33 Variations  

By Moises Kauffman

Produced by Arena Stage  

Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

33 Variations.   Don’t be put off by the rather inaccessible title.  What does it mean?  Well, literally, they are the number of riffs or versions of a musical theme, composed by Beethoven no less… Or metaphorically, they could represent variations of the ever changing passages of our lives.  Have your eyes started to glaze over yet?  I urge you to get past the title, get over the whole historical Beethoven thing, and trust the undeniable genius of Moises Kaufman, writer of the Laramie Project and Gross Indecency; The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, director of I Am My Own Wife.  Then, prepare for the theatrical masterwork currently showing at Arena Stage, the likes of which will be hard to match for a long time. [Read more...]