Media Archive

The story cycle, from the Ghost Quartet’s self-titled release, is by turns humorous and haunting. 

Eclectic is the best way to describe Dave Malloy, the award-winning composer/lyricist/arranger/performer who brings his theater piece “Ghost Quartet” to Oberon this Wednesday through Sunday for five performances.

In the grand, old musical-theater tradition, composer/writer/performer Dave Malloy, 39, followed his dream to New York City seven years ago. There, with several decidedly nontraditional off-Broadway hits, he has found fame, along with many of the accolades that the musical theater world has to offer, including two Obie Awards, the Richard Rodgers Award, and a Jonathan Larson Grant.

And I promise you, you will believe by the evening’s end. People may die, but the stories they tell you will continue to divide and multiply, and haunt the world for as long as the human race exists.

Playwright/actress Eve Ensler relates how she lost her personal connection to her body early in life, and tried to get it back – through anorexia, promiscuity and (this gets a laugh) performance art.

Ensler, best known for “The Vagina Monologues,” is an internationally known activist and theater artist and, for some, a feminist heroine. The pairing of artistic director Diane Paulus (who helms this production) and Ensler is a dream team of much-admired female voices in contemporary theater.

There is a horrible irony here that the woman who got people talking about their bodies had hers ravaged…From the first line of this piece to the sumptuous last image we had in this show, I was completely rapt.