Lady in the Dark New York Mastervoices 25–27 April 2019
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REVIEWS Performances Lady in the Dark New York MasterVoices 25–27 April 2019 Audiences and critics lauded the vast array of artists whose collective talents brought Lady in the Dark back to the New York stage for three extraordinary perfor- mances. With the luminous Victoria Clark as Liza, Ted Sperling directed and conducted a production that included Doug Varone’s dancers, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the MasterVoices choir, a cast of distin- guished musical theater performers, and contributions from three visiting costume designers. With imagina- tive staging alongside exceptional musical values, this event was essentially an economically produced yet Liza (Victoria Clark) at the full realization of the play. end of "Saga of Jenny" The production solved the problem that has TERMINE RICHARD PHOTO: made Lady so intimidating: the profound spectacular, Liza’s childhood traumas are explored—has been made more col- technological, and budgetary demands of the dream sequences. laborative. Liza no longer appears as a puzzle to be “solved” by While much was made of the spectacle of the original production Dr. Brooks; instead, they are on a shared journey of understand- in 1941—with its elaborate props, visual sumptuousness, and the ing. The change in their dynamic was complemented by casting mechanical wizardry of its turntables—one of the most revelatory Dr. Brooks as a woman, thereby avoiding the sense that only a aspects of this production arose from its use of dance: Doug male psychoanalyst could solve the woman’s problem. And cru- Varone’s remarkably theatrical choreography showed definitively cially, the answer to this woman’s problem did not involve finding that dance can bring Liza’s dreams to life, without sacrificing any the right man. The adapted script eliminates the suggestion that of the power of her imagination. Varone’s talented dancers did Liza would end up deferring to Charley, and it also does away more than merely illustrate the songs; instead, the movement with Liza’s speech in which she characterizes Randy and Kendall enhanced the dreams powerfully by endowing them with an as dependent children who need her as a mother. Instead, the otherworldly dimension. Those considering a production of conclusion finds Liza and Charley collaborating on the magazine, Lady in the Dark should be heartened by this experiment, with only a hint of potential romance. though when it comes to filling a stage, it doesn’t hurt to have Victoria Clark was quite simply perfect as Liza, giving the a world-class dance company backed by a 120-voice choir! And character's anxiety full voice while resisting the text’s occasional on the subject of visual riches, one cannot overlook the efforts of suggestion of hysteria. Clark’s urbane soprano was lustrous, costume designer Tracy Christensen, who coordinated the guest especially in “The Saga of Jenny.” Montego Glover was a likeable designers’ work. Of particular note was Zac Posen’s magnificent Maggie, less acerbic than usual—perhaps as a result of Maggie’s blue gown for Clark in the “Glamour Dream,” which fittingly wry comebacks having been mostly excised from the script. drew all eyes to Liza. Ashley Park scored laughs as a slightly ditzy Miss Foster, as did For longtime enthusiasts of Lady in the Dark, one of the most David Pittu, playing the foppish Russell in high camp style— fascinating elements of this production was Moss Hart’s book, as his “Tschaikowsky” was a highlight. Ben Davis soared on “This adapted by Hart’s son, Christopher, and Kim H. Kowalke. This is New,” and Christopher Innvar brought virile energy to his version tightened the script, revealing that Lady could be pre- portrayal of Charley, the office cad. Ron Raines, one of the great sented coherently in much shorter form. Besides eliminating male singers of the Broadway stage, was an effective Kendall, superfluous dialogue, the adaptation dispensed with most of the though one couldn't help wishing he had more to sing. And action taking place in the Allure magazine office. These conden- Amy Irving, a warm, engaging Dr. Brooks, opens the show with sations abbreviated Maggie’s part considerably, and Alison’s even the famous line, “I am listening.” The Orchestra of St. Luke’s more, but they brought out nicely the essential relationship be- sounded especially rich under Sperling’s baton, and the force of tween Liza and Charley. The denouement scene in which Liza the MasterVoices choir made Liza’s dream sequences particularly dispatches her suitors Kendall and Randy set the stage more ef- potent, especially when the chorus is asked to speak back to Liza. ficiently for her and Charley’s reconciliation. A three-performance run was all too brief for such an im- The adaptation also served to empower Liza, tempering peccably executed affair, leaving one to hope that this exceptional some of the domesticating impulses of the published script. Less cast will be immortalized in a recording. was made, for example, of Liza’s severe, austere appearance. Fur- ther, not only does Liza approach her analyst, Dr. Brooks, more Bradley Rogers directly, but the unraveling of her problem—the dialogue in which Duke University 12 Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 37, Number 1 REVIEWS Performances to allow the all-important wind and brass solos to cut through the Symphony No. 2 overall texture. The central Largo poses quite a challenge. Adopting a London Symphony Orchestra purposeful flowing tempo tends to undermine the grim, tragic elements so inherent to the music. On the other hand, if the Lahav Shani, conductor conductor views the movement as a 1930s reincarnation of a Mahlerian funeral march, it can easily sound unwieldy and aimless. 28 February 2019 Shani, however, managed to effect an admirable compromise. His tempo was weighty and slow, but never ponderous, and There is no obvious reason Weill’s Second Symphony is such a the essential trombone solo was performed with exactly the rarity in London’s concert halls. A quick glance at the BBC Proms right balance between gravitas and melancholy by Blair Sinclair. archive reveals the astonishing information that the one and only Once again, the key to Shani’s success rested on the astonishing time the work was featured was way back in 1968. Moreover, variety of color he extracted from the orchestra and in his no major London orchestra seems to have programmed careful negotiating of the ebb and flow of the musical argument, the Symphony in recent years, apart from the BBC Concert sometimes meltingly lovely, as in the agonizingly expressive, Orchestra in 2013. Perhaps the unaccountable neglect of this almost Schubertian, turn to the major key in the strings, but also work can be attributed to the totally misguided notion that Weill’s emotionally overwhelming at the big climaxes, especially the contribution to abstract orchestral genres pales when compared shattering solo timpani strokes near the movement’s close. to his achievement as a music theater composer. Yet I can think The tricky semiquaver passagework opening the Finale of a more plausible argument: although the Symphony has been caught the LSO off guard with a few moments of slightly impre- well-represented in commercial recordings, thus far it has lacked cise ensemble. But this proved to be a temporary lapse, and the a charismatic interpreter sufficiently committed to the music to winds and brass led a particularly jaunty and rhythmically taut ensure that it gets a fair hearing in the concert hall. rendition of the middle section. Shani steered the increasingly That situation is surely about to change with the arrival of agitated stringendo in the final bars to a breathtaking and breath- young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani. His impressive debut with the less conclusion. London Symphony Orchestra, in front of a large and enthusiastic It was fascinating to hear the Weill alongside the audience at the Barbican Hall, placed Weill’s Symphony alongside Rachmaninov, particularly since both works were composed at two twentieth-century classics: Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a roughly the same time. Despite the fact that the two composers’ theme of Paganini, with Simon Trpčeski as a mercurial soloist, musical idioms seem worlds apart, both works are imbued with a and the 1947 version of Stravinsky’s Petrushka. similar degree of unease and grotesquerie, features that resonate The concert took place only hours after the announcement strongly with the social and political turbulence facing Europe in of the death of the orchestra’s former principal conductor, André the early 1930s. Previn. Given Previn’s strong commitment to twentieth-century orchestral repertoire, it seemed entirely appropriate that this Erik Levi program should be dedicated to his memory. Although the con- London ductor apparently never featured Weill’s music in a symphony concert, as a jazz pianist he was a strong advocate, releasing a pi- oneering LP in 1961 devoted entirely to improvisations on some of Weill’s most famous songs from the Weimar Republic. A fur- Lahav Shani on Symphony No. 2 ther intriguing connection between Previn and Weill: both artists were forced to leave Germany for the U.S. after the Nazi takeover. It’s one of my favorite pieces to conduct with orchestras This tangible link between Weill and Previn undoubtedly brought across the world; I’ve also recorded it with the Rotterdam an extra degree of poignancy to the Second Symphony, composed Philharmonic. around the time of Weill’s exile and undoubtedly colored by the particularly fraught and uncertain circumstances facing the com- When we think about Kurt Weill the first thing that poser when it was written. comes to mind is theater music and the songs. Of course From the very first bars, Shani’s strong commitment to the you’ll find the same style but … it’s fully symphonic— work was evident.