Valhalla

Two interwoven stories: the life of Ludwig of Bavaria (the 1880s Mad King responsible for building a series of storybook castles inspired by Wagnerian operas), and the fictional adventures of James Avery, a wild Texas teenager of the 1940s. These two iconoclasts are tracked from childhood through their deaths. While they embody separate eras, they are ultimately revealed as time-traveling soul mates. The play explores questions of beauty and madness, as both Ludwig and James pursue lives of operatic passion, bringing them in contact with such diverse figures as a high-school quaterback, the prettiest girl in Dainsville, Texas, most of the characters of Lohengrin and princess Sophie, who declares herself “the loneliest humpback in Europe.” Valhalla, by Paul Rudnick, is a comic epic, confronting the price to be paid for wanting, and getting, everything for which you dream.