(Andy Webster’s article appeared in The New York Times, 11/11.)
“Powerhouse,” an electrifying account of the life of the composer Raymond Scott at the New Ohio Theater, kicks off in 1936 with the cast executing a jitterbug while Scott (Erik Lochtefeld) conducts his quintet on radio’s “Your Hit Parade.” From there, the show hurtles forward, sustaining the controlled mad dash of the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons that adapted Scott’s music.
Scott (1908-1994) had eccentric ideas: He believed in telepathy; despite his roots in swing, he discouraged improvisation from his bands; and his lifelong passion for technology led him on a quest to invent the electronium, a machine that could compose and perform music on its own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/theater/powerhouse-a-play-about-the-composer-raymond-scott.html