Tammy Ryan is a lucky playwright. She had the good fortune to live next to a couple, both music teachers, who fled Bosnia for the United States in the 1990s. The piano and violin teachers shared heart-wrenching stories with Ryan about their home in Sarajevo, the talented students who perished in the conflict and the ways war altered their lives. Ryan transformed these poignant memories into the beautifully moving play The Music Lesson. Children's Theater of Madison brings the touching story to life in a masterful production, which runs through Feb. 22 in The Playhouse at Overture Center.
Colleen Madden gives a staggering, visceral performance as Irina, a music teacher whose life has been overtaken by grief. Although she has escaped from Bosnia, she cannot move past the death of one of her most gifted piano students, Maja (played with energy and light by Emma Diaz). When her husband Ivan (an affable and earnest Michael Herold) comes home one day with news that he has found two new music students, Irina sinks deeper into her sorrow. Every phrase of Bach she hears transports her back to the bombings and horrific loss in Sarajevo.
When Irina meets her new pupil, Kat (an appropriately sullen and prickly Elizabeth Robbins), the black-clad rebel has no interest in practicing piano or doing anything to please authority figures. In contrast, her younger brother Eddie (fresh-faced Simon Ehrlinger) studies violin diligently under Ivan, who declares him a prodigy to the delight of his over-stressed mother (Chelsea Anderson). As the students and teachers embark on their musical studies, they develop relationships that help them cope with their personal struggles.
The play moves fluidly from Ivan and Irina's American living room to the violent streets of Sarajevo, as memories of the past disrupt the present. Steve Barnes's set design cleverly transports the characters between the two settings. Adding to the theatricality of the piece, the two young musicians who accompany their actor counterparts (Benjamin Davies Hudson on violin and Kathleen Leone on piano) appear to be suspended between worlds.
The plot of The Music Lesson is somewhat predictable, and the characters surrounding Irina are not drawn with as much richness or detail as hers. But as directed by CTM Artistic Director Roseann Sheridan, the play delivers an engaging and emotional statement about the tragedy of war and the power of music to heal and inspire.
