In search of a new way to connect with his music and escape an artistic block, an American prodigy goes to Vienna where he is assigned to study with a master professor. Through their study of Schumann’s Dichterleibe, their complicated, often adversarial relationship develops. While the experiences they draw from are profound, their stories exist to serve the music.

Old Wicked Songs was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of the L.A. Drama-Logue Award, and was the second most performed new play in the U.S. in the 1997-98 season.

Old Wicked Songs was the 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of New York Drama League, L.A. Drama Logue Award, included in Otis Guernsey's Best Plays of 1996-97. First presented by the Walnut Street Theatre, then in NYC by Daryl Roth at Playhouse 91, it then moved to the Promenade Theater. In England, Old Wicked Songs started at the Bristol Old Vic, transferring to London's West End at the Gielgud Theater, starring Bob Hoskins. The play has been produced throughout the United States and translated and produced in a dozen countries around the world.

Set for Old Wicked Songs

Jon Marans (playwright) other plays include: A Strange and Separate People (about Orthodox Jews); Jumping For Joy; a musical based on Studs Terkel's "Coming of Age" entitled Legacy of the Dragonslayers; the musical Irrationals; Child Child; and Opportunity Knocks.

In film, Mr. Marans was a story editor/script doctor for Stonebridge (Michael Douglas' production company at Columbia Pictures) and was instrumental in the development of numerous films including Black Rain about the Yakuza. In TV, Mr. Marans was a staff writer/lyricist for the 1991 "New Carol Burnett Show" on CBS and wrote in 2003-2004 for Cookin' in Brooklyn, a "comedy-reality" show on the Discovery Channel. Mr. Marans is a graduate of Duke University in mathematics and music.