Theater preview: Composer brings free-flowing show to New Phoenix
Trips overseas influence composer’s free-flowing shows
Buffalo musician and composer Paul Kozlowski is a bit of a wanderer. His travels have taken him to Cuba, across the United States and throughout Europe, where he traveled from Paris to southern Italy with a group of gypsies. After several months “living on Volcanos, on farms and doing some very pagan, ritualistic- type music,” Kozlowski eventually landed in Krakow, Poland.
There, the now 29-year-old Kozlowski became infatuated with a type of Russian accordion known as the bayan. When he ran across a group of street musicians playing the instruments, Kozlowski was instantly and deeply moved.
“These guys were the most profound musicians I’d ever seen in my life, and they were just normal guys, on the street corners, working for zloti, which is not very much,” Kozlowski said. “And I was just like ‘Wow, these guys are just doing it because of their love for music. They’re not making too much money, and they’re not going to get noticed.’ ”
The same, with some important variations, has been true for Kozlowski. He has been composing music, mostly for under-the-radar local theatrical productions since 2001, in between trips to far-flung locales. His work has been prominently featured in plays produced by Torn Space Theater and the New Phoenix Theatre, where he will present his latest project, a multimedia theater and musical performance anchored by his newly formed quartet, Casperous Vine. Kozlowski will play the bayan and guitar and will be joined by cellist Kathleen Ashwill and violinists Natalie Bennett and David Adamczyk.
The show will incorporate performances from the likes of puppeteer Michele Costa, mixed-media artist Brian A. Kavanaugh, Kyla Kegler, Peter McCarthy and Eliza Higgins. Kozlowski said both the music and speechless performances will take on a somewhat improvised nature, with performers subtly reacting to the band and vice versa.
Kozlowski’s is a avant garde approach to music for theatrical productions, which are normally limited to prerecorded sound designs that play a supporting role rather than take center stage. His recorded music for the New Phoenix production of “The Pillowman” and his live performance for the same theater’s production of “Gilgamesh” last year showed a definite Eastern European influence full of yearning, almost tragic overtones.
“It’s unpretentious, and it’s completely new,” said Kozlowski,
who has been composing for years, but just recently taught himself how to put those compositions down on paper. “Plus, when you’ve got violin, accordion, cello and violin playing at the same time, it’s more fierce than a train.”
As for his constant desire to travel, it has clearly embedded itself into the sound of Casperous Vine. And Kozlowski said it’s not going away any time soon.
“I’m always going to be leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back,” he said. “Buffalo’s like a cigarette. You know it’s bad for you, but you keep smoking ’em. You quit, but you know you’re going to start again.”•
PREVIEW
WHAT: “Casperous Vine”
WHEN: Thursday (preview) through Aug. 16
WHERE: New Phoenix Theatre, 95 Johnson Park
TICKETS: Pay-what-you-can for preview; $15 to $20 for next Friday and Aug. 16
INFO: 853-1334 or www.newphoenixtheatre.com
