Publisher Anton Diabelli wrote a short waltz and sent it to 50 composers, asking each of them to write a variation on it. Beethoven turned him down--but then ultimately wrote 33 variations on it. Why?
That's the question at the heart of a Broadway-bound play called 33 Variations. It's by Moises Kaufmann, the same playwright who created The Laramie Project and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Jane Fonda has been announced in the role of a modern-day musicologist trying to unravel the mystery.
Read more about the upcoming Broadway production here; find the website for the play's world premiere at Washington's Arena Stage here.
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