A “Ghost Story Musical” from NPT

This past February, this site wrote about The Rebirth of Apsara, a three-act reflection on the Khmer Rouge Genocide presented jointly by New Performance Traditions (NPT) and the Paul Dresher Ensemble (which created NPT). The beginning of next month will see the next NPT offering in San Francisco. Ghost Quartet is a full-evening musical theatre composition for which Dave Malloy provided music, lyrics, and text, which he describes as “a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey.” More specifically, the libretto accounts for a setting in which “a camera breaks and four friends drink in four interwoven narratives spanning seven centuries.”

Veronica Renner and Monica Rose Slater performing on their respective instruments while singing (photograph provided by David Malloy)

The performance will actually involve five vocalists, all of whom will also be responsible for instrumental performances. Only baritone Michael Perez will restrict his instrumental work to percussion. Each of the other four will command a diversity of instruments as follows:

• Tenor Rinde Eckert: piano, organ, slide guitar, percussion
• Soprano Monica Rose Slater: glockenspiel, accordion, harp, percussion
• Soprano Ami Nashimoto: cello, ukulele, erhu, percussion
• Alto Veronica Renner: accordion, autoharp, percussion

This production will be given four performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 5, Friday, December 6, and Saturday, December 7, with a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Sunday, December 8. The ODC Theater is located in the Mission at 3153 17th Street on the southwest corner of Shotwell Street. General admission will be $39 with priority seating for $64 and “Pay What You Can” options for $14 and $24. Tickets may be purchased through the four hyperlinks on the ODC Web page for this event.