Removable Parts is a theatrical series of love songs about voluntary amputation.  In an updated version of the lover's plaint, the unrequited lover – whose heart is broken – begins to question the usefulness of his other body parts.   Loosely based on medical journals, psychiatric case studies, and actors' monologue collections, the songs and banter in Removable Parts take a sideways look at amputees, devotees, and wannabes, with a balance of empathy and irreverence.  

Removable Parts is performed by Kathleen Supové (piano) and Corey Dargel (voice and electronics), and directed by Emma Griffin with dances by Yvan Greenberg and lighting design by Raquel Davis.

Praise for Removable Parts:

"Removable Parts pleases on almost every level... with an intelligent grace that is as moving as it is impressive." - New York Times

"Bizarre, complex, and strangely moving, Removable Parts is lyrically brilliant and truly original." - Flavorpill

"...at once uproarious and harrowing..." - New Yorker

Read more great press!
removable parts

 

Recipient of New Dramatists' 2007 Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theater, Corey Dargel  is a composer, lyricist, and singer who has been called "an innovator both challenging and catchy" (Time Out New York) and "an ironic pop icon... dangerously close to commercial viability" ( Village Voice). His gentle assault on the pop idiom creates a tension that pervades his music: Deadpan and detached vocals reveal heartbreaking intimacies, awkward and obtrusive drum patterns struggle against fragile harmonies, vocals and music uneasily opposing each other as songs stumble to their ends. Dargel has performed on bills with Joanna Newsom, Final Fantasy, Grizzly Bear, Anti-Social Music, Young People, and others. In 2006 he was featured on the American Composers Orchestra's season at Carnegie Hall and was selected by The New Yorker's music writer Alex Ross to participate in "Composers on the Edge" as part of The New Yorker Festival.

 

Kathleen Supové, Pianist, is one of America's most acclaimed and versatile contemporary music pianists, known for continually redefining what it means to be a pianist/keyboardist/performance artist in today's world. She regularly presents a series of solo concerts entitled “The Exploding Piano” at The Flea Theater in NYC, in which she has pioneered both repertoire and presentational concepts involving electronics, visuals, theatrics, and cutting edge works for Yamaha Disklavier. She has performed throughout the US, at universities and conservatories, and as a featured guest at many new music festivals, recently including the Ussachevsky Festival In California and the NIME Festival in NYC. Her latest solo CD, INFUSION, is on the Koch label and is available through amazon.com, cdbaby.com, and on iTunes. Visit www.supove.com and myspace.com/supove for upcoming projects and concerts.

HANDS

I remember how my heart would melt
The memory of it often lingers
But I can't remember how it felt
To hold your fingers between my fingers

The doctors try not to look surprised
They pretend to understand
They tell me to close my eyes
They place a baseball and a bow tie in each of my hands

But I can't tell the difference
I miss you too much
I lost all of my senses
With the memory of your touch

I can't tell the difference
I miss you too much

**

FINGERS

I've sworn off running my worn off fingertips
Over anyone else's skin
And when I see you again
I'll demonstrate
Some soul mate you are
You only relate to me
So far

I'll sign off on the dotted lines
Across my fingers
I won't malinger
I'll address the problem directly
While you quite correctly suspect me
Of hiding behind my work as an artist
Well you may be the kindest pianist
But you're definitely not the smartest

I've sworn off running my worn off fingertips
Over anyone else's skin
And when I see you again
I'll demonstrate
Some soul mate you are
You only relate to me
So far

You say I'm just a singer
So my fingers are disposable
I suppose you suppose it's all a masquerade
But I played the piano once upon a time
And I'm disinclined to acquiesce
When you suggest
That a pianist with only a set of stumps
Would lack finesse

What would you know
About finesse
But I digress