Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17.
First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch.
'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'
Filled with colorful criminals, biting social satire and a brilliant score, The Threepenny Opera opens International City Theatre's 2009 Season at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Jules Aaron directs Michael Feingold's translation of the trailblazing musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that became one of the most influential plays of the 20th Century. Darryl Archibald is musical director and Kay Cole choreographs the five-week run February 20 through March 22; low-priced previews begin February 17.
First performed in 1928, Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera was a revolutionary musical theater masterpiece that mocked the bourgeois political movement of pre-Hitler Germany. Brecht's brittle, sardonic tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes, adapted from the 1728 play The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, was a fierce social and political critique, and Weill's innovative score that fused American jazz with German cabaret captured the ironic tone of the lyrics. Part acid social criticism, part bittersweet romance, the now eighty-year old saga of 'Mack the Knife' and his entourage of criminals and whores has never lost its theatrical punch.
'It's a satire on capitalism and corruption told from the viewpoint of the 'little people',' notes Aaron. 'If there was ever time to revive this show, it's now. Michael [Feingold]'s translation is earthy, gritty and very funny. I think it's going to strike a chord with audiences.'
Back in Pictures celebrates the songs that were originally written for the masterpieces of the Golden Age of Hollywood, featuring music from Casablanca, Easter Parade, A Star Is Born, Pennies From Heaven, Disney, Meet Me In St. Louis, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, The Wizard of Oz and many more. Back in Pictures is showing at the Reprise Room, 245 West 54th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue, New York, from April 7, 2008 through January 5, 2009.
Back in Pictures celebrates the songs that were originally written for the masterpieces of the Golden Age of Hollywood, featuring music from Casablanca, Easter Parade, A Star Is Born, Pennies From Heaven, Disney, Meet Me In St. Louis, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, The Wizard of Oz and many more. Back in Pictures is showing at the Reprise Room, 245 West 54th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue, New York, from April 7, 2008 through January 5, 2009.
This Week: Best Bet: Dreamgirls at Toby's Baltimore! New Discount for Everyman Theatre's Naked! Barbara Cook and Judy Kuhn in DC! New season for FPCT!
Yale Repertory Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director James Bundy and Managing Director Victoria Nolan, presents Frank Wedekind's shocking classic drama Lulu as translated by Carl R. Mueller, adapted for this production by Mark Lamos and Drew Lichtenberg, and directed by Mark Lamos, from March 30 through April 21. (Press night is Thursday, April 5 at 8 p.m.).
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