Hoi Polloi
Three Pianos
Written and Performed by Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy
Directed by Rachel Chavkin

February 25—March 20, 2010
Performed everyday except Mondays and Wednesdays at 8p.m.
At The Ontological Theater at St. Mark’s Church • 131 East 10^th Street (at 2^nd Ave.)

Three Pianos is a theatrical explosion of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle written, arranged and performed by three inventive theater artists – Rick Burkhardt of the Nonsense Company, Alec Duffy of Hoi Polloi and Dave Malloy of Banana Bag & Bodice. Rachel Chavkin of the theater company The TEAM directs. Three friends, each at their own piano, lead the audience through their respective passions for Schubert’s famous song cycle on winter heartbreak, performing the songs,grappling with fundamental questions about the nature of music, slipping into the skins of Schubert and friends during one of their famous Schubertiads, and drinking way too much. Compositional mayhem, shifting rivalries, and some unfortunate butchery of the German language ensue. Ultimately, the three separate understandings of Schubert’s mastery and impact collide, and what starts as a reasoned exploration of the music ends in mayhem. Filled with fantastical touches and inventive arrangements of Schubert’s music, Three Pianos is a colorful and imaginative piece of chaos that brings these three talents together onstage for the first time.