Ghost Quartet to return off-broadway this October

[Abbade]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 8:45am

Mr. Malloy just published on his Facebook! 2-3 weeks this October. He's currently looking for  non-traditional venues;

 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155783924889040&id=595644039&spotlight=1

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 9:05am

fantastic news!  I really regret missing all of their previous engagements; hope I can make it this time!

[adagio]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 9:16am

They're scheduled for a short run in Jan 2018 in Seattle too:

https://www.stgpresents.org/tickets/eventdetail/3387/-/ghost-quartet


Hey Dave, if you wanted to bring Ghost Quartet to Chicago, I wouldn't mind, honest

[raddersons]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 9:27am

Saw this in its first iteration in Brooklyn, and devoured the recording. Had a feeling very similar to when I first saw Great Comet - on first viewing, I loved what I saw, but didn't fully understand it. Then I listened to the recording and things started to tie together more and I saw a more complete picture. I've been dying to go back. 

Outside of Ghost Quartet... what is next for Dave Malloy? I saw somewhere that he and Rachel are currently working on an adaptation of Moby Dick that is five hours... You know, it sounds like a bore, but I think I trust him.

[adagio]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 9:40am

Here's the only song from Moby Dick I've been able to find so far:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A5oHkr-iRdk

I'm digging it. From what I've been able to piece together from interviews, it's gone through a workshop or two already, and may make its premiere in the 2018/2019 season? It's a co-commission between Berkeley Rep and the Public.

Five hours sounds strenuous at first, but between the description of it as a "communal musical theatre event" and with the four parts having drastically different musical styles, I'm intrigued. Count me in.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 9:44am

adagio said: "They're scheduled for a short run in Jan 2018 in Seattle too:

https://www.stgpresents.org/tickets/eventdetail/3387/-/ghost-quartet


Hey Dave, if you wanted to bring Ghost Quartet to Chicago, I wouldn't mind, honest "

Would love this to happen. Maybe at CST?

[raddersons]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 10:02am

Call_me_jorge said: "Would love this to happen. Maybe at CST?"

Don't know anything about CST, but Ghost Quartet doesn't work in a conventional proscenium stage. It's intimacy is one of its most haunting elements. It works best in bar/lounge type venues, like Joe's Pub, 54 Below, or the bar in Sleep No More.

EDIT: Not trying to say it won't come to Chicago, just saying that if it does, then don't expect to find it at a big theater.

Updated On: 8/30/17 at 10:02 AM

[adagio]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 10:08am

CST (Chicago Shakespeare) has a thrust stage for its main venue, though I think the smaller upstairs theatre, where Ride the Cyclone was, is proscenium. Its subscriber base definitely leans older, and while the productions are lovely and top notch, it's on Navy Pier, Chicago's biggest tourist trap. Not really the right vibe for this show.

Agreed non-traditional settings, or at least a flex space that can be arranged to be in the round, would be preferable here.

Isn't there an old mansion up in Edgewater that gets used for shows? I see them pop up occasionally on Hottix but I've never gone.

[mpd4165]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 1:55pm

A place like the Chopin or the Den would be ideal for Ghost Quartet in Chicago. CST audiences wouldn't know what to make of it (they barely stay awake for shows they subscribe to.) 

[gleek4114]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:29pm

raddersons said: "Saw this in its first iteration in Brooklyn, and devoured the recording. Had a feeling very similar to when I first saw Great Comet - on first viewing, I loved what I saw, but didn't fully understand it. Then I listened to the recording and things started to tie together more and I saw a more complete picture.I've been dying to go back.

Outside of Ghost Quartet... what is next for Dave Malloy? I saw somewhere that he and Rachel are currently working on an adaptation of Moby Dick that is five hours... You know, it sounds like a bore, but I think I trust him."

He's writing music for a new play adaptation of Little Bunny Foo Foo at Actors Theatre of Louisville. It's being commissioned by them. I hope it's a play with music similar to Peter and the Starcatcher. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:35pm

I'd love to hear him lend his musicality to a production of Mother Courage.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:37pm

adagio said: "CST (Chicago Shakespeare) has a thrust stage for its main venue, though I think the smaller upstairs theatre, where Ride the Cyclone was, is proscenium. Its subscriber base definitely leans older, and while the productions are lovely and top notch, it's on Navy Pier, Chicago's biggest tourist trap. Not really the right vibe for this show.

Agreed non-traditional settings, or at least a flex space that can be arranged to be in the round, would be preferable here.

Isn't there an old mansion up in Edgewater that gets used for shows? I see them pop up occasionally on Hottix but I've never gone."

I mean, ride the cyclone didn't seem to be the same vibe as what your describing. I think it would do well in the upstairs theatre. 

[raddersons]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:53pm

Let me put it this way: Ghost Quartet is essentially a ghost story song-cycle with recurring characters and a strong throughline. The closer the setting would get to Are You Afraid Of The Dark, the better. I feel like if you're sitting in fixed auditorium chairs, you're doing it wrong.

Which reminds me, GQ outside with a campfire in the middle would be amazing -- except for the smoke getting in the singer's throats.

[adagio]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:56pm

mpd4165 said: "A place like the Chopin or the Denwould be ideal for Ghost Quartet in Chicago. CST audiences wouldn't know what to make of it(they barely stay awake for shows they subscribe to.)"

Ooh yes that would be perfect; I haven't been to the Den yet but if it's anything similar to the Chopin I could definitely see it working well!

Call_me_jorge, while I haven't been in the upstairs theatre itself, I just don't see the shiny, sterile lobby of CST as fitting what the creative team is going for with this show (note Dave Malloy's request for spooky, non-traditional spaces in the FB post at the beginning of this thread). It's definitely more Logan Square than Navy Pier.

[10086Sundays]

Posted: 8/30/17 at 5:56pm

Off topic, but, I loved Are You Afraid of the Dark. 80/90s Nickelodeon was amazing.

Sounds like the right filmmaker could do something cool with Ghost Quartet?

[Abbade]

Posted: 8/31/17 at 7:46am

Just oficially announced: original cast (obviously),  it will play at the Fourth Street Theatre, a 65-seat black box space.

The run will go through  October 5-31. No ticket sales announced. 

Weird that they will play in a "normal theater". Dave was looking for something creepy. The last reincarnations wasn't staged at a arena stage?

[Fan123]

Posted: 8/31/17 at 8:10am

raddersons said: "...GQ outside with a campfire in the middlewould be amazing -- except for the smoke getting in the singer's throats."

There was a campfire production in the Catskills in 2015! I was nowhere near it, but there's a link to some photos in my old post and a report from attendee tobiasragg in this thread.

A tad off-topic, but here are some random tidbits of Ghost-ness:

I didn't notice this at first, but one of the character's names (though never outright stated in full) is Roxy Usher.

The final song, 'The Wind and Rain' (a traditional song not written by Malloy), sort of encapsulates the entire show's circular structure in microcosm. I mean... the song's lyrics describe a fiddle which plays the song 'The Wind and Rain'. But how could the fiddle play 'The Wind and Rain', unless the song existed in finished form before that point? And how could the song exist in finished form before that point, when the fiddle's performance hadn't yet happened to be described in the song lyrics? *Head explodes*

Even more off-topic: given Dave Malloy's penchant for 'quirky' shows and stagings, I wonder if some day he might try to do a piece of environmental musical theatre of the type which involves audience members wandering freely from room (or space) to room, if he hasn't done so already? It would have its logistical challenges but could be fun. (This came to mind because I was thinking about whether a 'haunted house' staging of Ghost Quartet might work...)

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 8/31/17 at 8:51am

I never realized that there was another theater right next door to NYTW.  

Edit:  It seems that this is being produced by NYTW

http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/news/dave-malloys-ghost-quartet-off-broadway_82251.html

Updated On: 8/31/17 at 08:51 AM

[3GamesToLove]

Posted: 8/31/17 at 10:15am

Boy, I'd love to get to this. October is crazy busy for me, but I'm gonna see if I can land a ticket to come from Chicago the last weekend. I can hardly imagine how quickly this'll sell out. Who knows, maybe it'll come to Chicago next year? But I'm not counting on it. I figure I'll start by trying to get a ticket and if that works out, great. Otherwise, I can keep crossing my fingers for them to come to the Midwest...

[jpbran]

Posted: 8/31/17 at 3:34pm

Several slots in our Oct trip are now open due to Groundhog Day, Bandstand and Great Comet (which I've already seen) closing, so really curious about availability for this one. 

[jpbran]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 12:22pm

Any word about ticket info? Opens in just a few weeks and I can't find anything about tickets... 

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 12:25pm

jpbran said: "Any word about ticket info? Opens in just a few weeks and I can't find anything about tickets..."

Nothing yet.

[sm33]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 12:39pm

jpbran said: "Any word about ticket info? Opens in just a few weeks and I can't find anything about tickets..."

The NYTW twitter keeps telling everyone who asks that more info is coming "soon". 

[3GamesToLove]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 1:59pm

Slowly going insane. I have an whole weekend planned in NYC from Chicago that's all contingent on landing tickets to this...

[jpbran]

Posted: 9/11/17 at 3:08pm

Haha... me too. It's the last part of my ticketing for an Oct trip.