The Cradle Will Rock

REVIEWS Performances economical choice. Clayton’s version The Cradle Will Rock sounds authentic and really works, despite instances in which his deci- sions seem almost gratuitously dif- New York City Center ferent from Blitzstein’s original. After twenty years, Encores! 10–13 July 2013 has established its own performing tradition in which the orchestra oc- First things first: Congratulations to Encores! at cupies the stage, behind the actors. New York’s City Center for creating a new series The productions are therefore soni- called Encores! Off-Center, which aims to present cally backwards. Everything must semi-staged concert performances of off-Broad- be amplified, and singers can see way musicals. The artistic director for this new the conductor only on a television series is Jeanine Tesori, one of the most compel- monitor. The results are profound ling and visionary composers working in musical on every level. The 1938 cast album theater. She chose to start things off with Marc reveals that Blitzstein (at the piano) Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, a testament to introduced a level of rubato that her all-encompassing view of the new series. would be difficult to achieve with an Blitzstein is best known as the translator of orchestra in the pit and a conductor looking at, responding to, and lead- The Threepenny Opera, and perhaps also as the Raúl Esparza as Larry Foreman composer of two operas: Regina, based on Lillian MARCUS JOAN PHOTO: ing actors onstage. Despite a set-up Hellman’s The Little Foxes, and Cradle. in which such give-and take-was im- But alas, even these two works are only possible, conductor Chris Fenwick occasionally heard. He was part of a did a fine job of keeping everyone circle of legendary American artists together, and his tempos were always including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron well-judged. Copland, John Houseman, and Or- Encores! Off-Center assembled son Welles, very much in the thick of an astounding cast for these semi- things in those heady days of Ameri- staged performances. Danny Bur- can creativity and political passion. He stein as Mr. Mister was perfectly was regarded by his fellow geniuses as balanced by Raúl Esparza, whose their equal and even as a leader of the entrance was an electric shock, per- movement to find an American voice fectly calibrated as a modern day in music theater and link it with po- Judy Kuhn as Editor Daily deus ex machina. In truth, all the PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS JOAN PHOTO: litical action, something he felt was artists excelled. Director Sam Gold required of an artist, much in the line created a simple stage concept—the of Giuseppe Verdi or Kurt Weill. When Weill died in 1950, Blitz- bad guys sat audience left and the good guys were on the right. stein was the only American composer to attend the interment. However, the flashback narrative puzzled my guests, both savvy With songs and ensembles that stick in your ear for days theatergoers. In addition, Gold decided to be colorblind, gender- on end and numbers that recall Die Dreigroschenoper, Blitzstein blind, and age-blind. This idea might have looked good on paper, reaches deeply into the conscience of his audience. The Cradle but it confused the storytelling and compromised the power of Will Rock comes across as a wonderfully entertaining parable of the musical setting. If one did not know the score, perhaps this power and corruption. It is a warning, more than anything else, was just fun—the great Judy Kuhn with a cigar and a boater pre- as true today as it was in the 1930s. In 1938, he wrote, “Unions, tending to be a man, for example—but it felt capricious. Casting unionism as a subject, are used as a symbol . of a solution of the the dazzling 10-year-old Aidan Gemme as the cop was the most plight of the middle class. I mean the intellectuals, professional, problematic director’s decision of all. Gold threw a lot of ideas at small shopkeepers, “little businessmen” in America today. What this piece, which had to be readied in very few days, and not all of can they do . with big business, which is ready to engulf them, the seemingly random choices worked for the production. buy and sell them out exactly as it does labor, exploit and discard All was redeemed, however, by the brilliant ending. As the them at will?” company reprised the title song, members of the stagehands’ City Center has a long history with Regina and Cradle. The union cleared the props and the music stands from the stage. The now-defunct New York City Opera presented both works there. very unions Blitzstein hoped would protect the “little business- A concert reading of Cradle that featured the world premiere man” have gained so much power they could just shut down the of the original orchestrations was given there under Leonard show. And so, in the end, Gold and Blitzstein got to have their Bernstein. TheEncores! Off-Center concert version used a new cake and eat it, too—something even Marie Antoinette never scoring by Josh Clayton for smaller orchestra, neither a reduction imagined. nor a totally new orchestration. It was better not to perform the John Mauceri show with an upright piano, which would have been the easy and New York Volume 31, Number 2 Kurt Weill Newsletter 15 REVIEWS Performances we can see only the statue’s legs and posterior. While the sheer The Firebrand of Florence vastness of the artwork symbolizes Cellini’s outsized ego, it also gives the director an opening to make fun of the Künstleroper as- pects of the piece. The scaffolding that rises in front of the statue Staatsoperette Dresden serves as an additional playground upon which the vain and fool- ish Duke (portrayed with great exuberance by Bryan Rothfuss) Premiere: 25 October 2013 makes his entrance. With the Duke’s appearance, the mood light- ens for good, and the staging becomes decid- edly more colorful and screwy. Dressed like Slowly but surely Weill’s American Bryan Rothfuss (center) as the Duke of Florence. works are gaining a foothold in Ger- a pop star—shiny silver pants, necklace, fe- many. Street Scene is poised to establish dora, and fur coat—he rises from the pit and itself in the repertory; Lady in the Dark sweeps up Angela (sung expertly but acted and One Touch of Venus have both seen with too much reserve by Olivia Delauré) in recent stagings. Now the Staatsoper- his long coattails. ette Dresden has taken a stab at Weill’s At times, the director’s vision spins into Broadway operetta about Benvenuto frenzied absurdity, as in “A Rhyme for An- Cellini, The Firebrand of Florence, mark- gela,” where the designer breaks out a disco ing the work’s European stage premiere. ball and female dancers in dirndls form a Adopting the pre-Broadway title (“Much chorus line. There are many such amusing Ado about Love”), Dresden presented details, but they never overshadow the stag- the work as Viel Lärm um Liebe, trans- ing, which maintains consistent suspense lated by Roman Hinze, who has con- until the end, thanks to a concept based on verted a number of musicals for the up-tempo, unceasing action. Even when a set German stage (among them Lady in the change requires that the curtain come down, Dark). He has a knack for rendering Ira little scenes “in one” keep things moving. Gershwin’s lyrics, capturing their some- At one point, four figures in gaudy Renais- times frothy high spirits, as in these lines sance robes are killing time playing musical from “A Rhyme for Angela”: Und hieße chairs. When the curtain goes up again, we sie Maria, / von mir aus auch Luzia, / so see that they are poets hired by the Duke to sagte ich Merci, a- / ber nein! Gershwin’s SCHULTE-BUNERT KAI-UWE PHOTO: help him find a rhyme for Angela. With a bit spoonerisms, however, can’t help losing of forest-fairy business, the tarantella in the most of their wit in translation, but even Act I finale introduces a touch of Midsummer they sometimes come across as funny: Night’s Dream. The dance sequences (choreo- Der Stinkel will. graphed by Christopher Tölle for the Staat- Stage director Holger Hauer has soperette’s ballet) supplement and comment plenty of experience with musicals. He on the action. But the production doesn’t rely seems keenly aware of the work’s po- only on the corps de ballet for movement; the tential problems and successfully avoids two choruses (prepared by Thomas Runge) them. Musically speaking, Firebrand are also choreographed, and the soloists straddles two different styles, showing rarely get a break, either. When the Duchess characteristics of both romantic and (played winningly with man-eating laughter comic operetta and even some traces of by Elke Kottmair) tries to seduce Cellini in Künstleroper. The opening leaves the au- her earthy way (“Sing Me Not a Ballad”), the dience in limbo; the curtain goes up to curtain on her sedan chair opens repeatedly reveal stark metal scaffolding (set design to offer a series of views of their acrobatics. by Christoph Weyers), from which the The entire cast, expertly accompanied gallows is then assembled. The gloomy by the Staatsoperette orchestra under the scene features subdued colors; soloists baton of Andreas Schüller, gave a spirited and choristers wear black, white, and and inspired performance on opening night. red. Only when the villain Maffio (Elmar Special kudos to Miljenko Turk (Cellini), who showed exceptional enthusiasm and sang Andree) makes his entrance, clad in an Miljenko Turk as Cellini and Olivia Delauré as Angela.

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