SECOND TIME AROUND
A duet for cello and storyteller
Charlie Varon, author and performer
Joan Jeanrenaud, composer and cellist
David Ford, director
Tentative premiere: March 2016 at The Marsh San Francisco
Second Time Around is the next in the series of Charlie Varon’s stories about old people – the same series that includes Feisty Old Jew.
A high school student brings a video camera to the retirement home where 92-year-old Ben Rosenau lives. He’s come to interview Ben about his service as a bomber pilot in World War II.
Charlie says: “Much of the story occurs inside Ben’s mind – his memories, his regrets, his yearnings. My quest to put all this onstage led me to the cello – the instrument which, like no other, can express the interior life of human beings. And that led me to Joan.”
Joan Jeanrenaud was the cellist of the Kronos Quartet for 20 years. Her work with Kronos included more than 30 recordings and over 2000 performances that took her to virtually every major concert hall worldwide. During those years the group became – in the words of New York Times critic John Rockwell – “the world’s best known, most innovative contemporary-music quartet.”
Joan has taken on the demanding task of composing an original score for the 70-minute story. In SECOND TIME AROUND Joan and Charlie will perform sometimes in tandem, sometimes solo. Joan is also composing an overture that will open the performance.
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