The Stendhal Syndrome

Show Info

by Terrence McNally
starring Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas
with Michael Countryman, Jennifer Mudge, and Yul Vázquez (for the extension, Maria Tucci replaced Isabella Rossellini)

THE STENDHAL SYNDROME combines two plays: FULL FRONTAL NUDITY— about three American tourists who are urged by an Italian guide to bask in the beauty of Michelangelo's "David" — and PRELUDE & LIEBESTOD— which finds a celebrated conductor watching his life unravel right before his eyes as he leads the opening and ending pieces of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde."

Both works — which explore characters' inner thoughts — are threaded together with the common theme of "how art can affect us emotionally, psychological, erotically," playwright McNally told Playbill On-Line. The title refers to said intoxication.