Peabody Chamber Opera presents
The Threepenny Opera
by Kurt Weill
text by Bertolt Brecht
English translation by Michael Feingold
Chamber Opera Orchestra
JoAnn Kulesza and Chi-Chung Ho, conductors
Roger Brunyate, stage director
March 26, 27, 28*, 31; April 2, 4*, 2004
Evenings at 8:00 PM; *Sunday matinee at 3:00 PM.
Theatre Project, 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore
Admission $24 / Seniors $12 / Students with ID $10
Tickets available from Theatre Project online, or call 410/752–8558
and
Brel and Weill on Love and War
A cabaret of songs by Jacques Brel and Kurt Weill
April 1, 3, 4, 2004, at 8:00 PM.
Theatre Project, 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore
Admission $16 / Seniors $8 / Students with ID $5
Tickets available from Theatre Project online, or call 410/752–8558
| Season calendar | Threepenny photos | Brel/Weill photos |
The Maker of Mack the Knife. Director Roger Brunyate writes about Bertolt Brecht, the author of The Threepenny Opera, and his relationship with the composer Kurt Weill. The link also includes a short excerpt of Brecht himself singing the show’s opening number, the Moritat von Mackie Messer, or “Ballad of Mack the Knife.”
After the success of their production of the Brecht-Weill Mahagonny Songspiel last year, the Peabody Chamber Opera returns to Theatre Project with a full-length work by the same pair. The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) launched Weill to immediate success, being performed over 350 times in the next two years; a New York revival in the 1950s ran for a record 2611 consecutive perfomances! Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, this saga of “Mack the Knife” and his entourage of thieves and whores has never lost its theatrical punch.
|
| The Jealousy Duet The Threepenny Opera |
| Lucy (Darlene Enke) and Polly (Jessica Hanel) fight over Macheath (Robert Maril) |
During the second week of their residency, artists from Peabody will also present a cabaret entitled Brel and Weill on Love and War. Imagining the theatre to be a Berlin night-club in the twenties, or a Paris boîte in the fifties, two singers and a pianist will present songs and duets which are no less haunting for being less familiar, and surprisingly relevant to the political climate of our own time.
PRINCIPAL SINGERS
** Cast performing on March 26, 28, and April 2
* Cast performing on March 27, 31, and April 4
Threepenny Opera |
|
| Polly | Lesley Craigie** Jessica Hanel* |
| Jenny | Elizabeth Healy** Melanie Zayas* |
| Lucy | Darlene Enke* Gina Vanacoro** |
| Mrs Peachum | Ilah Raleigh* Susan Sevier** |
| Macheath | Robert Maril* Daniel Seigel** |
| Peachum | Ryan Stadler** Nimrod Weisbrod* |
| Tiger Brown | Richard Bozic** Benjamin Park* |
| Ballad Singer | Jason Widney* Ryan Ebright** |
Brel and Weill |
|
| Alisa Grundmann | |
| Ryan de Ryke | |
| Jerome Tan, piano | |