tea in
the leaves
At the time of the first rehearsal, they
must be completely off-book. The show
must be memorized. In theater, you have
the luxury of time. When we get on the
stage, the show is completely blocked.
How did the symphonic plays
come about?
The BSO decided to program symphonic
plays into the Off the Cuff series. But these
are the opposite of Off the Cuff — these are
Faberge eggs. In 2008, the BSO came to me
and asked me to propose something for CSI:
Beethoven. It was a massive project. That
was the first, and the symphonic plays have
developed from there. One night Marin and
I talked — it’s unusual for her to go out after
a performance — and she noted that 2010
is the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth.
She told me that he apparently had a meeting with Freud towards the end of his life.
I ended up researching this meeting, and
Analyze This premiered in 2010. Mahler
met and spoke with Freud to discuss a number of things, primarily the distress that was
causing difficulties in his work, due to the
discovery of his young wife’s affair with the
then-young architect Walter Gropius.
When you did CSI: Beethoven, you
invited actual doctors to the stage.
There were three doctors — a forensic scientist; Dr. Charles Limb, the Hopkins otolaryngologist, who is an expert in hearing
loss in musicians; the third was the director of the Center for Beethoven Studies in
San Jose. I had one actor, Tony Tsendeas,
in full costume playing Beethoven. The
conceit was he came back from the dead to
find out once and for all why he died and
why he had lost his most precious sense at
such a young age. Beethoven arranged to
have himself autopsied on the table in his
kitchen. He wanted people to understand
what had happened to him.
Did you write the dialogue
for the doctors?
It’s a long story. I had to architect the whole
show, and know what they could contribute. These things have to be timed out
Curl up with a cozy cup
of tea as autumn chills
the air and paints the trees.
Hand-shaped ceramics are
a ritual of reflection and
a gift of gratitude.
within 45 seconds to one minute in its
entirety. I actually script the dialogue.
Tell us a little about this season’s
symphonic ^\˂