Forget ghost stories this Halloween — listen to some ghost songs instead.
“Ghost Quartet,” a live performance of songs about ghosts and other dead people, is coming to the Bushwick Starr. The show will begin haunting the theater on Oct. 8 and play Wednesdays and Sundays through Nov. 1 — a fitting run given the topic matter, said one organizer.
“It is a mysterious, moody show that is perfect for October,” said Bushwick Starr artistic director Noel Allian.
The show is similar to a concept album, except performed live, Allain explained. The spooky song cycle touches on topics including love, death, and alcohol.
The songs are played in a particular order, as if they were on four sides of a double record. Each is introduced with a title and there is minimal staging. In the songs are several separate stories that eventually reveal themselves to all be interconnected, explained Allain.
“All of the stories intersect,” he said. “The ghost stories take place over different periods of time and pull from ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and some ‘Arabian Nights’ and then all weave together.”
Allain sat down with writer and director David Malloy a year and a half ago to work out a concept for the eerie songs. Malloy told Allain that he wanted a ghost story musical that takes place in a bar. He also insisted that whiskey should be a part of the show, so audience members will each get a glass of whiskey to drink at pertinent parts of the evening.
“It is a very beautiful piece, the way everyone is singing together, there is not separation between the actors and audience,” said Allain. “It is a very communal experience.”
“Ghost Quartet” at the Bushwick Starr (207 Starr St. between Irving and Wyckoff avenues in Bushwick, www.thebushwickstarr.org). Oct. 8, Oct. 11, Oct. 15, Oct. 18, Oct. 22, Oct. 25, Oct. 29, Nov. 1 at 8 pm. $18.
