Theatre Arts: Alumna Rachel Chavkin to Direct Three Pianos at New York Theatre Workshop

Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Arts alumna Rachel Chavkin will be directing Three Pianos this season at the New York Theatre Workshop.  Three Pianos – an OBIE winning music-theatre event that had a sold-out run at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in March 2010 – is a theatrical exploration of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle. Filled with fantastical touches and inventive arrangements, Three Pianos is a colorful and imaginative evening of chaos that explores Schubert’s music, life, and times. Written, arranged, and performed by Rick Burkhardt (Nonsense Company), Alec Duffy (Hoi Polloi) and Dave Malloy (Banana Bag & Bodice), the play is set in a rustic cabin on a blustery winter night where three friends – each manning a piano – lead the audience through their perspective passions for Winterreise, Schubert’s famous song cycle on winter heartbreak. Performing the song cycle while drinking and grappling with fundamental questions about the nature of music, the three pianists slip into the skins of Schubert and friends during one of the famous “Schubertiads.” Compositional mayhem, shifting rivalries, and some unfortunate butchery of the German language ensue.  For more information please visit New York Theatre Workshop.