Last night I had the good fortune to see Red-Eye to Havre de Grace, the fantasia on the death of Edgar Allan Poe currently playing at New York Theatre Workshop.
The piece, originally created by Thaddeus Phillips and brothers David and Jeremy Wilhelm, includes texts not just from Poe's famous poems like "The Conqueror Worm" and "The Raven," but also his late metaphysical work, Eureka, his letters, and essays such as "The Philosophy of Furniture."
Ean Sheehy plays Poe with remarkable physical dexterity, walking on top of suitcases, sitting sideways at an unturned desk, and crawling on top of pianos. The dancer Alessandra Larson plays Poe's dead wife Virginia, and though she never speaks, her presence adds a dangerous ethereal beauty to the piece, whether she is using stilts, sliding down from a suspended bed frame, or crawling out of a grave.
Obviously, this play is not going for strict realism, so it seems only natural when "Annabelle Lee" is sung in French and "Eldorado" is performed in Spanish. This inventive production only runs until June 1, so make sure you catch it before the train leaves the station!
For more information, go here:
https://www.nytw.org/
