Kansas City Choir Boy is presented as part of the Prototype: Opera/Theater/Now festival at HERE, which runs Jan. 8-17.
Featuring music and lyrics by Almond, Kansas City Choir Boy is characterized as a "love song for the computer age and a product of the 24-hour news cycle that feeds on the stories of the anonymous 'missing.'" Kevin Newbury directs.
Love makes her musical theatre debut with the piece. She is known as the frontwoman to the alt-rock band "Hole" and as the former wife of late "Nirvana" frontman Kurt Cobain. As an actress, Love has appeared in "Sons of Anarchy," "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and the new Fox series "Empire."
Here's how it's billed: "Kansas City Choir Boy is a theatricalized concept album about love altered by unexpected fate. A mystery told through flashbacks, the show tells the story of two lovers in small town America who separate when one goes in search of destiny and then disappears. Borrowing themes from ancient myth, the show features songs by acclaimed composer/lyricist Todd Almond performed by rock icon Courtney Love and Mr. Almond. They are joined by a chorus of sirens, and musicians from Contemporaneous Ensemble."
The production has set design by Vita Tzykun and Clark Parkan, sound design by Brandon Wolcott, video design by Darrel Maloney and choreography by Sam Pinkleton. Almond has penned A Separate Piece, Melancholy Play, On the Levee, Girlfriend, People Like Us, Kansas City Choir Boy, Ahraihsak and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which premiered at Yale Rep. He has appeared at 54 Below with Sherie Rene Scott in their collaboration Piece of Meat. Almond has also collaborated with Lear deBessonet on The Tempest and The Winter's Tale in Central Park. His albums "Mexico City" and "Memorial Day" are currently available.
In addition to Almond's work, the Prototype Festival will include Stefan Weisman and David Cote's The Scarlet Ibis; Bora Yoon's Sunken Cathedral; Toxic Palms, presented by Carmina Slovenica and St. Ann's Warehouse; Winter's Child, by Ellen Reid and Amanda Jane Shank; and Aging Magician, by Paola Prestini, Rinde Eckert and Julian Crouch.
Visit prototypefestival.org.
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