Brian Cox tears into the stage in the United States premiere of The Score at Sidney Harman Hall.
The Score Pits Bach Against King Frederick II
Written by Oliver Cotton and directed by Trevor Nunn, the production imagines the tense 1747 meeting between composer Johann Sebastian Bach and King Frederick II of Prussia, and it lands with real force in a city as attuned to power and politics as Washington.
Cox brings fire to Bach, raw, scrappy, blunt, and loud, with the kind of honesty that comes from a man who no longer needs permission. He plays Bach as deeply religious and fiercely self-possessed, squaring off against a ruler who reveres his genius while testing it for sport. Cox spends much of the play at full volume, but the force of the performance comes less from the shouting than from the conviction underneath it.
Stephen Hagan is commanding as Frederick, giving the king a restless ambition and menace that makes him the production’s most forceful presence without tipping into caricature. Nicole Ansari-Cox, as Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena, brings a steady strength to her scenes, and Juliet Garricks‘ turn as the maidservant Emilia adds an unexpectedly rich layer to the household dynamic.
A Turntable Stage Underscores the Play’s Political Stakes
Robert Jones‘ set design makes striking use of a turntable stage, rotating the action between the composer’s world and the king’s court in a way that keeps the two men’s opposing philosophies in constant, visible tension.
The play’s echo of today’s political climate sits close to the surface, close enough that it may feel a little heavy handed for a Washington audience that lives inside this city’s own polarized moment every day. Theatergoers who prefer some distance between the stage and the headlines outside it will not get that from The Score, and the audience I sat with met the play’s sharper, on the nose lines with knowing nods, the kind that say “that sounds familiar,” rather than nods that came from understanding the historical speaking truth to power moment between Bach and the King.
The Score runs through October 18, 2026, at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, DC 20004. Ticket pricing varies by performance date and seating zone, with full pricing and availability listed through the Shakespeare Theatre Company box office.
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