Isn't it amazing how some playwrights can create a completely compelling drama in half the time it takes Tom Stoppard to bore his audiences (and actually, a sixth of the time if you count "Coast of Utopia" as one play). Julia Cho's "The Piano Teacher" was only 90 minutes long, but it felt absolutely complete and satisfying. The success of the play belongs in no small part to an absolutely mesmerizing performance from Elizabeth Franz. The play has a total of three actors, but it's mostly a solo play with other actors, because not only is Franz onstage the whole time, but she is also speaking most of the time. Franz plays Mrs K, a retired piano teacher and a woman who you just want to run up on stage and hug. The setting is her living room, and since there Cho quickly disposes of any fourth wall, the audience might as well be sitting on her couch having a chat. This is one of those plays where it's best to go in not knowing too much, so I'll try to very briefly describe the plot. Basically, Mrs K sits reminisces about her old piano students, eventually decides to start contacting them. And of course the other two actors play former students. I'm probably making it sound like some happy-go-lucky piece of fluff, but it is of course, not. In fact I think I may have nightmares tonight... and not because I'm remembering all those time I didn't want to practice the piano. The play is genuinely disturbing. I will say that the play did take a while to really get going - it starts off charmingly enough, but there's only so long the audience can watch a kindly old woman chatter on before their attention starts to lag. Luckily it was such a joy to watch Franz, I just sat there in awe until the story really got going, which it eventually did. I can't say I totally understood everything that went on (I think I may have to go see this again), but I really was riveted almost the entire time. This would probably be worth seeing even if Mrs K was just sitting there reading the phone book, but it was nice to see that the play was pretty much able to live up to Elizabeth Franz's performance.
On another happy note, I also very much enjoyed "Make Me A Song," a revue of the music of William Finn. I knew I would probably enjoy it when I looked at the song list before the show, and I said to myself "Ooh, I like that song, and I like that song, and I like that song... I don't know that song, but I like that one and that one and that one..." and that went on down the entire song list. There were three songs in it that I had never heard of (because they were written by Finn for a special performance at Williams College, and as far as I know have never been recorded), but all the other I already knew and loved. So the performance would have had to be pretty lousy for me not to enjoy myself. Luckily, the four performers (five, if you include the pianist) did a wonderful job. There were perhaps a few times when the choreography or a performance would verge on being hokey, but those moments were few. If you either love the work of William Finn (especially "Elegies," "Falsettos" and the songs on "Infinite Joy") or aren't sure if you love him or not, this is certainly worth seeing.
