November 16, 2010 – December 5, 2010

Old Wicked Songs is the story of Stephen Hoffman, a brilliant American piano prodigy desperate to regain his waning creative spark.  He travels to Vienna, where he studies under the forced tutelage of an old and eccentric vocal professor.  The two could not be more different – one is European, the other American; one passionate; the other technical; and one an anti-Semite and the other, a Jew.  What follows is a game of trading challenges, tirades, and insults revealing both the sinister and the noble sides of each man.  The music of Robert Schumann, whose song cycle the Dichterliebe (the Poet’s Love) is woven throughout the play, leads the characters in incredible musical storytelling.

This Pulitzer Prize nominated drama is an emotional journey through joy and sadness, anger and redemption, out of which emerges healing, inspiration and music.

By Jon Maran