Three penny opera
Sat, 30 Aug 2008, 10:37 amGordon the Optom2 posts in thread
Three penny opera
Sat, 30 Aug 2008, 10:37 amIt is around the year 2015 in the slums of Soho. Peachum (Keir Wilkins), who trains and equips London vagrants to beg for a cut of their future earnings, has a daughter Polly (Whitney Richards). Polly is about to marry bandit, con woman and womaniser Macheath - Mack the Knife (Nicole DiGregorio LaBianca), but only after she has stolen enough to set them up domestically.
After the wedding, the arrival of Police Chief, Tiger Brown (Stacy Gougoulis), has Macheath’s gang scattering, unaware that the Chief has provided Mack with protection for years. Whilst telling her parents that she is now married, they discover Mack’s link with the Chief. Peachum wants Mack arrested, so the vagrant quickly departs town, leaving Polly to run the beggar business. While fleeing to Highgate, Macheath pops into the local brothel to see her old transvestite love, Jenny (David Kinsman), who has been bribed by Polly’s mother (Kat Shaw) to turn her in. Macheath is arrested.
During the jail’s visiting hours, Chief Brown’s daughter, Lucy (yet another old flame - played by Meagan Taylor), arrives at the same time as Polly and a vicious argument ensues. Lucy helps Mack escape. Mr Peachum is furious and threatens to have all his beggars cause disruption at King William’s Coronation, and so lose Chief Brown his job.
Will Mack be recaptured? What will the future hold for Mack and Polly?
It is always good to see the revival of a rarely produced play. It is not an opera as such, more of a dramatic musical. Weill and Brecht formed some new theories together, to produce this opera for the underprivileged theatregoers – a sort of beggars’ opera with an entry fee of three pence. Originally set in 1837, just before Queen Victoria’s Coronation, this contemporary version has transferred eras very well and managed to retain all of the original’s excitement and absurdity. It is a fabulous story, with a dozen tongue twisting and demanding songs. There was the odd one where a change of key would have helped the singers, but after the opening night nerves the large cast really got into it and the show really took off after the interval.
The director Leah Mercer had a massive, but largely successful, task on her hands, directing Curtin’s first musical in some time. The cast moved well on the stage, and were filled with energy for the full 150 minutes. The excellent lighting design by Duncan Sharp, with imaginative set and costumes by T.J. Darcey and Karen Schlink. Kurt Weill’s ‘strange’ music is directed by Simon Holt.
The play is in three acts, with the first two being 95 minutes before the interval. A 10-minute break would have been welcome at the end of act one. There must have been dozens of cigarettes smoked during the performance, I know a couple who, understandably, left at the interval because of the fumes.
A strong show, with a powerful final act. Some impressive performances from the leads. Special congratulations to David Kinsman whose singing was clear and remarkable. A difficult show to present, but carried off well.
It is around the year 2015 in the slums of Soho. Peachum (Keir Wilkins), who trains and equips London vagrants to beg for a cut of their future earnings, has a daughter Polly (Whitney Richards). Polly is about to marry bandit, con woman and womaniser Macheath - Mack the Knife (Nicole DiGregorio LaBianca), but only after she has stolen enough to set them up domestically.
After the wedding, the arrival of Police Chief, Tiger Brown (Stacy Gougoulis), has Macheath’s gang scattering, unaware that the Chief has provided Mack with protection for years. Whilst telling her parents that she is now married, they discover Mack’s link with the Chief. Peachum wants Mack arrested, so the vagrant quickly departs town, leaving Polly to run the beggar business. While fleeing to Highgate, Macheath pops into the local brothel to see her old transvestite love, Jenny (David Kinsman), who has been bribed by Polly’s mother (Kat Shaw) to turn her in. Macheath is arrested.
During the jail’s visiting hours, Chief Brown’s daughter, Lucy (yet another old flame - played by Meagan Taylor), arrives at the same time as Polly and a vicious argument ensues. Lucy helps Mack escape. Mr Peachum is furious and threatens to have all his beggars cause disruption at King William’s Coronation, and so lose Chief Brown his job.
Will Mack be recaptured? What will the future hold for Mack and Polly?
It is always good to see the revival of a rarely produced play. It is not an opera as such, more of a dramatic musical. Weill and Brecht formed some new theories together, to produce this opera for the underprivileged theatregoers – a sort of beggars’ opera with an entry fee of three pence. Originally set in 1837, just before Queen Victoria’s Coronation, this contemporary version has transferred eras very well and managed to retain all of the original’s excitement and absurdity. It is a fabulous story, with a dozen tongue twisting and demanding songs. There was the odd one where a change of key would have helped the singers, but after the opening night nerves the large cast really got into it and the show really took off after the interval.
The director Leah Mercer had a massive, but largely successful, task on her hands, directing Curtin’s first musical in some time. The cast moved well on the stage, and were filled with energy for the full 150 minutes. The excellent lighting design by Duncan Sharp, with imaginative set and costumes by T.J. Darcey and Karen Schlink. Kurt Weill’s ‘strange’ music is directed by Simon Holt.
The play is in three acts, with the first two being 95 minutes before the interval. A 10-minute break would have been welcome at the end of act one. There must have been dozens of cigarettes smoked during the performance, I know a couple who, understandably, left at the interval because of the fumes.
A strong show, with a powerful final act. Some impressive performances from the leads. Special congratulations to David Kinsman whose singing was clear and remarkable. A difficult show to present, but carried off well.
3 Penny Opera