MAGNIFICENT BIRD / BOOK OF TRAVELERS
Playwrights Horizons, Fall 2024
Written + Performed by Gabriel Kahane
All Photos by Marc J Franklin
In this duo of intimate solo musical plays, composer Gabriel Kahane blends songwriting and storytelling for a singular, poignant theatrical event. Book of Travelers recounts the strangers he met on a 9,000-mile train journey through a divided America, and Magnificent Bird chronicles a year he spent entirely off-line, and the unexpected turbulence of living quietly. Performed on alternating nights, these two concept albums offer a relentless self-inquiry, and a searing portrait of a world in flux.
DESIGN
SCENIC DESIGN AMP Featuring Oscar Escobedo
COSTUME DESIGN Wendy Yang
LIGHTING DESIGN Christopher Bowser
SOUND DESIGN Garth MacAleavey
Stage Manager Lizzy Emmanuel
PRESS
““An exercise in lyric beauty… [Kahane] is one of the finest, most searching songwriters of the day… Book of Travelers is a song cycle of unwavering seriousness, delivering snapshots of a broken and desperate nation.””
““The songs are all intimate, relatable, miniature heartbreakers.””
