The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a world premiere, multimedia theater piece with music, loosely based on the 1920 German Expressionist film of the same name. Bob McGrath and John Moran have created a hybrid of the film and the Parisian drama known as the Théâtre du Grand Guignol, the 19th-century theatrical tradition out of which the film was born. Specializing in terror, blood and guts, and sexual innuendo, The Grand Guignol was the dirty little secret of Paris, a place where pimps and petty thieves shared benches with the crowned heads of Europe, all seeking terror and titillation. Moran uses a unique “techno-opera” stage technique that he’s perfected with McGrath: the music, sound, and sound effects are pre-recorded, and the actors on stage lip-synch to their own recorded voices. All of this is overlaid with film, slides and set pieces. The effect is a dream-like hypnotic ride that is both funny and horrific. The lights, color, sound, and costumes create something like the excitement of an amusement park—except it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

After each performance of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the audience was invited to attend a screening of the silent film in the lobby, with live piano accompaniment by Martin Marks.