Broadway Monday

33 Variations A mother coming to terms with her daughter. A composer coming to terms with his genius. And, even though they're separated by 200 years, these two people share an obsession that might, even just for a moment, make time stand still.

In the early 1800s, a music publisher named Anton Diabelli wrote a waltz and invited the best composers in Vienna to compose one variation on it for publication in a single, handsome volume. According to legend, everyone accepted the proposal except Beethoven, who initially considered Diabelli's composition trite and insignificant. But he eventually became obsessed with it and wrote 33 variations, taking the better part of three years to do it.

Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda returns to the Broadway stage after 42 years to head a cast of eight in the new play written and directed by Moises Kaufman, author of The Laramie Project and director of I Am My Own Wife. Drama, memory and music combine to transport you from present-day New York to 19th-century Austria, in this extraordinary new American play about passion, parenthood and the moments of beauty that can transform a life. Fonda plays a musicologist racing against time to solve the mystery of Beethoven's obsession while simultaneously facing her own obsession, daughter, life, and immanent death. Colin Hanks and Samantha Mathis also star in the play as Mike and Clara respectively.

33 Variations will enjoy a limited run from March 9th to May 24th at the Eugene O'Neil Theatre in New York City.