Set against the backdrop of Kurt Waldheim’s contentious rise to the Presidency of Austria in the 1980’s, the play weaves the songs of Robert Schumann through the story of Hoffman and his Viennese music teacher. Though their experiences and ideas are starkly different, they share music as a common bond that may narrow the gap between them. From the sublime of Vienne Opera to the horror at Dachau, Old Wicked Songs is a clash of generations where past and present meet in a brilliant, dramatic vortex.
