Three Houses
(DISCLAIMER! This is a Dave Malloy fansite. His real website is here)
Susan has fled to Latvia. Sadie hides in New Mexico. Beckett longs for Ireland. All three are alone; all three are haunted by their grandparents; all three hear the Big Bad Wolf scratching at the door. Three Houses is a post-pandemic open mic night parable about magic, madness, and the end of the world.
- Signature Theater website
Preview opening: April 30th
Opening night: May 20th
Original closing night: June 9th
Updated closing night: June 16th
Originally, the online program only had the three different houses and Coda in the list of musical numbers. The full list was given to the press ahead of time, and by May 23rd (when I thought to check) the full list was on the digital program.
This production only gave out single sheet condensed programs, with the full thing avaliable through the QR code. A full printed program was avaliable on request, but was printed on plain white printer paper and isn't anything collectable.
On May 20th, along with opening night press, Signature announced that the show had recieved an extension and would now be running until the 16th of June.
On September 3rd, 2024, a Kickstarter was posted to raise funds to produce the album. Rewards for backers included copies of the album, signed postcards from Dave and the cast, and invitations to the recording session. It reached its $33,333 goal on September 4th.
Along with the announcement, Dave sent out an email to his mailing list:
(click to view)
hello mailing list,
has been a very long time! soooooooooo very much has happened since i last unearthed this dusty mailchimp account...i am using their "classic" editor, because the new one has AI and it freaks me out. anyway, hope you and your loved ones are safe and happy.
i'm writing because we are headed into the studio this fall to make an album of my latest show, Three Houses, and we've launched a kickstarter to fund it. we did this five years ago (five years!) to make the Octet album, which was a smashing success... but we couldn't have done it without the generous help of so many fans and supporters. so we hope you'll consider helping us make this album, by pre-ordering and donating here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davemalloy/three-houses-a-concept-album
thank you much much!
dave & all of us at Three Houses
Dystopian-Parable gave a great summary of the show after they saw it. Spoilers if you want to go in blind!!!
Cast:
Lyrics:
First House: Susan
intro (i)
i. birch trees
ii. the library
iii. weed and wine
iv. happy/crazy
v. the manuscript
vi. the berries and the plums
vii. blood
Second House: Sadie
intro (ii)
i. desert
ii. the village
iii. dating
iv. karaoke night
v. too soon
vi. quarters
vii. haze
Third House: Beckett
intro (iii)
i. new life
ii. boxes
iii. stones
iv. love always leaves you in the end
v. the visitor
vi. the summoning
vii. wolf dance
Coda
Photos:
Early reading, posted January 12th by Whitley Theatrical
Press release, Credit: Marc J. Franklin
Lobby Card
Three Houses marks the third chamber musicalcollaboration between composer/playwright Dave Malloy and director Annie Tippe. Ghost Quartet premiered at The Bushwick Starr in 2014 and toured San Francisco, Texas, Boston, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, and beyond. Octet launched Dave Malloy's Premiere Residency at Signature Theater in 2019 and traveled to Berkeley Rep.
Referred to by Dave and Annie as "numerical pieces," Ghost Quartet, Octet, and Three Houses all feature stories of ghosts, fairy tales, technology, love, loss and community. Ultimately, they are tied together by their exploration of comtemporary life through the lenses of myth and fantasy. See more on te video screen to the right.
(Video screen showed promotional clips of Ghost Quartet, Octet, and Three Houses that have been seen elsewhere.)