In TALKING BAND’s new music-theater work, big ideas bump up against big sound. Five brassy horns and two eccentric scientists leapfrog from epiphany to epiphany. FUSIFORM GYRUS celebrates the resilience of friendship, the power of music to make us feel like anything can happen, and the rigorous tradition of scientific discovery in a world where scientific truth is often challenged.
Talking Band’s original interdisciplinary performance work has been a cornerstone of New York City’s avant-garde theater community for 44 years. Founding member Ellen Maddow is an OBIE award winning playwright and composer. Her most recent play, BURNISHED BY GRIEF was a New York Times Critics Choice. Talking Band has produced over fifty new works illuminating the extraordinary dimensions of ordinary life, combining richly textured music-theater with striking visual imagery. Collectively, the company and founders have earned 15 OBIE awards and numerous other honors.

What it’s about: Two old, eccentric scientists discuss philosophical ideas while reminiscing about the tenure of their personal and professional relationship. Accompanied by a five-piece band, Fusiform Gyrus is a “music-theatre” work, which explores a plethora of themes and ideas through a non-linear narrative and music. Why you should see it: Ellie Heyman. The Drama Desk-nominated director of Beardo defies the limitations of the Here Arts Center’s downstairs space with a production that is imaginatively staged. The threadbare plot maybe hard to follow but the continuous surprises in the set and video design by Anna Kiraly and the magical lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins provide for a visual treat. Performances by Tom Nelis and Paul Zimet are proof that veterans of the form can make a meal out of even thinly drawn characters, introducing the audience to worlds that are not on the page. The musicians are all uniformly excellent and used brilliantly by Heyman. Fusiform Gyrus is a challenging play in form and convention and Heyman has now over and over demonstrated that she is the director of choice for plays and musicals one may consider “non-traditional.” What could be better: …Read more