Seth Bisen-Hersh’s ‘warm, witty’ off-Broadway musical opens in London
Love Quirks tells the tale of four young people in love, friendship and everything in between
When New Yorker Seth Bisen-Hersh was 13 years old, he decided to let his mum know how much she meant to him by writing a song called I Love my Mum. When he sang it to her, she was truly thrilled.
This one song has shaped the whole of his life and is the reason why he is coming to London for the staging of his musical Love Quirks at The Other Palace theatre.
“I realised then that I was on to something. I loved writing the songs, and people loved receiving them, so I started composing songs and giving them to people as birthday presents. It helped me emotionally because I could express myself through the music.”
Award-winning musical Love Quirks is about a group of flatmates who explore the bizarre tribulations of love, friendship, and all the blurry lines in-between. What they find is never what they expect, and they must face up to their own love quirks to move forward.
In his teens Seth produced his first piece of musical theatre, Stephen Sondheim’s show Merrily We Roll Along.
While studying at MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a degree in computer science and music, Seth’s professor told him he should take up music professionally.
And Seth has been doing that ever since. He creates 20 new songs a year and has just notched up 900 performances at the world famous Don’t Tell Mama cabaret club in New York.
Family means a great deal to Seth. When his grandmother’s told him about her experiences in the Holocaust, he knew he wanted to honour her story and was inspired to create his latest musical work, a film called Malka.
“My grandmother told me that on the day-long journey to Auschwitz, she looked through the window of the train and saw the most beautiful sunrise. At that moment she knew there was still beauty in the world. I wrote the song Sunrise in 2011 and then decided to create the film Malka named after her and in her honour. It is about the perseverance of the Jewish people, the hope that my grandma had, and how, when she was liberated from Auschwitz, she was determined to thrive, and to live the very best life possible, in an act of defiance towards Hitler.”
Seth conceived and co-wrote the film, and also wrote the lyrics and music. In it he plays himself but sadly his grandmother never saw the finished film.
“But I kept my promise to her,” he says, “to keep her story alive.”
The film has been recognised as the best narrative short film at an Oscar Qualifying Festival, which means it is now eligible to be nominated for an Oscar.
Love Quirks is at The Other Palace until 12 October. theotherpalace.co.uk
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