RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. André Tchaikowsky wasn't joking when he said he wanted to have his skull play the part of Yorick in "Hamlet." When the acclaimed pianist died in 1982, he bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company. And there it remained in a tissue-lined box until now. For four months, it's been onstage. Then word got out, and the company decided this real skull was upstaging the actors. Alas, poor Yorick will no longer be played by Tchaikowsky. It's Morning Edition. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.