MacArthur Genius Basil Twist's SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE Opens 3/29

Symphonie Fantastique - the singular creation by designer, director, master puppeteer, and MacArthur "Genius" Basil Twist - returns to its original home at HERE in a 20th anniversary production for 12 weeks only, March 29-June 17. Set to Hector Berlioz's revolutionary 1830 score, Symphonie Fantastique, for the first time in New York, features live piano accompaniment by Christopher O'Riley. Hailed as a creative masterpiece when it debuted in 1998, the production is set to open on April 4 and a presentation from HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program and a centerpiece of HERE's 25th anniversary season.

Symphonie Fantastique takes place in the most unlikely of places - a 1,000-gallon water tank, in which five unseen puppeteers swirl countless pieces of fabrics, feathers, fishing lures, flashlights, glitter, dyes, plastic, vinyl, and bubbles in all shapes and sizes, creating a dream-like world of imagination and surreal storytelling.

When it premiered, theatergoers and critics swooned at the production's hallucinatory power. Ben Brantley in The New York Times declared, "It comes as close to anything I've seen to finding physical equivalents to the abstractions of classical music. The interpretation is that seamless. It's as if you had been listening with your eyes." The New Yorker wrote, "No other theater artist in New York shows more poetic force or technical skill than the puppeteer, Basil Twist." Time Out New York wrote, "In a seen-it-all world, you've never seen anything quite like this." The Village Voice anointed the work as "a new art form."

Previously performed to a recording of Berlioz's intense, ravishing symphonic masterpiece, the 20th anniversary production marks the first time in New York City thatSymphonie Fantastique will be performed to live piano accompaniment, using the Franz Liszt piano transcription. Berlioz wrote Symphonie Fantastique likely in part while under the influence of opium, and reportedly due to an unrequited love, creating bold, bright and moody flourishes of music through five short movements. At the piano is Christopher O'Riley, who has been a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and San Francisco Symphony, along with a recitalist throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. O'Riley is also widely known as the host of NPR's "From the Top," now in its 15th year.

"Although I have been a puppeteer as long as I can remember, the premiere ofSymphonie Fantastique in 1998 really started what has been a career filled with blessings," commented Twist. "Since then, I've worked on Broadway, in opera and ballet and Lincoln Center, and all over the world, but I remain in my essence a proud artist of New York City's downtown. I'm thrilled to bring this piece back to its true home. The world has changed, I have changed, and even this piece has changed, but we all still want and need to gather together in the dark and be swept away by enchantment."

"Over the years, HERE's beloved Dream Music Puppetry Program, which was inaugurated by Basil Twist'sSymphonie Fantastique, has filled our theater with local, national, and international works that surprise and bedazzle our audiences. After making his debut 20 years ago, it means so much to have Basil make HERE the home to his unique and magical puppetry vision," said Kim Whitener, HERE's Producing Director.

Casting for the 20th anniversary production features some of the puppetry world's finest artists, Symphonie Fantastique veterans and frequent Twist collaborators, Lake Simons and Andy Gaukel, along with Symphonie Fantastique newcomers Kate Brehm, Ben Elling and Jonothon Lyons. Following each performance, the puppeteers will welcome audience members backstage for a walk-through to see the tank and some of the materials used for the production. Lighting design is by Andrew Hill.

Scheduled for 12 weeks only, performances ofSymphonie Fantastique will take place March 29-June 17 at HERE, located at 145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Saturday at 8:30pm with 4pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Critics are welcome as of March 31 for an official opening on Wednesday, April 4 at 8:30pm. Tickets, priced at $35-$100, can be purchased by visiting here.org or by calling 212-352-3101. In person sales at the box office after 5pm only on performance days and two hours prior to curtain for matinees. For Group Sales, contact tickets@here.org.

About the Artists

A native of San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third-generation puppeteer now living in NYC. Following early success in the Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry, and his award-winning "The Araneidae Show," Mr. Twist was recognized as a singular artist of unlimited imagination with the debut of Symphonie Fantastique. Highlights of his subsequent work include Petrushka (Lincoln Center), Dogugaeshi (Japan Society), Behind the Lid (with the late Lee Nagrin), Arias with a Twist (co-created by Joey Arias at HERE), and The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oh, Hello! and The Addams Family on Broadway.

He has collaborated with the Tony-nominated, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, onThe Long Christmas Ride Home at Trinity Rep, Vineyard Theatre and Magic Theatre. His ballet without dancers, Rite of Spring, was performed at Lincoln Center's White Light Festival; and his work has also been featured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston and Atlanta Operas, The Joffrey Ballet's Nutcracker with Christopher Wheeldon, and Cinderella with Dutch National and San Francisco Ballets.

Twist has received a host of awards including an Obie, two Drama Desks two Bessie Awards, a Doris Duke Award and a coveted MacArthur Foundation "Genius" grant.

Acclaimed for his engaging and deeply committed performances, the pianist Christopher O'Riley is known to millions as the host of NPR's From the Top. Now in his 15th year on the air, O'Riley introduces the next generation of classical-music stars to almost a million listeners each week. He performs around the world and has garnered widespread praise for his untiring efforts to reach new audiences.

Christopher O'Riley has performed as a soloist with virtually all of the major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony. In addition, O'Riley has performed recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Australia.

Living by the Duke Ellington adage "There are only two kinds of music, good music and bad," O'Riley - a proponent of the former in all of its guises - has received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and an equally coveted four-star review from Rolling Stone magazine. O'Riley strives to introduce new audiences to classical music with an almost missionary zeal by performing piano arrangements of music by Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Pink Floyd, and Nirvana alongside traditional classical repertoire. He has collaborated for many years with the flutist Sir James Galway and cellists Matt Haimovitz and Carter Brey.

Kate Brehm (Puppeteer) is new to Symphonie Fantastique but has developed work and toured with Basil Twist since 2005. Projects include: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dorothy and the Prince of Oz, The Rite of Spring, Sister's Follies, Dogugaeshi, and Petrushka. She produces her own work as imnotlost, and teaches puppetry, visual and physical theater.

Ben Elling (Puppeteer) is a performer and theater technician. In addition to the 20th anniversary production of Symphonie Fantastique, Elling has previously worked with Basil Twist on The Rite of Spring, and Sister's Follies.

Andy Gaukel (Puppeteer) Highlights include Symphonie Fantastique (Dodger Stages; Twist Festival, D.C.), original ensemble of Paula Vogel's The Long Christmas Ride Home (Trinity Repertory Company/Long Wharf Theatre), and Gaukel's original work Schweinehund (World Premiere 2015 Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes, Charleville-Mézières, France; 2016 Internationales Figurentheaterfestival Blickwechsel, Germany; Casteliers, Montreal, and 2017 Biennale internationale des arts de la marionnette, Paris.

Jonothon Lyons (Puppeteer) is a New York-based writer and performer. This is his first time performing Symphonie Fantastique, and his fifth show with Basil Twist. His barbershop quartet, The Apple Boys, can be seen all over the city delivering apples in four-part harmony.

Lake Simons (Puppeteer) is a veteran Symphonie Fantastique performer, having performed in the production in 2003 at Lincoln Center and the run at Dodger Stages in 2004, as well as the tours that followed. Other credits include Puppetry Associate on War Horse on Broadway, and as a puppeteer with The Rockettes for the New York Spring Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

About HERE

HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program, under the artistic direction of Basil Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, is one of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary adult puppet works, particularly works that feature live music as a collaborative element. Dream Music seeks to secure the future of puppetry by providing increased development and performance opportunities to puppet artists, and by collaborating with artists from other disciplines to develop new puppetry techniques. In addition, Dream Music brings to New York the most excellent of international puppetry, reflecting on Twist's roots at the E?cole Supe?rieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, France. Dream Music was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist's OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998 and the opening of the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, an intimate space created specifically for intimate puppetry. HERE's Dream Music is also proud to house the Griff Williams Puppetry Collection. The 6 antique marionettes of Harry James, Griff Williams, Cab Calloway, Arturo Toscannini, Ted Lewis and Paul Whiteman were all performed with The Griff Williams Orchestra in the 1930s & 40s throughout America's big band era. They have a permanent home outside the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre at HERE.

The OBIE-winning HERE (Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director and Kim Whitener, Executive Director), which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this season, was named a Top Ten Off-Off Broadway Theatre by Time Out New York, is a leader in the field of producing and presenting new, hybrid performance viewed as a seamless integration of artistic disciplines-theater, dance, music and opera, puppetry, media, visual and installation, spoken word and performance art.

Standout productions include Eve Ensler'sThe Vagina Monologues, Basil Twist's Symphonie Fantastique and Arias with a Twist, Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle's all wear bowlers, Young Jean Lee's Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, James Scruggs Disposable Men, Corey Dargel's Removable Parts, Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge, Kamala Sankaram's Miranda and Robin Frohardt's The Pigeoning, among many others. In 2008, following an extensive renovation, HERE re-opened the doors to its long-time downtown home for the arts, where it continues as a vibrant, welcoming haven for artists and audiences alike.

20th Anniversary Production Features Live Piano By Christopher O'Riley Along With Backstage Tours

Symphonie Fantastique
Created by Basil Twist
Featuring pianist Christopher O'Riley
Puppeteers: Kate Brehm, Ben Elling, Andy Gaukel, Jonothon Lyons, and Lake Simons
Lighting Design by Andrew Hill

Previews: March 29-31 & April 2 at 8:30pm; March 31 & April 1 at 4pm
Opening: Wednesday, April 4 at 8:30pm
Regular performances through June 17: Tuesday-Saturday at 8:30pm; Saturday and Sunday at 4pm

HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, Manhattan)
$35-$100; here.org; 212-352-3101
55 minutes with no intermission