UnRavelled at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

UnRavelled is based on the true-life story about the remarkable link between biologist/painter Dr. Anne Adams (1940–2007) and French composer Maurice Ravel 1875–1937), both of whom lived with the same brain disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), almost 100 years apart.

Eminent biologist Dr. Anne Adams abandons her prestigious career after becoming inexplicably consumed by a desire to paint for the first time in her life. While her marriage begins to fracture and her life unravels, she develops an obsession with Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. At the heart of Dr. Adams transformation is a devastating diagnosis of FTD. Yet, as Anne’s cognitive decline accelerates, her art flourishes. Through her paintings, Anne uncovers a pattern that may offer clues to unlocking mysteries about the brain’s networks and creativity. UnRavelled asks: What does it mean to lose one’s mind, yet still find ways to express one’s soul?

FTD is the most common form of dementia in people under age 60, which manifests with behavioral alterations – not memory loss or paralysis typical of other types of dementia. FTD is the same kind of dementia that afflicts actor Bruce Willis.

The cast includes Lucy Davenport (Scorsese’s Gangs of New York; Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland; Jay Roach’s Dinner for Schmucks) as Dr. Anne Adams; Andrew Borba (Straight Outta Compton, Interstellar, Live from Baghdad; The Little Foxes at Antaeus) as Robert Adams; Leo Marks (The Line; Mysterious Circumstances at the Geffen Playhouse) as Maurice Ravel; Tracey A. Leigh (Modern Family; Law & Order; national tour of The Vagina Monologues) as Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein; and Larry Poindexter (S.W.A.T.; Fatherland at Manhattan Theatre Club) as Dr. Bruce Miller. 

Featured musical artists are Rachel Iba (violin), Michelle Elliott Rearick (cello), Aron Kallay (keyboards), Nathaniel Edison (winds), and Randy Gloss (percussion).