Obsession can serve society well - particularly when it is the handmaiden to genius. Two new plays tackle this theme, starring Beethoven and Galileo, respectively. The first is obsessed with writing piano variations for a seemingly trivial waltz; ultimately, his passion will explode the boundaries of musical composition. The second, a 17th-century astronomer who championed the radical theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, defied the Catholic Church. The battle Galileo ultimately waged - science versus faith - haunts us still. Both productions - 33 Variations and Two Men of Florence - are among the most provocative new works this season.
Now playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, 33 Variations is captivating. Katherine Brandt (Jane Fonda) is a musicologist eager to discover why Beethoven, the most heralded composer of his age, became obsessed with Diabelli's waltz, a seemingly trivial score. Diabelli (Don Amendolia), a 19th-century music publisher, asks the most important composers of the Austrian Empire, including Schubert, Liszt and Beethoven, to write a variation on his work for a proposed book.
Despite poor health, between 1819 and 1823, Beethoven (Zach Grenier) composed a staggering 33 variations. Similarly, Brandt's quest is made more poignant by her own illness. Time is finite for both, yet they choose to immerse themselves in music. The juxtaposition of their lives - the creator and the appreciator - underscores playwright Moises Kaufman larger point: For true believers, all life is suborned to the greater glories of art.
He achieves that end with a compelling two-tiered story: exploring the nature of creation and those who act as caretakers to artistic obsession. In Beethoven's case, it's his trusted assistant Schindler (Erik Steele); in Brandt's, it's her daughter (Samantha Mathis), and friend (a terrific Susan Kellermann), a German colleague who proves invaluable to her work and life.
Each pairing is rendered as precisely as a piano sonata, each variation in tone, temperament and emotion is explored. Kaufman's pacing is crisp and efficient, while Derek McLane's set design is inspired. There are no wasted scenes, no superfluous dialogue. The ensemble is solid, but Fonda, as a woman consumed by her passions, shines. She hits exactly the right note. Grenier is a stunning Beethoven, so enveloped in his madness and vulnerability, it's heartbreaking. 33 Variations is exciting and humbling - it deserves this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Two centuries earlier, another battle, more ideological in nature, raged. The principals were Pope Urban VIII and Galileo, and their stirring historical encounter is captured in Two Men of Florence. The play opened to acclaim in England; it's now making its American debut March 11 at the Boston University Theatre in Boston. The Huntington Theatre Company's production is loaded with dramatic muscle: Former JFK adviser and noted political speechwriter and playwright Richard Goodwin, Edward Hall, associate director of London's National Theatre, and the two principles: Edward Herrmann (Urban) and Jay O. Sanders (Galileo).
Goodwin fashions the word as an epic battle for the soul of the world. Galileo, a devout Catholic, endorses Copernicus' theory of heliocentrism, the earth revolving around the sun, thereby rocking the Church to its core. Though Urban and Galileo begin as friends, the price for dissent is high. The Roman Inquisition is routing out heretics, and Galileo's beliefs are contrary to the literal meaning of Scripture.
The Huntington Theater, part of Boston University, will transform the space into a planetarium and recreate some of Galileo's most famous experiments on stage. Set designer Francis O'Connor has created more than 50 period costumes, adding to the verisimilitude of the production.
"The great conflict is between the emergence of scientific reason, in which truth was found by accumulating observations and drawing general conclusions, and the Catholic Church's point of view, that faith was superior to scientific reasoning in the approach to truth," says Richard Goodwin. "There is a fundamental clash between two very different views of the world."
"The play makes clear that the conflict between the Pope and Galileo had much deeper roots than simply the Church's desire to suppress knowledge to retain power," he says. "Both men were defending a point of view that they held passionately. While the Pope had the power to make Galileo recant, he did not have the power to stifle the conclusions of Galileo. In the end, the play is not simply a battle of ideas, but a drama of two passionate men, each obsessed with the truth of their own point of view."
"Plays about beliefs are always contentious things," adds Hall. "I hope this will be a contentious evening in the theater."