Woyzeck

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Tom Waits’ third collaboration with director Robert Wilson, Woyzeck, is based on the original written in 1837 by German poet Georg Buchner. It is a dark and true story of a German soldier who was driven insane by medical experiments and the infidelity of his lover, whom he ultimately murders. The haunting score composed by Waits and longtime writing partner and wife, Kathleen Brennan, illuminates the murky tale. At once both brutal and tender with assaulting rhythms and romantic melodies, the score is a grim musical deposition on the human condition. Like an erie cabaret from the shadows, caliope, woodwinds, brass and percussion tell the tale in this magnificent score.

Woyzeck premiered November 18, 2000 at the Betty Nansen theatre in Copenhagen and went on to win Denmark's version of the Tony for Best Musical last year. The Danish production has toured extensively in Europe to sold-out houses and wide acclaim as well as New York and Los Angeles. The score was only later released by Anti- in 2004 as the album Blood Money along with Alice the same year.

"The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage, the human meat wheel...They are more carnal. I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth. I like songs to sound as though they've been aging in a barrel and distressed." -Tom Waits