Seduction And Despair

May 3rd ‘08 [Saturday 8pm] Barnum Hall Theatre, Santa Monica
May 4th ‘08 [Sunday 4 pm] Barnum Hall Theatre, Santa Monica

Actor John Malkovich
Concept/Musical Direction Martin Haselböck
Concept/Libretto Michael Sturminger
Sopranos Celine Ricci and Robin Johannsen
Costumes Birgit Hutter
Video/Lighting Andreas Hutter

Music by Gluck, Handel, Vivaldi, Boccherini, Weber, and Mozart

This concert is sponsored in part by the city of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division and Stonebridge Capital Management.

In an extraordinary collaboration, actor John Malkovich and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra present "Seduction and Despair," an original multi-media concert presentation directed by and starring the celebrated Academy Award-nominee on Saturday, May 3, 8 pm, and Sunday, May 4, 2008, 4 pm, at Barnum Hall Theatre in Santa Monica. With a concept and musical program by Musica Angelica's Music Director Martin Haselböck and concept/libretto by Michael Sturminger, “Seduction and Despair” also features sopranos Celine Ricci and Robin Johannsen, costumes by noted film costumer Birgit Hutter and video and lighting by Andreas Hutter.

Christoph Willibald von Gluck’s Don Juan and works by Boccherini, Vivaldi, Handel, Weber, Haydn and Mozart, performed by Musica Angelica led by Haselböck, serve as the emotional background of the true story, which is based on the life of Jack Unterweger (portrayed by Malkovich). Unterweger was a convicted murderer, acclaimed imprisoned poet, pardoned and celebrated author and journalist, notorious womanizer, and prime example of reintegration, who after his release from prison killed a number of prostitutes in Vienna, Graz, Prague and Los Angeles. He later vanished from Vienna, fled into to the U.S., was arrested in Miami and returned to Austria, and committed suicide after being convicted of homicide in eleven cases.

The 90-minute performance opens as the character of Unterweger (Malkovich) reads from his new novel then drifts into memories, set to melodramatic music of Gluck’s Don Juan. Between monologues, Unterweger engages with the two sopranos who represent a variety of characters. Each scene and aria represent an emotional expression -- Joy, Hatred, Love, Grief, Desire and Admiration -- illustrating Unterweger’s connections to women.