NEWS Wide World of Weill
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NEWS Wide World of Weill pril 2019: Victoria Clark (below left) lternative rock band They Might Be ongratulations to Cécile McLorin will play Liza Elliott with MasterVoices Giants has been on the scene for over Salvant on her Grammy Award for Best conductedA by Ted Sperling, in the first thirtyA years, chalking up two Grammys and JazzC Vocal Album! Dreams and Daggers performance of Lady in the Dark since three gold records. In a recent interview, includes a live rendition of “Somehow I the publication of the new critical edition. co-founder John Flansburgh revealed that Never Could Believe” from Street Scene. It’s MasterVoices, formerly Collegiate Chorale, Weill and Brecht are an esteemed influence: Salvant’s second Grammy; she won in 2016 has already done The Firebrand of Florence “That’s important music for people who with the album For One to Love. and Knickerbocker Holiday. Clark appeared are in the deep end of the pool in terms of as the Duchess in the former, originally songwriting. … I’ve probably listened to ongratulations to soprano Wallis Lotte Lenya’s role. ‘Pirate Jenny’ 100 times in the last year. It’s Giunta for winning the palm for best such a smart and crazy song. It’s like a play YoungC Singer at the 2018 International in a song.” Opera Awards! Giunta has proclaimed her “borderline obsession” with The Seven ermany’s leading opera magazine, Deadly Sins and said, “I would be happy Opernwelt, paid homage to Die if I could only sing Weill” (see Fall 2017 DreigroschenoperG in the April 2018 issue). Her performance of the Sins with issue with reviews of no fewer than the Toronto Symphony in June 2017 won five productions—in Basel, Belfast, powerful acclaim. She’ll do it again this Dessau, Halle, and Neustrelitz—not to summer at the Oregon Music Festival in mention a cover photo from the Dessau Portland, 14 July. production. Reviewer Jürgen Otten began his commentary fittingly enough with “A specter is haunting Europe” before going PHOTO: FIND THE LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY LIGHT THE FIND PHOTO: ECCLES ANDREW PHOTO: ust two years after his four-part radio on to discuss the state of capitalism today documentary, “The Cradle that Rocked: and its pungent critique embedded in the RediscoveringJ Marc Blitzstein,” pianist and udra McDonald (above right) returns work of Weill, Brecht, and Hauptmann. to the world of Weill next year with a producer Guy Livingston will honor Lotte performanceA of The Seven Deadly Sins and Lenya on her 120th birthday. His two-part songs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, program, premiering and available for 26–28 April 2019, then kicking off the streaming as of 18 October 2018, offers Philharmonia Orchestra’s “Weimar Ber- a look at Lenya’s life and career, with lin” series with songs of Weill and others extensive use of archival audio and new at London’s Southbank Centre on 9 interviews along with Lenya’s recordings. June. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts both performances. he University of Maryland initiates a year-long Weill festival on 7 October withT The Road of Promise, the oratorio derived from The Eternal Road. Craig Kier will conduct, with soloists to be announced. More concerts and stage productions, including Zaubernacht and Street Scene, are coming in Spring 2019. ina Simone has finally been inducted ramophone magazine in January into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2018 unveiled its list of ten essential asN of 14 April 2018. The Hall of Fame BroadwayG cast recordings, and Street Scene noted that “her dazzling repertoire— made the cut. Reviewer Adrian Edwards Israeli folk tunes, compositions by Bertolt observed, “Weill’s most eclectic score Brecht and Kurt Weill, songs by the Bee ranges from the jitterbug rhythm of ‘Moon- Gees and Leonard Cohen and George Faced, Starry-Eyed’ to Anna Maurrant’s aria Harrison, traditional ballads, spirituals, of Puccinian breadth, ‘Somehow I Never children’s songs—remains unparalleled” Could Believe’.” The complete list:Carmen atch for the publication of the piano and acknowledged her “unapologetic rage Jones, My Fair Lady, Show Boat, Porgy and score of Weill’s first stage work, the and accusatory voice … in the African- Bess, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, West Side ballet-pantomimeW Zaubernacht (1922), due American struggle for equality in the early Story, Street Scene, On Your Toes, and Guys to appear from European American Music 1960s.” and Dolls. this summer. 18 Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 36, Number 1 NEWS Ensemble Modern Jonathan Groff, Meet Bobby Darin Ensemble Modern is putting the finishing touches on its new Bobby Darin got his close-up for five shows at the 92nd Street Y all-Weill recording, which will feature two premieres and an old in New York, 20–22 January 2018, as part of “Lyrics & Lyricists.” favorite: Chansons des quais (newly adapted from the score of Theodore S. Chapin, who recently took over as producer of the Weill’s 1934 show Marie Galante); Mahagonny Songspiel, the popular, long-running series, also wrote the script. The evening first Weill-Brecht collaboration, in the critical edition prepared was directed by Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge) while Andy by Giselher Schubert; and Kleine Dreigroschenmusik. All works Einhorn oversaw the music. One of Darin’s biggest hits, “Mack conducted by HK Gruber. Watch for release later this year on the the Knife,” was featured prominently, and the show offered a orchestra’s own label, Ensemble Modern Media. thorough retrospective of Darin’s career, tragically curtailed by a heart ailment in 1973. Jonathan Groff (Hamilton), lauded by Kleine Zaubernachtmusik World Premiere the New York Post as the “next Hugh Jackman,” played Darin, with a supporting cast comprising David Pittu (The Front Page), A new suite conceived and edited by John Baxindine from George Salazar (Here Lies Love), Elena Shaddow (The Visit), and the children’s pantomime Zaubernacht will have its first Stephanie Styles (Roman Holiday). Fans of LoveMusik (2007) performance 21 October in Hannover by the Arte Ensemble, will remember Pittu’s saucy portrayal of Bertolt Brecht. Chapin’s which recorded Zaubernacht in its entirety in 2012 (CPO 777 maiden voyage with “Lyrics & Lyricists” was an unqualified hit, 767-2). The 21-minute suite is scored for the same forces as the attracting plenty of favorable press. original pantomime and consists of eight movements. Quodlibet, Weill’s own arrangement for symphony orchestra of music from Nanette Fabray Nanette Fabray Zaubernacht, also remains available. (1920–2018) as Susan Cooper Tracking Soundtracks Nanette Fabray (1920– 2018) joined a very select Weill’s music has been turning up on screens all over the world club in 1948: women recently. The biggest news comes from Germany, where the new who played protagonists television series “Babylon Berlin” (see p. 10–11) incorporates Die in Weill’s Broadway Dreigroschenoper into both the soundtrack and the plot. Some musicals. The other two other examples: members were Gertrude Lawrence and Mary • Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film Phantom Thread, starring Martin. Fabray was the Daniel Day-Lewis, features “My Ship” prominently in the only one of the trio who soundtrack, performed by pianist Oscar Peterson with won a Tony Award for orchestral arrangement by Nelson Riddle. her work (the other two • Brahman Naman, a film set in India (Netflix), incorporates finished their runs before “Alabama-Song” performed by Miti and Neel Adhikari. 1947, when the first Tonys • Sasha Velour, winner of season 9 of RuPaul’s “Drag Race,” were given); she took PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE WEILL-LENYA RESEARCH CENTER RESEARCH WEILL-LENYA THE OF COURTESY PHOTO: has opened a series of short films titled “One Dollar home Best Actress in a Drags” with a music video version of “Pirate Jenny” Musical in 1949 for her portrayal of Susan Cooper in Love Life (http://sashavelour.com/onedollardrags). (book by Alan Jay Lerner). As Variety put it, “Miss Fabray has truly attained stellar stature, snowballing her performance into • In the espionage thriller Wormwood (Netflix), a nightclub an atomic finale [in her eleven o’clock number, ‘Mr. Right’].” singer sings “Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed” from Street Scene. Fabray herself described “Mr. Right” as Susan’s “declaration of • The Canadian filmIce Blue, another thriller, makes use of independence.” “Mack the Knife” in its soundtrack. Although she started out in films, Fabray’s early training in- • The German family drama “Ku’damm 59” (ZDF), establishes cluded a stint as a pupil of Max Reinhardt in Los Angeles, and its era by underscoring a scene with Bobby Darin’s recording her first Broadway musical wasLet’s Face It with Danny Kaye. of “Mack the Knife.” She went on to a successful string of roles throughout the for- ties, culminating in Love Life. She made her mark on television, Also in Germany: Brechts Dreigroschenfilm will open 6 September too, starring alongside Sid Caesar in the mid-1950s—taking three 2018 in Berlin, 12 September in Stuttgart, and 13 September all Emmys in the process—and going on to an extensive career on over the country. Written and directed by Joachim Lang, the film the small screen. stars Robert Stadlober as Weill, Lars Eidinger as Brecht, and Peri In a 1991 interview with the Foundation, Fabray delivered Baumeister as Elisabeth Hauptmann. The film reimagines G.W. her verdict on Love Life: “I think if we’d have had an album, and if Pabst’s version of Die Dreigroschenoper as it would have turned we’d had a little more help, it would have been a turning point in out had Brecht been permitted to exert full control over the American musicals.” screenplay. (His proposed screenplay was not used because it We bid farewell to this great actress and singer and extend was submitted to the producers after a contractual deadline, as our condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.