OLD WICKED SONGS

September 25, 2008.By John Townsend, Lavender Magazine.

Through Oct. 5 Guthrie Theater 8181 S. 2^nd St., Mpls. (612) 377-2224 www.guthrietheater.org

THE TITLE IS FROM the final song of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe: “The old, wicked songs, the dreams wicked and grim, let us bury them.”

Theater Latte Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who has staged the show at Guthrie’s Dowling Studio, calls it a “song about healing, liberation, redemption. Set in Vienna in 1986 on the election of Kurt Waldheim, a former Nazi, this play by John Maran is about the friendship between two men: Josef [Raye Birk], an old Viennese voice teacher, and Stephen Hoffman [Jonas Goslow], a young American piano student. I found it incredibly witty, profound—and, of course, musical.”

Characters strike just the right notes in 'Old Wicked Songs'

September 19, 2008.By Renee Valois, Pioneer Press.

Not only is Theater Latte Da's new show threaded with music, it has all the tempo changes and varying emotional tones of a fine classical composition. Although it's not a musical per se, Jon Marans' script uses song as a metaphor for life — and music creates the philosophical underpinning to the piece.

It all starts when a young American piano prodigy shows up at the studio of an elderly music professor in Vienna. John Clarke Donahue's elaborate set evokes a man living at least partly in the past with its grand piano, gramophone and fainting couch. The romantic in professor Josef Mashkan reveals itself not only in the art on his walls, but via his encouragement to young Stephen Hoffman to gently seduce the piano — not rape it.

Raye Birk does a stellar turn as the aging professor who has great wisdom to share and terrible secrets to hide. Jonas Goslow makes young Stephen initially stiff in his approach to music and life; a technical virtuoso who lacks the passion to bring a piece to the height of genius. However, Stephen's saving grace is that he knows he needs help to move to the next level.

When the professor presses his hand against Stephen's diaphragm to teach him how to breathe properly, the young man recoils and the professor reassures him: "I get no joy from touching you. Of course, after so many years I get no joy from touching my wife either." The two trade jokes and barbs and there is plenty to laugh at in the first half.

By the end of the act, everything changes. The two have been working on Schumann's "Dichterliebe," exploring how joy and sorrow go hand in hand, and the script echoes the song's emotion, tumbling into darker territory. We discover why the German professor dismisses Jews, and Stephen returns from his tour of a concentration camp not just outraged, but changed.

Director Peter Rothstein uses the two characters — one too inexperienced and the other too experienced to dare to fully live — to create a bittersweet beauty. Throughout the show, the stubborn old Austrian and the arrogant young American play against each other like a bass and tenor in duet. When one is up the other is down, but ironically, it is their differences that create a satisfying harmony.

The end result is like the resolution of a dramatic piece of music, ending on just the right note.

Old Wicked Songs: Theatre Latte Da Old Wicked Songs

September 19, 2008.By Ed Huyck, Talkin’ Broadway.

Raye Birk and Jonas Goslow get a workout in Jon Maran's Pulitzer-nominated play, moving through the full range of emotions over the course of two hours. Yet Old Wicked Songs is much more than an acting exercise. The play delves deep into the teacher/student relationship, with side trips into the music of Robert Schumann and the Holocaust for good measure.

Set in Vienna during the 1980s, the two characters are at opposite ends of their careers—Goslow plays Stephen, a prodigy pianist who has lost the thrill of playing, while Birk takes the role of Professor Mashkan, an irritable vocal coach who has been assigned to work with the pianist and teach him singing.

From there, each character unpacks a number of troubles, central among them being the professor's anti-Semitism and Stephen's attempts to deal with his personal connections to the Holocaust. The Schumann music acts as a third character, providing both topics for conversation and commentary on the action.

If anything, the script may be a little too pat—with events dropping in at expected intervals and ending with a fairly clear resolution—but the two performers are the real stars here. Birk, a longtime theater vet (and current Scrooge at the Guthrie), inhabits every unpleasant corner of his character, but still makes him a human and sympathetic figure. Goslow has a tougher role, as Stephen has fewer opportunities for depth. Both of them perform naturally together, drawing us into the heart of the play.

The music (pre-recorded piano and then live singing from the duo) wonderfully accents the story, as does John Clark Donahue's gorgeous set. Theatre Latte Da leader Peter Rothstein directs the entire affair with an easy touch, letting the actors bring their talents to the table and making for a thrilling and engaging evening.

Old Wicked Songs runs through October 5 at the Joe Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. Second St., Minneapolis. For tickets and more information, call 612-377-2224 or visit www.guthrietheater.org. Recitals of Schumann's Dichterliebe, with Bradley Greenwald and Sonja Thompson, at 4 p.m. September 21 and 28 and October 5, Dowling Studio. $15.

Old Wicked Songs

September 17, 2008.By Kate Iverson, The Rake.

If you weren’t quick enough to snag tickets to the sold-out Little House show don’t dispair – the Guthrie will make it up to you with Theater Latte Da’s stellar production of 1996 Pulitzer Prize nominated Old Wicked Songs. This dramatic tale is wound around the music of Robert Schumann, whose Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love) builds up and follows the events occurring on stage. A young and promising pianist going through a creative dry spell is inspired by an aging musician who helps re-ignite his passion for the art form, taking them both on a wild and inspiring emotional journey. The Guthrie notes that this production contains “strobe lights” and “haze,” so aging drug users and those prone to epileptic seizures beware. After the show, take siesta at Cue Restaurant and indulge in some of their delicious polenta fries to cap the night off right.

7:30pm, Guthrie Theater, 818 2nd Avenue S., Minneapolis, $18-$34

Old Wicked Songs

September 17, 2008.By Andrew Newman, The Rake.

There’s no denying the power of music. The power it has to inspire us, move us and sometimes tell us more about ourselves than words ever could. Such is the case with Theater Latté Da’s production of Old Wicked Songs, which runs through October 5^th at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio. This Pulitzer Prize nominee by Jon Marans gives director Peter Rothstein a masterful script and propels his actors to equally masterful performances. Much more than the inspiring teacher story, Old Wicked Songs is a compelling comparison of the old world and the new world, neither of which is definitive.

The year is 1986 and young American piano prodigy Stephen Hoffman (Jonas Goslow) has come to Vienna to find inspiration. He fears a burnout and has sought a renowned teacher to help him. He is outraged to learn that the first he must get through Profesor Josef Mashkan (Raye Birk), an elderly vocal coach and accompanist who will teach him how to sing. Through their lessons, the stubborn and arrogant Hoffman slowly regains his musical spirit as the city and its dark war years bring him closer to self-realization. The key to all this is Mashkan, whose world-weary sense of humor covers his own shadowy past and the secrets he hides.

The student and teacher are the only faces we see, and Goslow and Birk match each other eye-for-eye. While his initial tension and frustration reads as juvenile and whiny, Jonas Goslow soon moves into a very natural and heartfelt performance as Stephen. His frustration remains throughout, but becomes more earnest with each new development. As more of his personality is revealed, Goslow grows in complexity without being broad or showy. In fact, Goslow grows more subtle with each new turn. A particular highlight is Stephen demonstrating  his modus operandi by imitating some of the world’s well-known pianists, complete with exaggerated impersonations that give Goslow a chance to stretch his funny bone. Stephen is the spokesperson for the new world; unsure and angry but with enough confidence to stick it through.

Goslow serves as a perfect counterpoint to Raye Birk’s Josef Mashkan. Wise-cracking and loud when Stephen is tense and reserved, Birk is an instant delight. With a flawless German accent and a decidedly politically-incorrect sense of humor, Birk saves the early scenes from being straight out of the reluctant-student-meets-unconventional-teacher mold. As Stephen moves toward self-realization, the jokes start to disappear and the questions about Mashkan’s past arise. Are his jokes just jokes, or do they hint at Mashkan’s activities during WWII? When the questions are answered, Mashkan becomes truly heartbreaking. But the play does not become melodramatic; Birk wisely sidesteps wild theatrics and plays directly to Goslow and not to the audience. The Dowling studio is intimate enough; the audience doesn’t need any favors and the performers are smart enough to realize this.

The strength of Maran’s script lies in its ties to the music. More than just a story about teacher/student relationships, the piece is an examination of music’s impact on humanity. The vitality of the play is strongly tied to Schumann’s Dichterliebe, the song cycle studied in the lessons. Each new song gives new insight into the characters; from the complexity of lost love to having the power to forgive while filled with anger. Mashkan’s lessons become life lessons. He tells Stephen that the song can only be understood when the voice and the piano come together. There can only be understanding when the new world comes together with what came before. There can only be understanding when Stephen and Mashkan finally come together.

Peter Rothstein has assembled a top-notch production team to match the brilliant performances. Jon Clark Donahue’s set draws the audience into the tiny, intimate office overlooking the city. Marcus Dillard’s inventive lighting gives emphasis to the emotions and the music without seeming obvious or showy. By the time a song or speech has ended, the audience has barely noticed the lights have dimmed or focused in. It’s exquisitely subtle work and more than complements the supercharged energy between Goslow and Birk.

Old Wicked Songs is all about being honest, as an artist and as a human being. It’s emotional without being melodramatic and obvious; every event that risks such a fate is cleverly avoided. It’s a story about two people teaching each other that doesn’t have an inkling of the saccharine one would expect. It ties itself firmly to the music, and in doing so makes many honest and complex musings on humanity. It becomes a story about friendship that unites everything with a few simple notes on a piano.

Theater Spotlight: Old Wicked Songs

September 17, 2008.By Quinton Skinner, City Pages.

Old Wicked Songs begins with aged music teacher Mashkan (Raye Birk) seated at the piano in his Vienna atelier, breaking into song when a knock at the door interrupts his Schumann. In walks the cosmically uptight young Stephen (Jonas Goslow), and we have thus been introduced to the entire cast for the evening. But rather than ending up a show limited in scope, Jon Marans's tidy little scenario (directed by Peter Rothstein) gently expands into both the ethereal and the horrific. It turns out that Stephen is a burned-out former piano prodigy who has come to Austria in search of the flame that once glowed inside. As a condition of this new phase, he's required to take vocal lessons with Mashkan for a few months. Stephen, more used to the red carpet than the ground floor, is appropriately defiant (Goslow paints a complicated picture, with Stephen's pissy eccentricity never entirely vanishing, even as he grows more and more sympathetic). Stephen's course of study is to be Schumann's Dichterliebe, 16 songs based on poems about love, loss, and the natural world, and here these gorgeous creations for piano and voice haunt both the proceedings and, increasingly, Stephen. At first Mashkan seems a mere crotchety authoritarian (Birk lends him wry, caustic humor, hitting the laugh lines with a comedian's casual skill), but eventually he drops one anti-Semitic comment too many, and after Stephen takes a trip to Dachau to visit the death camp, matters come to an unexpected boil. To reveal more would spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say that the balance of power between the two shifts considerably, while Stephen works through his cold technician's approach to music and larger matters and glimpses the mix of joy and melancholy that informs great art. In some of the most arresting passages, Mashkan leads Stephen through the contradictions and tensions in the music, laying bare the emotional power and depth in seemingly simple songs. It's thrilling for a music lover, and entirely satisfying as a comedic drama. "Give me too much passion to none at all," Mashkan proclaims at one point. What he said.

‘Old Wicked Songs’

September 16, 2008.By Graydon Royce, Star Tribune.

At first blush, Josef Mashkan has the jolly mien of a garrulous Austrian professor. His perspicacity may cause him to snap at students, but Mashkan is nonetheless eager to please with Germanic hospitality for those who enter his raffish music studio.

It is unremarkable that we discover a deeper vein in Mashkan, this being theater and requiring some tension and discovery. What is thoroughly remarkable, however, is how actor Raye Birk brings Mashkan alive in Theater Latté Da’s production of “Old Wicked Songs,” which opened Saturday in the Guthrie Studio.

Jon Marans’ 1996 play uses Robert Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” as a musical spine in a story about the necessity of joy and sadness. All art, all life cannot exist without that combination, Marans argues through the words of Mashkan.

For Birk, this concept informs a psychological portrayal in which his outward demeanor can barely contain the deep ache of melancholy. Birk’s Mashkan visibly struggles to hold himself together as existence overwhelms him, emotion defeats mere vocabulary and music releases his pain. This is a man desperately clinging to life, even as demons would take it from him. A lesser actor might assess this set of circumstances and settle for simple contradiction. Birk attacks with a fervent honesty that ripples through every muscle, making this one of the transcendent performances of the year – absolutely must-see.

I just had to get that off my chest.

Marans’ play supposes that a burned-out American pianist, Stephen Hoffman, comes to Vienna to rekindle his passion. A mentor has shuttled Stephen (played with youthful precision by Jonas Goslow) to Mashkan, a voice teacher, to learn an appreciation for a vocalist’s emotion. Steven bridles at this idea, particularly as Mashkan uses the moody “Dichterliebe” (Poems of Love) to chip away Stephen’s intellectual armor and his preferences of all things modern. Schumann, after all, is all about heart and not head.

Some of Marans’ devices seem a tad hackneyed – Stephen’s invocation of the metronome to keep his timing precise and mathematical, and Mashkan’s attempt to harm himself. It is not a perfect piece of drama, but Marans’ appreciation for the basic mystery of suffering cleanses any shortcomings.

Director Peter Rothstein’s production is set in a lovely old apartment designed by John Clark Donahue. Marcus Dillard’s lighting deftly modulates the mood and pace, playing off “Dichterliebe” contemplative musical threads that stitch scenes together. Everything here is as it should be. Birk’s performance, however, is beyond that fine estimation.

9.13.08: Old Wicked Songs @ the Guthrie

September 15, 2008.By William Randall Beard, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.

Is there anything more improbable than writing about music? As a critic of classical music, I constantly come up against the absurdity of trying to find concrete language for something so essentially abstract and ethereal. For that reason, I am even more in awe than I might otherwise be of John Marans’ play Old Wicked Songs, which is currently being produced by Theatre Latte Da in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio.

It is 1986 in Vienna. Stephen Hoffman, a caustic America piano prodigy who is suffering from an artistic block, has come to study with the aging musician Professor Josef Mashkan. The petulant young man throws a fit when he realizes that the professor does not teach piano but voice. The teacher that Hoffman actually wants to study with has insisted he engage in this course first in order to teach the prodigy humility. Not only will he not be studying the great piano masterpieces, he will be forced to work on Robert Schumann’s romantic song cycle Dichterliebe (The Poet’s Love)–and not even as an accompanist! He is being asked to sing.

Hoffman finds this prospect utterly beneath him and rejects it completely, unwilling to admit that there is anything that Maskan can teach him. But in the face of the professor’s commitment to the music, unflagging determination, and great high spirits, Hoffman slowly begins to open himself up. The process eventually rekindles his passion.

Marans’ use of the Dichterliebe is not random. The arc of his scenes coordinates with the progression of the music. In his depiction of Hoffman and Maskan’s detailed and prodigious analysis of the songs, he touches the composer’s soul, and even manages to expose the emotional content behind simple chord progressions. In so doing, he provides fascinating insights into the joy and sadness at the heart of all great music.

The audience is let in on the thrilling process of artistic creation. There are moments when the collaboration takes on a white-hot intensity. Hearts soar as the music takes flight and the audience is carried away on that journey as well.

You don’t have to be experienced in classical music to appreciate the drama. My companion is only a casual listener, but he found the evolving relationship between the two men completely engaging.

But if classical music is your forte, you will find some delicious inside jokes, such as Hoffman mimicking Vladimir Horowitz playing Liszt, Wolfgang Brendel playing Beethoven and, most scathingly, Glenn Gould playing Bach.

The script is full of wit, and the repartee between these two smart men sharp and clever. But at its heart, this story is as dark as Schumann’s song cycle. During the course of the action, Kurt Waldheim, a reputed Nazi, is elected President of Austria. The dark history of World War II and the atrocities at Dachau cast a shadow over the personal intimacy the two men share, because Mashkan harbors a secret that could potentially destroy the relationship.

Marans’ script could hardly be better served than it is in Latte Da’s production. This is a labor of love for director Peter Rothstein. His voice teacher in college was a Viennese musician, so there is an element of autobiography to his tender and compassionate reading of the play. He directs from the heart and strives to make the most direct connection possible with his audience. And here, he succeeds completely. The result is a deeply moving experience that affirms our collective humanity through the power of music.

Rothstein’s casting also ensures the success of his production. Raye Birk brings a dry wit to Mashkan, but there are deep layers of pain to his clown. And Jonas Goslow makes Hoffman’s transition from an arrogant prig to a deeply caring human being utterly believable. But their true success is as a team. In the nuanced relationship that they establish, they create a single whole, just as singer and accompanist do in performance.

Add to that the detailed, evocative set of John Clark Donahue and the subtle lighting of Marcus Dillard and this is a class act all around.

It’s perfectly appropriate that Mashkan’s secret comes out in the context of the final song of the Dichterliebe. Maran’s intertwining of the story with the music is brilliant. But in the end, even he has to acknowledge the ultimate ineffability of music. He chooses to end his drama appropriately–and very effectively–with the long and moving postlude to the cycle.

Old Wicked Songs continues at Guthrie Theater through October 5.

A quiet clash

September 12, 2008.By Graydon Royce, Star Tribune.

Theater Latté Da makes its first trip to the Guthrie Studio. But rather than doing a large-scale musical, director Peter Rothstein has chosen an intimate work for two actors.

The last project Peter Rothstein directed for Theater Latté Da was “Parade,” a big-stage musical with 25 characters and stylish production numbers. He will uses a different set of directorial muscles with “Old Wicked Songs,” which opens Saturday at Guthrie Studio.

There are just two actors in Jon Marans’ quiet meditation on Jewish identity, culture clashes and the generational divide.

“There’s more detail work here,” said Rothstein of the delicate two-hander that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1996. And it won’t be his first such shift. Two years ago, he jumped directly from “Disney’s High School Musical” to “Private Lives.”

Robert Schumann’s song cycle “Dichterliebe” inspired Marans’ work. It becomes the background for a dialectic between a young American pianist and an Austrian vocal professor who emphasizes the existence of both sadness and joy in music. The theme flows naturally from Schumann, whose relatively short life (1810-1856) raged between fits of manic productivity and barren depression. He wrote the Dichterliebe in 1840, a year of astonishing creativity in which he composed more than 120 songs using 16 texts by the poet Heinrich Heine.

Schumann was part of Rothstein’s thesis recital when he was a student at St. John’s University and there was resonance in the theme of  “Old Wicked Songs.” He got interested in the show after two college professors saw it in London many years ago and pronounced it “the perfect play for you,” he said. “It’s the world of the music studio, the dynamic between teacher and student.”

In other disciplines, Rothstein explained, there can exist a distance between teacher and student.” With voice, there can be no separation. The psychology is very complex.

“I knew that world,” said Rothstein, whose voice teacher at college was Axel Theimer, an Austrian who preached the value of German lieder (songs).

Good and evil exist together

Although the play is intimate, Rothstein said the themes strike him as epic. “He never lets the play be about one thing,” he said, referring to Marans.

Central to the conflict is the relationship of Steven (Jonas Goslow) and Prof. Mashkan (Raye Birk). The teacher bears a secret that goes to the heart of his feelings on Germanic culture. When Steven declares that he won’t sing in German because of what he saw during a tourist visit to Dachau, Mashkan retorts that the youngster need not worry, he won’t play the piano in German.

The professor’s point: you can’t reject the entire civilization of a nation – a civilization that produced not only the hell of the Holocaust, but the heaven of Schumann’s music and poetry of Heine.

Complementary to the production, baritone Bradley Greenwald will sing the song cycle that the play is based upon on three Sundays during the run. German lieder is a forte of Greenwald’s. The concert will last about 30 minutes and will feature pianist Sonja Thompson.

“We’re trying to make the recital more theatrical,” Rothstein said, indicating that Greenwald will sing in German with English subtitles and a lighting scheme. “It’s all part of how to make classical music more visual as the world becomes more visual.”

OLD WICKED SONGS What: By Jon Marans. Directed by Peter Rothstein for Theater Latté Da. When: Preview 7:30 p.m. today. Opens 7:30 p.m. Sat., Wed.-Thu.; 1 p.m. Sun. Ends Oct. 5. Where: Guthrie Studio, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls. Tickets: S18-$34. 612-377-2224 or 1-877-447-8243. Web: www.guthrietheater.org

DICHTERLIEBE What: 16 poems by Heinrich Heine, set to music by Robert Schumann, sung by Bradley Greenwald with pianist Sonja Thompson. When: 4 p.m. Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5. Where: Guthrie Studio, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls. Tickets: $15 ($10 with purchase of ticket for “Old Wicked Songs”). Same contact information as above.

'Old Wicked Songs': sing-song, ping-pong and Schumann

September 11, 2008.By Ed Huyck, MinnPost.

As a stage veteran with more than four decades of experience under his belt, you wouldn't think Raye Birk would have many rehearsal jitters. Then again, he isn't often faced with a challenge like "Old Wicked Songs," which has the timeless and complex music of Robert Schumann at its heart.

"I've gone to bed with these songs in my head and I've woken up with them there," he says over lunch a few days before the show's opening. The piece marks a departure for Birk, best known in the Twin Cities for his work with the Guthrie Theater — he has played Scrooge for the last few years — in a number of ways.

The music is one, and the company is another.

"Old Wicked Songs" opens the latest season by Theatre Latte Da, which has become the local company for music-based theater. Birk will be joined on stage by Jonas Goslow in Jon Maran's Pulitzer-Prize nominated show, which explores the relationship between an older music teacher and a young American pianist who needs help to find his musical inspiration. (Birk, however, won't travel far to work with the new company — "Old Wicked Songs" is being staged in the Joe Dowling studio theater on the Guthrie's top floor.)

Director Peter Rothstein auditioned half a dozen actors for the role. "Raye just has a huge range that is perfect for the role," he says. "And he and Jonas act great together."

Birk, whose long resume includes hundreds of plays, teaching theater and character acting turns on TV shows as diverse as "The X-Files" and "Baywatch," looks to "Old Wicked Songs" as a fresh challenge. There's the music, which includes singing in German and being able to convincingly act at playing the piano (the music is pre-recorded). Then there is the nature of a two-person show, which means the actors — even if not speaking — are always involved in the action.

"It's like a ping-pong match," Rothstein says, noting that there are only a few monologues in the entire show.

"My personal challenge is to make the character live, so the audience doesn't know what will happen next," Birk adds.

As shown by the choice of "Old Wicked Songs," Theatre Latte Da stretches the definition of musical theater. "We may do a traditional musical once a year. The rest of our shows explore the connection of music and theater," Rothstein says.

Those who would like a deeper understanding of the music that drives the play — or just want to hear Schumann performed by a top-flight singer — can attend Sunday afternoon recitals of "Dichterliebe," featuring baritone Bradley Greenwald and pianist Sonja Thompson. What might this be like? Check out another singer's performance of "Dichterliebe" (Poet's Love) on YouTube (below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6PebduybJ4&feature=player_embedded

The Schumann music sits at the heart of "Old Wicked Songs" and acts as a third character in the play, so a recital of the entire cycle was a natural for the production, Rothstien says.

Both Birk and Latte Da will head off to holiday shows following "Old Wicked Songs." Latte Da presents the latest edition of "A Christmas Carole Petersen" at the Ordway, while Birk moves back downstairs at the Guthrie for his fourth run as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol."

In the meantime, there is Schumann and the music studio in Vienna. "A show like this is like an opera, or a train," Rothstein says about directing it. "Once it gets going, you are not going to be able to stop it. You are just along for the ride."

What: "Old Wicked Songs" Who: Theatre Latte Da Where: Joe Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. Second St., Minneapolis When: Sept. 12 preview; Sept. 13-Oct. 5 Cost: $18-$34 Phone: 612-377-2224 Online

Recital: 
Schumann's "Dichterliebe," with Bradley Greenwald and Sonja Thompson, at 4 p.m. Sept. 21 and 28 and Oct. 5, Dowling Studio. $15. Tickets.

old wicked songs

September 7, 2008.By Pioneer Press.

Opens next Friday: Theater Latte Da is a small company unafraid to take risks, whether it means a chamber version of “La Boheme” or going big with tricky musicals like Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade.” This season, artistic director Peter Rothstein takes another chance, steering his company, which generally stages musicals, toward this straight play chronicling the relationship between brilliant-but-blocked young American pianist (Jonas Goslow) and an aging Viennese musician (Raye Birk) who helps him find inspiration. It’s not a musical, but it’s about music – Schumann’s song cycle “Dichterliebe,” to be precise. Through Oct. 5; Guthrie Theater (Dowling Studio); 818 S. Second St., Mpls.; $34-$18; 612-377-2224.

The Guthrie presents

September 2008.By The Guthrie Theater, The Teaser.

A Theater Latté Da production of Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans directed by Peter Rothstein Now – October 5, 2008. $18 – $34

Vienna, 1986. A young American piano sensation has lost his spark; he travels to the Old World determined to reignite his passion for music. His aging tutor is the irreverent and irresistible force determined to do so. Schumann’s poignant song cycle Dichterliebe inspires this combustible duo to find common ground. An emotional journey through joy and sadness, anger and redemption, Old Wicked Songs explores the unique connection between two cultures and two generations of musicians.

The Guthrie welcomes Theater Latté Da to the Dowling Studio this fall with Old Wicked Songs, a 1996 nominee for the Pulitzer Prize. Now in its 11th season, Theater Latté Da has earned a unique place in the Twin Cities’ arts scene. Under the artistic leadership of Peter Rothstein and Denise Prosek, Theater Latté Da has created a new voice for musical theater that both respects and challenges its audience: Theater Latté Da has created a new voice for musical theater that both respects and challenges its audience: Theater Latté Da holds itself at the highest standards of artistry while remaining committed to taking risks and constantly pushing the boundaries of musical storytelling.

Playing the young pianist Stephen Hoffman is Jonas Goslow, a graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program (and featured prominently in the inaugural issue of the Teaser two years ago). Raye Birk, a seasoned actor who among other roles has been our Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for the past few years, plays Professor Josef Mashkan. Rothstein, who directed a memorable production of Private Lives on the McGuire Proscenium Stage last season, directs Old Wicked Songs.

Special Recital Schumann’s Dichterliebe September 21, 28 and October 5 at 4 p.m. Tickets: $15

Complementing the theater performance, baritone Bradley Greenwald and pianist Sonja Thompson will perform the song cycle at the heart of Old Wicked Songs.

BIG BLUE’S BLACK BOX: The Guthrie’s Dowling Studio continues to be a space for theater that might otherwise go unseen.

September 2008.By Jaime Kleiman, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.

Theater quiz! What do the plays Old Wicked Songs, The Caretaker, and Blackbird have in common? Answer: Not much, except that they’re all being presented in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio this fall. The studio’s programming, implemented when the Guthrie got its new digs, is meant to have a broad range. Since its inception, the studio has served as a playground of sorts, hosting local theater companies without permanent homes, University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA student productions, as well as Guthrie-produced projects. The outcome has been good for Twin Cities theater, resulting in more productions of new plays, greater exposure for smaller companies, and national collaborations. Not to mention that the big blue building’s black-box theater gains a kind of street cred for being more than just a place to see the classics.

“The mission [of the studio] has always been to provide an eclectic array of different options to an audience,” says artistic director Joe Dowling. “If you look at what we’ve done up there, starting with [the first studio production, The Falls, in 2006], we’ve created a unique theatrical experience, but not one that you’d necessarily put into a regular program.” Increasingly, there is a focus on presenting new work, which Dowling and his right-hand man, associate director of studio programming Benjamin McGovern, plan to do more of in the coming years.

One of the studio’s upcoming shows is an in-house affair. McGovern, who used to curate performances at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, is directing Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, which is about two brothers whose lives are altered when they allow a tramp to stay in their home. Though the play has echoes of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, it was one of Pinter’s first critical and commercial successes.

Local company Theater Latte Da is doing Old Wicked Songs, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about the relationship between a Viennese music professor and his student, a twenty-five-year-old, burned-out musical prodigy. The story is told through the Schumann song cycle Dichterliebe and the poetry of Heinrich Heine and stars Jonas Goslow and Raye Birk.

Following Songs is Pillsbury House Theatre’s Blackbird, which won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for best new play. Blackbird addresses a controversial topic—men who sleep with underage women—in a manner not seen since Humbert Humbert wrote rambling odes to Lolita.

One would rarely, if ever, see this fare on the Guthrie main stages, which is precisely the point. “The studio works because we don’t have subscriptions for it,” says Dowling. “We don’t have the same pressures. A lot of theater planning is pretty far in advance, but one of the joys of the studio is we can do things spontaneously. It’s never going to be financially successful,” he admits good-naturedly, “but that’s not what it’s about. What it’s about is creating opportunities for actors and writers and directors and audiences.” Old Wicked Songs: Sept. 12-Oct. 5. The Caretaker: Oct. 11-Nov. 2. Blackbird: Nov. 6-30. Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater; 818 S. 2^nd St., Mpls., 612-377-2224, guthrietheater.org 

First Photo Peek At Guthrie's 'Old Wicked Songs'

August 4, 2008.By Broadway World News Desk.

The Guthrie will present Theater Latté Da's production of "Old Wicked Songs" by Jon Marans. Directed by Peter Rothstein, the 1996 Pulitzer Prize nominee opens Theater Latté Da's 11th season, performing in the Dowling Studio from September 12 through October 5 in repertory with their recital of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, the song cycle at the heart of the play. Single tickets for Old Wicked Songs are priced from $18 to $34. Tickets for the Dichterliebe recital are $15, or $10 if purchased with Old Wicked Songs. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

"Old Wicked Songs" tells the story of Stephen Hoffman (Jonas Goslow), a young American pianist suffering an artistic block, and Professor Josef Mashkan (Raye Birk), the aging Viennese musician who helps re-ignite his inspiration. Schumann's song cycle Dichterliebe echoes throughout the work as a third "character" in the play, with its structure and themes mirrored in the events on stage. An emotional journey through joy and sadness, anger and redemption, "Old Wicked Songs" explores the unique connection found between two cultures and two generations of musicians.

Baritone Bradley Greenwald and pianist Sonja Thompson will perform Schumann's Dichterliebe on September 21, 28 and October 5 in the Dowling Studio.

The artistic team for "Old Wicked Songs" includes John Clarke Donahue (Scenic Design), Amelia Cheever (Costume Design), Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Design) and Montana Johnson (Sound Design).

For more information on "Old Wicked Songs", visit www.theaterlatteda.org.

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

Now in its 11th season, Theater Latté Da has earned a unique place in the Twin Cities' arts scene. Under the artistic leadership of Peter Rothstein and Denise Prosek, Theater Latté Da has created a new voice for musical theater that both respects and challenges its audience. The company boasts an impressive history, including numerous area and world premieres as well as radical rethinkings of existing work, to significant critical and popular acclaim. Theater Latté Da holds itself to the highest standards of artistry while remaining committed to taking risks and constantly pushing the boundaries of musical storytelling.

Guthrie Presents 'Old Wicked Songs'

July 16, 2008.By Broadway World News Desk.

The Guthrie is pleased to present Theater Latté Da's production of "Old Wicked Songs" by Jon Marans. Directed by Peter Rothstein, the 1996 Pulitzer Prize nominee opens Theater Latté Da's 11th season, performing in the Dowling Studio from September 12 through October 5 in repertory with their recital of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, the song cycle at the heart of the play. Single tickets for Old Wicked Songs are priced from $18 to $34. Tickets for the Dichterliebe recital are $15, or $10 if purchased with Old Wicked Songs. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

"Old Wicked Songs" tells the story of Stephen Hoffman (Jonas Goslow), a young American pianist suffering an artistic block, and Professor Josef Mashkan (Raye Birk), the aging Viennese musician who helps re-ignite his inspiration. Schumann's song cycle Dichterliebe echoes throughout the work as a third "character" in the play, with its structure and themes mirrored in the events on stage. An emotional journey through joy and sadness, anger and redemption, "Old Wicked Songs" explores the unique connection found between two cultures and two generations of musicians.

Baritone Bradley Greenwald and pianist Sonja Thompson will perform Schumann's Dichterliebe on September 21, 28 and October 5 in the Dowling Studio.

The artistic team for "Old Wicked Songs" includes John Clarke Donahue (Scenic Design), Amelia Cheever (Costume Design), Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Design) and Montana Johnson (Sound Design).

For more information on "Old Wicked Songs", visit www.theaterlatteda.org.

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

Now in its 11th season, Theater Latté Da has earned a unique place in the Twin Cities' arts scene. Under the artistic leadership of Peter Rothstein and Denise Prosek, Theater Latté Da has created a new voice for musical theater that both respects and challenges its audience. The company boasts an impressive history, including numerous area and world premieres as well as radical rethinkings of existing work, to significant critical and popular acclaim. Theater Latté Da holds itself to the highest standards of artistry while remaining committed to taking risks and constantly pushing the boundaries of musical storytelling.