Drunk Off Moonlight: eighth blackbird Offers 2-for-1 Tix

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 3, 2009 10:00PM

eighth blackbird is offering a two-for-one deal on Tuesday's performance of Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire." The piece, a setting of German translations of twenty-one of the series of fifty poems by Albert Giraud, is a combination of high-brow Expressionism and cabaret. It's a dark, surreal journey that starts with the commedia dell'arte clown character becoming inebriated by the moon, moves through moments of fear, blasphemy, and death, and ends with Pierrot's nostalgic return to his homeland of Bergamo.

Tuesday's show will be a dramatic presentation directed by Mark DeChiazza. Five members of eighth blackbird (playing eight instruments) will having acting roles. The double duty isn't much of a stretch for the group, whose performances are marked by theatrical movement and memorization of music. "Pierrot" will also include eighth blackbird percussionist Matthew Duvall as the title character, dancer Elyssa Dole, and soprano Lucy Shelton using sprechstimme, a style of vocal performance haflway between speaking and singing that fit the skill set of Albertine Zehme, the actress for whom the piece was written, and adds to the creepy nature of the poems.

The concert will also include songs by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht (the German George and Ira Gershwin, sort of), the Adagio from the Chamber Conceto of Schoenberg disciple Alban Berg, and "Critical Moments 2" by fellow atonalist (and DePaul University graduate) George Perle.

To get your discounted tickets, enter the code "FAN" when checking out. $10 student tickets are also available.

Tuesday, December 8, at Harris Theater, 205 E Randolph, 7 p.m., $30 (2-for-1 available with promotion code "FAN"), $10 students