BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Stare into a champagne flute and you’ll find little beyond a fleet of rising bubbles and the prospect of a momentary buzz — but sink your peepers down a glass of whisky after a few lusty swigs, and the dark brown liquid becomes a portal to “blurry, sloppy, boozy and blind” deeds whose consequences last beyond the last drop.
That’s the promise of a refrain from “Four Friends” — a rambling, affectionate ode to the distinguishing characteristics of various whisky brands (and the sort of drinkers they attract). As played and sung by the Ghost Quartet, from their show of the same name, its moody tone and multilayered narrative is typical of the selections that make up this “song cycle about love, death and whiskey.”
A critical hit during its 2014 run at The Bushwick Starr, “Ghost Quartet” will have its Manhattan debut within Punchdrunk theatre company’s cavernous, fictitious McKittrick Hotel — home to “Sleep No More,” a walkabout reimagining of “Macbeth” playing through March.
For this live version of their 20-track CD, Ghost Quartet makes good use of the McKittrick’s eccentric setting and interactive nature by placing themselves amongst the audience and letting rip a series of overlapping yarns that thrive in the air pocket between immersive theater and concert performance. Such close proximity to the Quartet compels the audience to physically absorb the rattle and hum of every cello, guitar, Celtic harp, piano, dulcimer, accordion, ukulele and percussion instrument. Rest assured, this side effect of the show’s theater in the round setting is more of a perk than a source of discomfort, as the storytelling musicians invoke murder ballads, doo-wop, angular bebop, Chinese folk, Islamic adhan, and the work of Bernard Herrmann and George Crumb.
THEATER
GHOST QUARTET
Mon. & Tues., Jan. 5, 6, 12, 13 at 8 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 11, 18 at 5 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
At The McKittrick Hotel
530 W. 27th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.
Tickets: $45–$65
Visit events.mckittrickhotel.com/ghostquartet
Also visit davemalloy.com
For “Sleep No More” info,
visit sleepnomore.com
The narrative is similarly varied, comprised of four (there’s that number again) interwoven tales spanning seven centuries. Intense connections and heartbreaking divisions bless and curse the lives of two women who keep crossing paths. Cast as strangers, sisters, lovers and a mother/daughter, the pair navigates a number of ghostly tales told within the context of everything from a Poe horror story to a contemporary fable about the victim of (and the witness to) a subway murder. There’s also a spectral appearance by Thelonious Monk and trouble stirred by an evil (but lazy) bear.
What these disparate tales have in common — besides the desire of composer/writer Dave Malloy to tear down walls and prompt a cathartic experience — is the presence of Brent Arnold, Brittain Ashford and Gelsey Bell. Alongside Malloy, they bring the same colaborative spirit to “Ghost Quartet” that made their “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” such a spellbinding interactive experience.
