Taproot Theatre Begins BACH AT LEIPZIG, 5/17

With shows like American Idol, The Voice and America's Got Talent all the rage, Taproot Theatre brings the original 18th century reality show to the stage as Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig opens on May 17. Imagine, Leipzig, 1722. Germany's most renowned music director is dead at the keyboard. As the country's greatest organists descend to vie for the job, melodies of rivalry, trickery and blackmail compose a fugue of plots and counterplots. Rooted in history but reveling in flights of fiction, Bach at Leipzig is deliciously scored with wild and witty revelations. Associate Artistic Director Karen Lund directs Bach at Leipzig, which runs through June 15, with previews on May 15 and 16. There is a Pay What You Can performance on May 22.

In Bach at Leipzig, Itamar Moses began with an actual event and ran with it, using historical characters and weaving them into a fictitious and riotous plot. Taking the cleverness a step further, he structured the play to mimic a musical fugue. A fugue is a composition in which multiple "voices" repeat and "discuss" a musical theme. By the beginning of Act II this pattern becomes evident.

Bach at Leipzig was originally produced in July 2002 at The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York. After three years of further development and productions, the play premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop on November 14, 2005. Since then, it has been widely produced throughout the country. Playwright Itamar Moses holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at NYU and Yale. His other plays include Outrage, Celebrity Row and The Four of Us.

In Taproot Theatre's production of Bach at Leipzig, Associate Artistic Director Karen Lund directs Nathan Jeffrey, Bill Johns, Aaron Lamb, Kevin McKeon, Riley Neldam, Nolan Palmer, and Matt Shimkus. The production team includes scenic and sound designer Mark Lund, costume designer Nanette Acosta and lighting designer Roberta Russell. Micah Lynn Trapp serves as stage manager, Matthew Orme as fight choreographer and Heidi McElrath as dramaturg.