Tony Taccone (bridge & tunnel) directs the co-production with his homestage Berkeley Repertory Theatre — where it will debut in November. The work will then play the New Haven, Connecticut venue Feb. 10-March 5, 2006 prior to its New York run at The New Victory Theater, April 28-May 21.

Kushner and Sendak — who teamed for the namesake 2003 children's picture book — reteam on this one-act opera take of Brundibar and the duo's other adaptation Comedy on the Bridge which features a libretti by Kushner adapted from Adolf Hoffmeister and Vaclava Klimenta Klicpery, music by Hans Krasa and Bohuslav Martinu, and production design by Sendak ("Where the Wild Things Are").

Brundibar (slang for bumblebee) follows the story of two children who try singing in town to help their ailing mother. Comedy on the Bridge finds a young couple, a businessman and his wife, and a baffled schoolmaster trapped between two opposing armies on a bridge. "Both shows are a testament to the creative power of human beings," according to Kushner, "even in dark times, to turn ugliness into music." The approximately 95-minute, intermissionless production will feature a multigenerational cast including 30 local school children singing the show’s moral: "Let us be brave, and make bullies behave!"

The addition of Brundibar & Comedy on the Bridge changes the dates for the previously announced Yale Repertory Theatre season presentations of All’s Well That Ends Well and dance of the holy ghosts: a play on memory.