What I liked
It was weirdly relatable as a stress dream because I grew up playing classical music and the eccentric maestro exists in so many forms in the real world and haunts all of our nightmares, makes impressions on our minds just like Big Maestro himself. I loved Alex Derderian’s Big Maestro, an eccentric figure with unconventional teaching methods—-it felt like she built this character out of all of the most insane parts of our most insane teachers. Derderian has the confidence to let her surreal words just hang in the air, forcing you into imagining bizarre images. There is an element of collective dreaming I felt invited into. I really loved how, somehow, this show had an air of classiness along with its chaos. The classiness existed maybe because of the empty space, the cello and music itself, and in the kind of eccentric authority of Big Maestro in his suit with that outsized strange confidence that only a maestro could have. Peter Levine is wonderful as Cello Boy, experiencing a nightmare in realtime in front of us, and it is lovely to see him give himself over to the music, and really wonderful to hear this kind of music within a clown show. I think Levine and Derderian know how to let one another shine and have a ton of physical trust. I really felt let into a weird dream and I think that’s what I always want clown to be. I loved this and I will be coming back and bringing friends.
What I didn't like
I’m honestly just excited to come back and see how the show marinates and adapts to different audiences!
My overall impression
Like being in The Black Lodge from Twin Peaks if The Black Lodge was a Cello Masterclass. Big Maestro really feels like a David Lynch character. This is clown that breathes in its simplicity and specificity and I was bought in from the first moment. The world building is a success and the premise is so strong as a container for these characters, this story.
