David Adjmi’s Stereophonic zooms in on a music studio in the mid-1970s, where an up-and-coming rock band recording a new album finds itself suddenly on the cusp of superstardom. Will the ensuing pressures spark their breakup — or their breakthrough? Featuring original music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, this intimate, electric play mines the agony and the ecstasy of creation.
Directed by Daniel Aukin, the show occasionally cradles its pregnant pauses or indulges monologues like a pampering mother. We don’t need to hear about every character’s dream or movie hot take, and loading those digressions with more weight than they deserve looks portentous. At these moments, it’s like the show’s so in love with itself that everything it comes up with is de facto brilliant. But most of the time, “Stereophonic” is brilliant, and such lapses are instantly forgivable.
At times, playwright David Adjmi’s plot and dialogue feel truly authentic. The musicians’ conversations and gossip, the starts and stopping, the waiting around, the numerous takes of the same song — everything so characteristic of a recording session — feel real.
| 2023 | Off-Broadway |
Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
| 2025 | US Tour |
US Tour |
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