33 Variations at Ahmanson Theatre

Two-time Academy Award-winner Jane Fonda stars in writer/director Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations.
The actress previously starred in the Broadway production of the play in 2009, receiving a Tony nomination for her work. In the play, the audience is transported back and forth from present-day New York to 19th century Austria, when a musicologist (Fonda) is determined to solve the musical mystery of why Beethoven spent his last years feverishly writing 33 variations of what appeared to be a mediocre waltz created by his publisher.

Even though she has been diagnosed with a serious disease, the scholar dismisses her daughter's concerns and flies to Europe to study Beethoven's original papers. It is here that a heartfelt and moving story unfolds of how two remarkable individuals separated by 200 years defy mortality for a short, precious time and revel in their respective passions.