'Variations' on life's obsessions

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It has been said that someone is waiting to escort us to the afterlife — a loved one, a beloved pet perhaps. For scholarly sleuth Katherine Brandt (Mary Beth Peil), that certain someone is her personal hero, Ludwig van Beethoven (Graeme Malcolm), whose obsessions and afflictions are the subject of Moises Kaufman's lilting and involving play "33 Variations."

Although not strictly a musical, "33 Variations" is suffused with the melodious strains, leitmotifs and emotional heft of classical music. Pianist Diane Walsh deftly interprets Beethoven throughout the play, and from time to time, the cast is moved to burst into song or inspired humming.

The title refers to Beethoven's masterpiece, the "Diabelli Variations," in which the composer took what Katherine dismisses as an "insignificant waltz" written by a 19th-century music publisher and, during the course of four years, unearthed the astounding musicality within the composition — everything from a beer-hall ditty and a fugue to a minuet. Many pianists consider the "Diabelli Variations" the most important work in the history of the variation form — outshining Bach's "Goldberg Variations."

Mr. Kaufman is no stranger to literary quests after poring over reams of court documents for his play "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde." The playwright chanced upon this footnote to musical history while browsing around Tower Records in New York one night. He became engrossed in the mystery surrounding why Beethoven would become so fixated by a trifling waltz that he would devote four years to the composition, during which time he was bedeviled by illnesses and became deaf.

Mr. Kaufman transfers his passionate curiosity to the character of Katherine Brandt, an esteemed musicologist in the final stages of Lou Gerhig's disease. Never one to suffer fools gladly, she is even more uncompromising as she finds herself racing against the clock. Katherine travels to Bonn to visit the Beethoven Archives, where she forms an efficient and warm friendship with librarian Dr. Gertie Ladenborger (Susan Kellermann). Katherine's decision to spend her last months working feverishly rankles her daughter Clara (Laura Odeh), who is as unformed as her mother is definite.

"33 Variations" moves among three worlds: Katherine's academic sleuthing in Bonn, Clara's attempts to nurse her mother in New York and Germany — often with the help of her boyfriend, Mike (Greg Keller) — and Beethoven's creative and personal struggles between 1819 and 1823. The caretaking subplot, although buoyed by the abundant appeal of Miss Odeh and Mr. Keller, often seems extraneous, albeit charming.

The most riveting scenes shift between Katherine's musicology dig and what actually was happening to Beethoven and his circle — Beethoven's devoted and sometimes history-manipulating assistant, Anton Schindler (Erik Steele), and the proud Anton Diabelli (Don Amendolia), caught between his awe of the composer and the profit motive. In these scenes, we become intimately involved with the scholarly life — the long hours, the loneliness, the off-base theories and exciting discoveries — while what Beethoven really might have been thinking and feeling unfolds before our privileged eyes.

For all of Katherine's academic prowess, she cannot penetrate the bones of Beethoven's genius — she might be able to figure out why he wrote the "Diabelli Variations," but she will never know how. His creative powers are as inaccessible to her as they are to Diabelli and Schindler.

Instead of pleading for our sympathy with a stock portrayal of Katherine as "valiant terminal disease victim," Miss Peil commands our respect in an astonishing performance. Miss Kellermann provides a good foil as the stoic Gertie, and Mr. Amendolia provides some lighthearted comic relief as Diabelli.

"33 Variations" is not seamless; some scenes seem frivolous, some indulgent, such as a closing sequence in which the cast minuets with varying grace. Yet lovers of classical music and highbrow curiosities will find themselves drawn into this dexterous exploration of musical inspiration and obsession.

***

WHAT: "33 Variations," written and directed by Moises Kaufman

WHERE: Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. Sundays, selected Wednesday matinees at noon. Through Sept. 30.

TICKETS: $47 to $66

PHONE: 202/488-3300

WEB SITE: www.arenastage.org MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS