music by nathaniel stookey
conceived for the stage by
lemony snicket
phantom limb
(jessica grindstaff & erik sanko, artistic directors)
tony taccone
& geoff hoyle
directed by tony taccone
main season | roda theatre
november 26, 2010–january 16, 2011
world premiere
Running time: 65 minutes, no intermission
the play
The show must go on? But the actor is mute, the director is crying, the dancer is lazy—and the composer is dead! This holiday season, Berkeley Rep presents a deliciously silly world premiere from beloved Bay Area artists. Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead features text by bestselling author Lemony Snicket and a score by (living) composer Nathaniel Stookey. It’s a new theatrical adaptation of this wildly popular piece. Tony Taccone’s raucous production unleashes laughs through classic clowning and plenty of uppity puppets from the pioneering Phantom Limb Company (Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, Co-Artistic Directors). When Geoff Hoyle pops up as an outlandish inspector bent on solving a murderous riddle, the show crescendos into comic absurdity. To the delight of children and adults alike, Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead comes alive on stage.
the players
Lemony Snicket penned A Series of Unfortunate Events, the fantastically successful collection of kids’ books, as well as three novels for adults.
Nathaniel Stookey is the youngest composer ever commissioned by San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual Music Series. His works include Big Bang, Junkestra, Wide as Skies and Zipperz.
Tony Taccone’s productions of Bridge & Tunnel and Wishful Drinking moved to Broadway, Brundibar and Taking Over played off-Broadway and Continental Divide transferred to London.
Geoff Hoyle has performed on Broadway, off Broadway and under the big top. Audiences at Berkeley Rep saw him in The Convict’s Return and Geni(us) before those shows toured the world.
Phantom Limb’s puppets have been spotted with distinguished artists like Danny Elfman and the Kronos Quartet in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, New York and Paris.
the buzz
“It’s a movie. It’s a vaudeville act. It’s a concert. It’s a puppet show. Actually, it’s all of the above and something all its own. Lemony Snicket’s The Composer Is Dead, a new work that opened Thursday at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda Theatre, isn’t quite a play but a curiously engaging concoction of theater, film and musical elements as a genially offbeat arts primer. As performed by master comic Geoff Hoyle and a magnificent ensemble of marionettes and all kinds of other puppets, it’s a funny and often ingenious children’s entertainment.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Fun for whole family…A delightful piece of theater…An opportunity for all of us to laugh our clenched bottoms off as we excuse the hour-long show as a delightfully clever introduction to classical music…As wildly funny as it is perverse. Bay Area comic treasure Geoff Hoyle is the only human being on a stage populated by an assortment of strange puppets.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group
“Wonderful…Visual flourishes are the meat and potatoes of Composer. The set, designed by [Jessica] Grindstaff and [Erik] Sanko, is a pop-out book that keeps unfolding…[Geoff] Hoyle is majestic both as the charming host and crime-solver. Arrive with a child’s sense of wonderment; don’t go if you can’t stomach a lot of ooh-ing and aaah-ing.”—East Bay Express
“A kids’ show can only be called a complete success if it manages to entertain the adults who inevitably serve as chaperones. On that score, The Composer is Dead is completely successful, combining visual panache with intelligent verbal humor in a way that will charm just about anybody right out of their pants…If you happen to have any sharp, imaginative children lying around the house, or maybe just a friend who could use a macabre kick this holiday season, take any and all to see The Composer is Dead.”—SF Weekly
“Run across the bridge, any bridge, to get to Berkeley Rep, which here means “a theater company willing to take risks certain to destroy the world as we know it,” in order to catch the fantastic World Premiere of Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead.”—SF-TheaterBlog.com
“Part Monty Python’s Flying Circus, part Cirque du Soleil, and part Tim Burton, The Composer Is Dead is a damn impressive amalgam of puppetry and theater, with a lovely symphonic soundtrack to boot…Anyone looking to spend a swell hour reliving a child’s wonder by way of some extraordinarily life-like and expert puppetry, get your tickets now.”—SFist.com
“Hilarious characters, visual delights, stage magic and loads of laughs…It’s a perfect family show for the holidays. And I loved it.”—KGO-AM
Illustration by Erik Sanko/Phantom Limb
multimedia
VIDEO: Production trailer
To the delight of children and adults alike, Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead comes alive on stage
