Commissioned by LCT3, PRELUDES was hailed as "astonishingly moving" by The Huffington Post and praised for its "rhapsodic music" and "glorious singing" by The Hollywood Reporter. According to Variety, "there's no denying the energy and the passion of [Malloy's] inventive interpretation." The cast features Eisa Davis, Gabriel Ebert, Nikki M. James, Joseph Keckler, Chris Sarandon, and Or Matias, on piano.
PRELUDES is a musical fantasia set in the hypnotized mind of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. After the disastrous premiere of his first symphony, the young Rachmaninoff (played by Gabriel Ebert) suffers from writer's block. He begins daily sessions with a therapeutic hypnotist (Eisa Davis), in an effort to overcome depression and return to composing.
The world premiere production had sets by Mimi Lien, costumes by Paloma Young, lights by Bradley King, sound by Matt Hubbs, musical direction by Or Matias, and casting by Caparelliotis Casting/Henry Russell Bergstein. PRELUDES was performed at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater from May 23 through August 2. 2015.
The LCT3 program is supported by generous grants from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Ford Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Time Warner Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, The Educational Foundation of America, and the J & AR Foundation. PRELUDES was commissioned by LCT with a generous grant from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The cast recording is supported in part by a special gift from Stephanie and Fred Shuman.
DAVE MALLOY is the winner of an OBIE Award, a Richard Rodgers Award, and a Jonathan Larson Grant. He is currently starring in his new musical Ghost Quartet at the The McKittrick Hotel. His other recent shows include Three Pianos, Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage, All Hands, Beardo, The Sewers, Sandwich, Clown Bible, (The 99-cent) Miss Saigon, and Black Wizard/Blue Wizard at the Incubator Arts Project with co-creator/performer Eliza Bent.
RACHEL CHAVKIN is an OBIE Award-winning director and Artistic Director of the Brooklyn-based ensemble The TEAM. She is currently represented by Small Mouth Sounds at Ars Nova. Her past credits include The TEAM's Mission Drift (co-produced by PS 122, Lisbon's Culturgest, and London's Almeida Theatre), with music by Heather Christian; Meg Miroshnik's The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls, Lauren Yee's The Hatmaker's Wife, James Monaco's Reception, James Monaco and Jerome Ellis' Aaron/Marie, Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy's Three Pianos, and Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge (Act II).
"PRELUDES" TRACK LIST
1. Your Day
2. Lilacs
3. Vocalise
4. Ho-Ho
5. Subway
6. Prelude in G# Minor, Op. 32, No. 12
7. Tchaikovsky's Child's Song
8. Natalya
9. Loop
10. Not Alone
11. The Prelude
12. The First Symphony
13. Vespers
14. Hypnosis
15. Mountains/The Second Piano Concerto
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