Overview
This wildly funny, demonic epic farce traces the bizarre career of virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini, a man so possessed during his performances that it was rumored he had sold his soul to the devil. Using Paganini's 24 Caprices for Violin as a haunting background, this nightmare play gallops through grotesque adventures as Paganini plays to spellbound audiences throughout Europe, the century's equivalent to a rock star. He leaves a trail of seduced women, enraged fathers and creditors and reportedly evades responsibility for a murder. A clockworks girl, a horrifying jack in the box, a trumpet blowing gorilla, a cymbals-banging bear, a barbershop quartet of murderous doctors, dead bird soup, Beethoven's ghost, an earsplitting diva, the king of France and other delights and horrors are encountered as Paganini moves toward his terrible destination. This inventive play employs vivid theatrical conventions to tell the surreal story of a dark and twisted journey while probing the consequences of art and the nature of salvation for the artist.