Review of Catastrophic Theatre's "The Danube"

 

"Best of all is Miriam Daly's tremendously effective score. This is just the sound Fornés's overheated apocalypse needs. There's an opening trace of British dance band Ray Noble and his peerless vocalist Al Bowlly to set the antique tone, then we're off with, naturally, Strauss's “Blue Danube.” But each time we hear that eternal waltz as it intros the next scene, the famous tune is slightly modified. Like the characters, it becomes more disjointed, atonal, jarringly diffuse. By the end it's pulled out of whack entirely. Daly weaves a dream score, holding an aural mirror up to Fornés."