The Geffen Playhouse will begin its second season Oct. 8, with the Los Angeles premiere of Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans (Child Child), featuring the music of the great romantic composer, Robert Schumann.

A 1996 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Old Wicked Songs is the story of an arrogant piano prodigy from America who travels to Vienna to study with a distinguished voice teacher. The two men become close friends, but not without first enduring a fierce power struggle between teacher and student.

Directly from its successful Off-Broadway run at the Promenade Theatre, Songs will feature much of its original New York cast, including Justin Kirk (Love! Valour! Compassion!, Any Given Day) and Hal Robinson (Grand Hotel, Nick and Nora). Seth Barrish, Co- Artistic Director of New York's The Barrow Group which staged the New York premiere of Songs, will direct the Los Angeles production.

Old Wicked Songs began previews Sept. 30 and will run Oct. 8 through Nov. 2. For tickets or more information, call (310) 208-5454, or refer to the Geffen Playhouse regional listing on Playbill On-Line.

--By Jackie Mastropolo