Why don’t classical music and comedy mix more often?
From our UK edition
Sometimes I wonder if we classical music aficionados are masochists. We flock to the gloomiest song cycles by Schubert or Mahler expecting, indeed intending, to blub. We put ourselves through the atmospheric horrors of Soviet Russia by attending gigantic Shostakovich symphonies. And don’t get me started on Wagner. So it was a relief the other night to shed tears of laughter for once — and muscle-wrenching, back-dislocating laughter, it was — all in the name of comedy in music. Rainer Hersch’s one-man show at the bijou Jermyn Street Theatre pays tribute to Victor Borge, the man who proved classical music could be a subject for comedy.