Bad Luck, Baudelaire in a Box Episode 4

In the latest installment of Baudelaire in a Box, Theater Oobleck travels to join forces with some of North Carolina’s most vibrant musicians: New Town Drunks, Curtis Eller, Dexter Romweber, and JKutchma. We will present twelve new cantastoria adapted from Charles Baudelaire’s epic book of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal. For this Episode, the poems — which will be translated and set to music — are: The Albatross, The Grateful Dead, The Broken Bell, Past Life, Reversibility, Bad Luck, The Vampire, The Balcony, Always the Same, Gambling, and The Two Good Sisters.

FRIDAY, MAY 25
THE ARTSCENTER
300-G E. Main St.
Carrboro, NC
919.929.2787

SATURDAY, MAY 26
THE PINHOOK
117 W. Main St.
Durham, NC
919.667.110

SUNDAY, MAY 27
POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL
224 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC
919.821.1120

Baudelaire in a Box is a serial cantastoria project based on Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, created by founding Oobleck member Dave Buchen. Over the course of 7 years (culminating in 2017, the sesquicentennial of Baudelaire’s death), the project will adapt each poem from Les Fleurs du Mal as a unique cantastoria, featuring “crankies” (scrolling images) designed and illustrated by Dave Buchen, paired with a musical adaptation. After North Carolina, we return to NYC for Banners and Cranks “Singing Pictures Cabaret” and then in the Fall back to Chicago with Michael Zerang, Bobby Conn, Chris Schoen, and Jeff Dorchen.

It is a project so ambitious, so immense, that it cannot be contained on a single web page. And so:

Dave is blogging about the process here, at the Baudelaire in a Box Blog.

A video explanation of the cantastoria art form is presented by our colleague Clare Dolan here.

And learn more about Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal here.

Photography by Kristin Basta. Design by Dave Buchen & David Isaacson.

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