SFist Jay covered the theatrical aspects of the Berkeley Rep's The Composer is Dead. But since it originated as a classical music edutainment piece from the SF Symphony, we got to see it too.

The Composer is Dead has been a narrated orchestra piece, a mix of Peter and the Wolf for the narrator & orchestra structure, and of Britten's Young Persons's Guide to the Orchestra for showing off the ability of the different instruments. Then a recording, and a book. And now, a theater play which recently opened at the Berkeley Rep. What next, tshirts? a line of toys? Hollywood?

Its creators, Daniel Handler (who also goes by Lemony Snicket so he can get twice the credits) for the texts and Nathaniel Stookey for the music, hit it out of the ball park. It's a combination of witty dialogues (the composer --being dead-- can't compose, he can only decompose, ha) and inventive-yet-accessible music. And it's built upon impeccable logic: you can't have performances without musicians butchering composers here and there.