Believe it or not, "Music for Newspaper and Radios" is exactly what the title proclaims it to be.
It's a concept that makes the performance as fresh as the morning newspaper. Indeed, it starts out with an ensemble of actors reading from, well, the morning newspaper, all at the same time, and in motion, not following a narrative specific thematic line.
Then a string quartet starts to play, if you can call it that. Yes, you should call it exactly that: Playing. Their scoreis projected onto a screen for you to follow along if you dare, and rather than a conventional staff, it seems to be a series of squiggles and dots on a ribbon of paper and pasted to the front page of the New York Times. They don't play notes so much as they evoke a variety of sounds, some pleasant, some not so pleasant, as they slap their instruments with the bows, pluck the strings where they're not supposed to be plucked and play seemingly random scratches and tones. While there's an occasional snatch of melody, they do everything with their instruments except drop them on the floor or bonk each other over the head with them, though it sometimes sounds like it. Every once in a while, one of the musicians will say a word that is circled in the projected Times.
The radio part of it, primarily, is a section of the piece where a half-dozen or more performers (it's hard to tell because they're not only on stage, but scattered among the audience) play with various kinds of radios, randomly going from station to station, sometimes landing on a bit of a sports talk show or classic rock. But mostly it's static, white noise and whistles with snatches of recognizable human sounds.
The nature of this beast, if you haven't figured it out by now, is cacophony, the constant noise of our popular culture. So much noise that meaning or enlightenment is always and only fleeting.
"Music for Newspapers and Radios" is a creation of Paul Schuette and musicians from the College-Conservatory of Music.
Bottom line: Not recommended for those prone to anxiousness or those who need a clear narrative thread. Somewhat recommended for those with a taste for the avant garde.
I quite enjoyed it, but my companion, not so much.
"Tedious," she said.
Remaining performances 9:15 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m. Wednesday; 9 p.m. June 9.
For more information, visit www.cincyfringe.com.
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