta Grosch; additional material by Graydon Royce.) Opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in August 2016.
The Church Basement Ladies in: "You Smell Barn", year not specified, 1950s. (Music by Dennis Curley; lyrics by Dennis Curley and Greta Grosch; book by Greta Grosch.) Opened at the Ames Center in Burnsville, Minnesota on September 12, 2018.
The Church Basement Ladies in: "Hark! The Basement Ladies Sing", 1960. (Music and lyrics by Michael Pearce Donley; book by Greta Grosch) Opened at the Ames Center on November 1, 2019
The Church Basement Ladies in: "Plowin' Thru", 1975. (Music and lyrics by Dennis Curley; book by Greta Grosch) Opened at the Ames Center on September 7, 2022.
Notes
↑ The list provided is sorted chronologically by release date, additionally noting, after the title of the sequel, the year the story takes place in-universe.
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