Opus

Show Info

by Michael Hollinger
directed by Terence J. Nolen

with David Beach, Mahira Kakkar, Michael Laurence, Douglas Rees, Rich Topol

Violist turned playwright Michael Hollinger's latest play captures all the richness and power of any great piece of music. A world-renowned string quartet struggles to prepare for their highest-profile performance ever, just when the violist and founder of the quartet mysteriously disappears. A young woman turns up, wows the group with her dazzling musical skill, and is hired as the replacement. Her gifts inspire the musicians and they decide on short notice to abandon their friendly Pachelbel Cannon program and replace it with Beethoven's difficult Opus 131. The rehearsal room becomes a pressure cooker as passions rise, personalities clash and the musicians are forced to tackle the ephemeral nature of their life's work.