Susan is in Latvia. Sadie is in New Mexico. Beckett is in Ireland. All three are alone; all three are haunted by their grandparents; all three hear the Big Bad Wolf scratching at the door. This world premiere musical from Dave Malloy brings three strangers together for a post-pandemic open mic night parable about magic, madness, and the end of the world.
Just as experiences of the pandemic are gradually subsiding into the recesses of our collective memories, along comes Dave Malloy's latest work, Three Houses, to remind audiences of the feelings of loneliness, the unrelenting sense of isolation, and the existential terrors associated with the lockdown. The musical, now playing at New York's Signature Theatre and for which Malloy supplied the music, lyrics, book, and orchestrations, is notably ambitious, often unwieldy, and periodically sublime. It also draws from the most unlikely of sources: 'The Three Little Pigs.' Make no mistake, though, this post-pandemic musical may have its share of whimsical puppets and fairy-tale magic, but it is not kids' stuff by any means.
For many, it will be enough compensation that Malloy’s music remains as hypnotic and embracing as ever, performed faultlessly by the cast (especially Seibert) and a busy quartet (violin, cello, French horn, keyboards) under Or Matias’s musical direction. A close-harmony coda, accompanied only by a hurdy-gurdy drone, specifically recalls the a cappella wonders of “Octet” and the hushed beauty of the title song of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.” But intermittent gorgeousness is not, for me, a sufficient substitute for substance. What is “Three Houses” trying to say, or have us experience, about living through the pandemic — beyond the usefulness of eight quantities of liquor?
| 2024 | Off-Broadway |
Signature Theatre Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Drama League Awards | OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL | Annie Tippe |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Henry Stram |
Videos