The Colonial presents P.D.Q. Bach and Peter Schickele
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P.D.Q. Bach and Peter Schickele: The Jekyll and Hyde Tour is a two-faced concert production that does not require blackmailing local orchestra members to play P.D.Q. Bach’s music. This program requires nothing but a piano, plus a decently-equipped and sold-out auditorium (Joke. They’ll play for anybody who wanders in.). In this two-composers-for-the-price-of-one performance, singers Michèle Eaton and David Düsing perform such classic P.D.Q. classics as the recently-discovered Four Next-to-Last Songs and the heart-rendering Shepherd on the Rocks, With a Twist, which features Prof. Schickele playing the tromboon (a cross between a trombone and a bassoon, combining all the disadvantages of both in one easy-to-schlep instrument) and the lasso d’amore. Audiences also experience (among other delicacies) excerpts from the Little Notebook for “Piggy” Bach.
The Jekyll (or is it Hyde?) part of the program features songs and rounds by Peter Schickele, including the notorious rock ‘n’ roll settings of famous Shakespeare speeches (as heard in the composer’s solo song programs as well as on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion), as well as even more music by P.D.Q. Bach, including the musical recipe PDQ 3-Step Crab Dinner.
