“Old Wicked Songs” is billed as a play. But it could just as easily be billed as a musical — one that’s as cerebral as it is emotional.

Playwright Jon Marans uses Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe song cycle as a continuing theme for — and explanatory accompaniment to — his story of the relationship that develops between an aged and bitter Viennese music teacher and his only student, an arrogant and uptight American prodigy. Even if you saw the version that played at the Old Globe’s Cassius Carter in 2000, this new production by the North Coast Rep is well worth seeing for the added dimensions Robert Grossman and Tom Zohar bring to the characters, under David Ellenstein’s insightful direction

Zohar (left), Grossman

Photo by Aaron Rumley

Stephen (Zohar), an acclaimed young pianist, feels blocked as an artist and has come to Vienna to study under a master. But he finds that his preferred teacher has assigned him to another mentor, Mashkan, to learn singing and accompaniment as a means to artistic growth. Stephen is unhappy with the change but reluctantly agrees because the master pianist is away for weeks.

The two clash repeatedly, with Mashkan trying to get Stephen to loosen up — Stephen resists taking off his tie because the strangling feeling “lets me know I’m alive” — and Stephen resisting because he doesn’t trust, or have respect for, Mashkan. Stephen, who says he’s Protestant, also gets upset by Mashkan’s anti-Semitic remarks, particularly because it’s 1986 and Kurt Waldheim is running for president of Austria amid accusations that he condoned war crimes and persecution of Jews during his years as a Nazi officer. In the men’s ensuing arguments, however, both reveal they are Jewish.

Hoping to drop Mashkan’s class, Stephen goes to see the maestro in Munich and takes a side trip to Dachau. During that journey, he meets, and eventually makes passionate love with, a woman also seeing the site for the first time. The experience embitters him against Germans and even the German language, yet it confirms for him a tenet Mashkan has been trying to impart: that great art comes from a mixture of joy and sadness.

Stephen also discovers that Mashkan, who was a Nazi prisoner for three years, acts as he does largely because of the thick emotional shell he developed to survive, and that he still suffers from deep emotional wounds. Such revelations help both men deal with their problems, and they look to Schumann’s work for their goal: to bury the “old wicked songs” of the past.

Grossman and Zohar both move easily through the wide acting ranges required by their characters, including enough singing and simulated piano playing to make the music throughout stirring. Being familiar with German or Schumann’s work adds to the enjoyment of the play, but certainly isn’t necessary.

Marty Burnett’s set neatly re-creates a tidy Viennese apartment, featuring the predominant piano and Bonnie Durben’s evocative props, which include the requisite bust of Beethoven. Jemima Dutra’s costuming underscores Mashkan’s adherence to routine and Stephen’s increased relaxation. Chris Luessmann’s sound design properly provides the key piano pieces and combines with Matt Novotny’s lighting for a vivid thunderstorm.

Cast and credits