David Rasche played Waystar Royco’s calculating CFO across the full run of HBO’s Succession (2018–2023), but on July 25 at the Mahaiwe’s Indigo Room, he’s doing something the Roy family boardrooms never called for: original songs in bossa nova, jazz waltz, and theatrical styles, all wrapped up in an evening he calls “a delightful evening of painful memories and personal insults.”
About the Show
Half an Evening with David Rasche runs roughly 90 minutes, accompanied throughout by a pianist. The original compositions span bossa nova, jazz waltz, and theatrical numbers, with themes ranging from romantic to comedic to melancholic. Rasche has credited hearing Mike Nichols and Elaine May as the moment that sent him toward comedy; that sensibility is the thread through this set. He describes the songs as “musical, and short enough to accommodate the most limited attention span.” Song titles include “Sand Up in My Crack,” “I Wish I Was Married to Your Wife,” and “Never Going to Work Again.” The Indigo Room is configured with café table seating for the evening, which suits the cabaret register of the performance.
Rasche is a Berkshires resident bringing this show to his home venue. The career behind it is substantial. He was at Chicago’s Second City during a consequential run, eventually filling John Belushi’s slot when Belushi departed and working alongside John Candy and Bill Murray. David Mamet cast him in the original Organic Theater production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago in 1974, and he helped establish Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. His television credits span Sledge Hammer! (1986–1988), Columbo, VEEP, the recent Dying for Sex with Michelle Williams, and a full run as Karl Muller on Succession. Film work includes In the Loop (2009), written by Jesse Armstrong (who later created Succession), About My Father with Robert De Niro, and Burn After Reading. Broadway credits run from 1988 (Speed-the-Plow, replacement) through 2024 (Cult of Love).
Venue & Logistics
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. This show plays in the Indigo Room with café table seating; the performance runs 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Great Barrington is a drive south from the Capital Region; most of the route is scenic, and the Mahaiwe is worth building an evening around.
Tickets
General admission is $47 (plus processing fees). Tickets are on sale now. Buy tickets