George Andrew Wolff and Larry Adams
The new Off-Broadway musical The Hunchback Variations, which Theater Oobleck premiered at Chicago’s Victory Gardens earlier this year, opened this week at New York’s 59E59 to mixed but generally positive reviews. The creative team includes Mickle Maher (book and lyrics), Mark Messing (music), Larry Adams and George Andrew Wolff (direction), and Jesse Klug (lighting). Larry Adams (Quasimodo) and George Andrew Wolff (Beethoven) also star in the two-hander, with musicians Chris Sargent (piano) and Paul Ghica (cello).
Andy Buck (Theater Mania): In this funny, moving, but frustrating work, Oobleck co-founder Mickle Maher has developed an absurdist conceit: to pair two of the most famous deaf artists in history, Ludwig van Beethoven and the fictional bell ringer of Notre Dame, Quasimodo. … And while Messing’s music brings out the beautiful, haunting layers of Maher’s characters, its repetitive nature blunts the humor. It’s possible that refashioning the piece as a spoken play with non-continuous music might be more effective.
Ed Malin (NY Theatre): A hilarious evening with some rather serious people: Ludwig van Beethoven and Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. … The evening is split into eleven variations, all musically different, all separate attempts to get to the truth of what happened. It is profound. … It is quite remarkable that the intense script goes so well with all of these musical styles. … But despite the humorous and absurd juxtaposition, there are some poignant musings on the purpose of failure. … Is this story really about the fine line between creativity and dementia? Or is it beautiful to see how many ways ordinary people can try to do something and still fail?
Andy Propst (Backstage): Though this two-person work – with a score for piano and cello by Mark Messing – has the potential to be an utter snoozer, it turns out to be a thoroughly riveting piece. … Ultimately, what emerges is a remarkably poignant exploration of the painfully ephemeral nature of the artistic process and life itself. … Messing’s accomplished score is an aural smorgasbord that deftly revels in and fuses wide-ranging musical styles, from opera buffo to contemporary musical theater, from alternative jazz to musical minimalism.
Zachart Woolfe (NY Times): Noted composer Beethoven and the noted hunchback Quasimodo have come together to find a solution to the problem of Chekhov’s infamously vague stage direction from The Cherry Orchard. … Poignancy is thrown in with melancholy ruminations on the passage of time and the fate of art. The actors have crisp timing and effective voices … but the opera, based on Mr. Maher’s play of the same name, swamps the original’s dry, brainy wit without providing that most important, elusive quality: enough variation in the variations.