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Article: Rep's 'Bach at Leipzig' Pulls Out All the Stops; Screwball Comedy Swaggers to the Music
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 21, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Career advancement in the 18th century was a tougher business.
Take the plight of the characters in "Bach at Leipzig," Itamar
Moses's intellectual funhouse of a play at Rep Stage. Not only can
these guys not dispatch their CVs through cyberspace, they have to
send all their letters via carrier pigeon.
In Moses's historical riff, six musicians gathered in Germany are
competing for a prestigious job: organist for the church known as
the Thomaskirche, an audition that really occurred. As war brews
between German states and highwaymen go on the rampage, the
keyboardists -- all named either Georg or Johann -- devise
byzantine schemes to top each other.
With its wordplay, brainy allusions, ...