The brilliance of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke knows no bounds. Yorke will be making his debut as a Broadway composer when the Roundabout Theater Company revives Harold Pinter’s 1971 play, Old Times, this October at New York’s American Airlines Theater.
Teaming up with director and actor Douglas Hodge, best known for his 2010 Tony Award for his lead in La Cage aux Folles, Yorke will be scoring the intro/outro as well as the transitions of the production. Says Yorke in a statement, “It’s been a pleasure working with Doug on my first stage production. I’ve enjoyed exploring through music the script’s themes of love and memory as well as Pinter’s rhythms, twists and turns.”
The two would communicate through email, Hodge sending Yorke various themes and imagery for the Radiohead frontman to tinker with, and the finished product is something Hodge is very proud of: “The music Thom has written for Old Times gives an immediacy and a ‘now-ness’ to the show…The play itself is about memory and love – Thom’s music works backwards and forwards and plays with time and repetition in the same way Pinter does. In true Thom Yorke style, the music is epic, heartbreaking, irresistible and complex. I’m hopeful this collaboration will result in a new kind of theatergoer coming to our show.”
Previews for Old Times begin September 17th, while the premiere is slated for October 6th, running all the way till November 29th.
Meanwhile, Yorke and the Radiohead crew are still hard at work at a new studio album, which still has no title or release date. Jonny Greenwood shared the most recent update, which you can check out here.