news & events , Die Kurt Aufstieg Volume 22 Volume 2 Number 2004 Fall (premiere 4 at the Calgary at Weill in Weimar Weill with the Essen The Threepenny (Raoul Grüneis, in Aufstieg Die sieben Todsünden , which includes the , which Aufstieg Kleine Dreigroschenmusik Der Silbersee The on 25 November; and a screen- on 25 November; which has been recorded by BMG, by has been recorded which Die sieben Todsünden —with the Mahagonny Songspiel Mahagonny and film on 26 November. film Der neue Orpheus / The Third Reich and Music The Third Reich . Seventy-seven years . Seventy-seven returns to Nuremberg, in a production pre- that returns to Nuremberg, Dreigroschenoper Mahagonny Songspiel Mahagonny with Rumon Gamba conducting. At the season’s end, At the season’s Gamba conducting. with Rumon , celebrating the Camerata’s fiftieth anniversary with a anniversary fiftieth , celebrating the Camerata’s Der neue Orpheus Royal Palace Royal with George Rothman, conductor, and Hudson Shad as the conductor, with George Rothman, Dreigroschenoper at Vienna’s historic Theater in der Josefstadt (premiere 16 in der Josefstadt Theater historic Vienna’s at at Hamburg’s St. Pauli Theater is televised by the NDR on by 19 is televised Theater St. Pauli Hamburg’s at Weill Happy End Songspiel Happy on 6 May (, conductor). Weigle, (Sebastian on 6 May 2004–2005 Season Overview 2004–2005 Der neue Orpheus , the New York Festival of Festival York , the New Song begins its seasonon 14 October and Weill songs with the Gothenburg Symphony on 14 and 15 April. Also April. on 15 14 and Symphony songs with the Gothenburg Weill and on October (six performances 1 conducted through 10 October; Hal by Aufstieg Released on CD by Capriccio on CD by Released with the Nederlands Kamerkoor. At New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Ann Alice Tully with the At York’s Nederlands New Kamerkoor. at Edmontonat (1–6 March), and In Weill’s hometown of hometown Weill’s In 25 place takes Fest Weill the 2005 Kurt Dessau, Seven Deadly Sins Kleine Dreigroschenmusik 1929 February 2005), February conductor; Philipp Kochheim, director) on 22 October. Last season’s all-star Last season’s conductor; director) on Philipp Kochheim, 22 October. Dreigroschenoper opera outings include Pforzheim’s Weill Other December. Opera (10–19 March). The in Dresden opens Harry Kupfer’s stag- in Dresden opens HarryThe Semperoper Kupfer’s Opera (10–19 March). ing of Weill’s Weill’s mezzo-soprano; Kazaras, Peter (Constance Barber, Hauman, soprano; Kimberly piano). Darmstadt premieres its Blier, tenor; and Steven The cultural season starts off production with a bang with a new of Dreigroschenoper on 3 October later, days Two Danner). Dorothy by and directed France der Stadt Mahagonny und Fall in the Modern on 20). HK Gruber page leads the Ensemble (review miered in July celebrated concert version of to and Rimini (15 and 17 September), in November continuing Turin on tour to With (3, 5, 6, and 7 November). Vienna Essen, and Gütersloh, Hanover, September), closely followed by Opera Omaha’s production Opera of by Omaha’s followed September), closely Opera and Symphony No. 2 (Kirill Karabits, conductor, Nancy Gustafson, soprano) on conductor, 2 (Kirill Karabits, No. and Symphony Intercontemporain 9 October 2004; Ensemble playing Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in a concertOrchestre Philharmonique of de Radio France February through 6 March (schedule ofFebruary on 7a). Cité de la Musique page events hosts a series entitled in Paris and violin concerto, Weill’s ing of Pabst’s G.W. and the cantata and the cantata with the Vienna Symphony and Nancy Gustafson, soprano Symphony (29 and 30 May). Vienna with the is finally available—paired with available—paired is finally (James Die sieben Todsünden A supplement to the Newsletter Weill to the Kurt A supplement Royal Palace Royal

Das Berliner Requiem, Der neue Orpheus cast includes Janice Watson, Stephen Richardson, Ashley Holland, and Stephen Richardson, Watson, cast includes Janice Royal Palace Royal Die sieben Todsünden and

soloists are Kathryn Harries and Michael Davis. Harriessoloists are Kathryn and Michael Davis. . The latter recording of recording The latter . Ira Gershwin, and Edwin Weill, the collaboration between Orpheus Royal Palace Royal

One Touch of Venus topical Royal Palace ’s poster for poster North’s Opera Venus Lands In Leeds Lands In Venus Conductor Joel Cohen and the BostonConductor present Camerata Joel on 4 December, when Opera NorthOpera when pre- on 4 December, mieres Holmes, conductor; Tim Albery, director). Albery, Holmes, conductor; Tim as Venus, Coker Karen Featuring and Loren Li-Paz, Ron Christianne Tisdale, will also tour to Geeting, the production Newcastle, Quays, Sheffield, Hull, Salford Nottingham, and Norwich 19 (through April 2005). Weill’s Weill’s reprise of Ingo Metzmacher leads On 11 December, Theater). Sanders Harvard’s 2004, at (7 November Erato recording their1997 Philharmonicthe Rotterdam in Symphony’s Anna in the Riverside sings Panagulias and songs 2 from 2005).The intrepid No. HK Gruber conducts quartetfamily Symphony (22 January Philharmonic (17 and 18 March) and on 15 April, the BBC Symphony Orchestra plays Orchestra plays the BBC Symphony April, on 15 programs Kreizberg Yakov On 2 March 1927, Kurt Weill celebrated his twenty-seventh birthday at Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Staatsoper Berlin’s at birthday celebrated his twenty-seventh Weill On 2 March 1927, Kurt Erich Kleiber was conductingLinden, where the premiere ofAlsatian the by with texts works Weill two poet Iwan Goll, the one-act opera later, the first recording of recording the first later, 2004 release ofAugust Orchestra and conductor the BBC Symphony featuring CD from Capriccio a new Weill 2000 Kurt January during the BBC Symphony’s live recorded were Both works Davis. Andrew Sir The Weekend. following series, Weill in Capriccio’s installment on 21) is the latest page 60 106, reviewed (Capriccio ofFirebrand Florence Justus Mayer was released in August 2003 and has won several awards. 2003 and has won several August was released in Mayer Justus Richard Coxon. Coxon. Richard 2a Volume 22, Number 2 Topical Weill Kurt Weill Foundation Programs In pursuit of its mission to promote greater understanding of the lives and accomplishments of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya through research and performance, the Kurt Weill Foundation offers several funding opportunities to individuals and non-profit organizations.

2005 Kurt Weill Prize 2005 Lotte Lenya Competition for Singers

The Kurt Weill Prize for distinguished scholarship on Applications must be received by 10 January 2005 for the eighth annual twentieth-century musical theater has been awarded Lenya Competition. Artists born after 31 December 1972 and before 1 biennially since 1995. In fall 2005, two prize awards of January 1986 are eligible to apply, and regional auditions will be held at the $2500 and $500, respectively, will be presented to the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music (22 January 2005), the author of an outstanding book and the author of an Lyric Opera of Chicago (1 February), and Dicapo Opera Theater, New York outstanding article. Eligibility is limited to work first City (11 and 12 February). Finalists selected from the regional auditions will published in 2003 or 2004; entries may include books, participate in the finals, to be held on 9 April 2005 at the Eastman School of major scholarly articles or essays (or chapters of larger Music in Rochester. Each contestant will be asked to prepare two contrast- volumes), critical editions, or publications in other ing theatrical selections by Kurt Weill, plus two non-Weill selections—an media, including audio or video recordings. opera/ aria and a selection chosen from the American musical the- Cosponsors of the prize are the Modern Language ater repertoire. All selections must be performed in their original language. Association, the American Musicological Society, the Regional winners will each receive an award of $500, plus a $500 stipend to American Society for Theatre Research, and the Kurt pay for travel to the finals in Rochester. The finals judges will award prizes Weill Foundation for Music. Nominations, including of $7500, $5000, and $3000, and the winners will be presented in a concert five copies of the nominated work and contact infor- in New York City in spring 2005. mation for the author, must be received by 30 April 2005 at the offices of the Kurt Weill Foundation for If contestants are unable to participate in any of the scheduled Music, 7 East 20th Street, New York, NY 10003. regional auditions, they may instead submit a videotape, which must contain all four of the required repertoire selections, by 1 February.

Annual Kurt Weill Foundation Grant Program The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music funds scholarly research pertaining to Weill and Lenya and performances of complete musical works by Weill. Applications are accepted in the following categories: research and travel, symposia, publication assistance, disserta- tion fellowships, college/university performance and production, recording projects, broadcasts, and professional performance and production (two divisions, depending on the level of support requested). The annual application deadline is 1 November for projects taking place in the following calendar year or cultural/academic season, except for the professional performance (over $5000) catego- ry, for which there is no set application deadline.

news &news events Mid-Year Professional Performance Grants Upon the recommendation of the independent grant review panel, the Board of Trustees of the Kurt Weill Foundation has awarded three 2004 Mid-Year Professional Performance grants. Grant winners were Opéra Décentralisé Neuchâtel, for staged performances of Das Berliner Requiem; Celebrity Series of Boston, for the Boston Camerata performance of Johnny Johnson in concert; and The Opera Group, for a British tour of Mahagonny Songspiel.

Phoebe Brand, the First Minny Belle (1907–2004) Johnny Johnson veteran Phoebe Brand died on 3 July 2004 at the age of ninety-seven. A found- ing member of the Group Theatre, Brand played in the premiere productions of ’ plays Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awake and Sing! (1935), and Golden Boy (1937). In 1936 she cre- ated the role of Minny Belle in the Weill and Paul Green collaboration, Johnny Johnson, appear- ing with such talents as , Lee J. Cobb, , and Luther Adler. After the Group disbanded in 1941, Brand married Carnovsky and the couple moved to California, where he pursued a film career and she taught at the Actors’ Lab Workshop. Blacklisted in 1951 by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the couple returned to New York, where they resumed their theatrical careers. In 1992 Carnovsky died at age 95, and shortly thereafter the 86-year-old Brand made a belated screen debut in ’s 1994 film Vanya on 42nd Street. She continued to teach acting until her death, and she was a charming speaker at a number of events held in connection with Kurt Weill’s centenary in 2000. Brand in Johnny Johnson (1936) Topical Weill Volume 22, Number 2 3a

KWE Chamber Music Is Published Firebrand Recording Wins events news & 2004 Echo Klassik Award European American Music Corporation and the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music have published Kurt Weill’s complete chamber music. Edited by Dr. Wolfgang Rathert (professor of musicology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich) and Jürgen Selk (Managing Editor, Kurt Weill Edition), the new publication makes available musical works by Kurt Weill which, while forming only a small portion of Weill’s oeuvre, played a considerable role in his formative years (1919–24). The new edition includes the two string quartets as well as two discarded movements for string quartet, the sonata for violoncello and piano, the song cycle Frauentanz, and the vocal-instrumental miniature Ick sitze da—un esse Klops. The relative obscurity of Weill’s chamber music can be partially explained by The Deutsche Phono-Akademie the overshadowing success of his first stage works, beginning with the acclaimed has named the BBC Symphony one-act opera Der Protagonist. However, the compositional quality and aesthetic Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis appeal of these works of “absolute music” have also been obscured by their uneven Capriccio recording of The publication and performance history, which partly explains their absence from the Firebrand of Florence as Best mainstream of the concert repertoire. This is regrettable, as some of these pieces Opera Recording of the past are of considerable ingenuity and may rank among the outstanding German musi- year. Firebrand shares honors in cal works of this period. the category with Purcell’s Dido The new edition of Weill’s Chamber Music makes this body of work available in and Aeneas, a period-instrument one volume. Several of the chamber music works included in the new edition have recording conducted by never before been available in print. Published with an accompanying critical Emmanuelle Haim. The 2004 report volume, Chamber Music constitutes the fourth volume in the Kurt Weill Echo Klassik prizewinners will Edition, a collected critical edition of his completed works. Subscriptions to the be honored at a ceremony at Edition and individual volumes are available from European American Music. The Munich’s Philharmonie am next volume in the Kurt Weill Edition, currently in production, is the critical edi- Gasteig on 24 October. tion of Weill’s one-act opera Der Protagonist, scheduled for publication in 2005.

Out in Paperback Kurt Gerron’s Story on Screen Readers who don’t already have Nominated for a 2002 Academy Award in the documentary feature category, Malcolm hardback copies of two recent Clarke and Stuart Sender’s Prisoner of Paradise tells the story of Kurt Gerron, who played Weill books now have the oppor- Tiger Brown in the premiere of Die Dreigroschenoper and Sam Worlitzer in the first Happy tunity to buy them in paper- End. It has now been released commercially in the United States. back. Kurt Weill: A Life in Pictures and Documents, by “The strange story is how a pitilessly fraudulent 1944 German propaganda film called The David Farneth with Elmar Führer Gives a City to the Jews came to be made about a place called Theresienstadt. The Juchem and Dave Stein stranger story is how a man named Kurt Gerron, a major star in prewar Germany as well (Overlook Press, 2000), is now as a Jew, came to make it. . . . That town in Czechoslovakia was hardly a utopia but rather available in book stores and a concentration camp where all of the residents were eventually sent to death camps farther direct from Overlook (Phone: east, and the attempt to portray it as anything else was a cynical Nazi hoax. . . . Prisoner of 800-473-1312) at $35.00. Foster Paradise not only tells a gripping story but touches on several provocative areas. It provides Hirsch’s Kurt Weill on Stage: more concrete answers than we usually get to broad questions about where turning a blind From Berlin to Broadway eye to history can lead you and, more pointed still, it shows us what making a deal with the (Knopf, 2002) has been reissued devil looks like in the most mundane, day-to-day terms.”—Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles by Limelight Editions at $20.00. Times (16 April 2004)

Cabaret and Chicago Lyricist Dies Broadway lyricist Fred Ebb died on 11 September 2004. In a lifelong professional partnership begun in 1965 with Flora, the Red Menace, Ebb and the composer John Kander continued their work together with the Broadway musicals The Happy Time, Zorba, 70, Girls, 70, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Steel Pier, as well as the iconic Chicago and Cabaret. Ebb won three Tony awards (for Cabaret, Woman of the Year, and Kiss of the Spider Woman) out of a dozen nomina- tions. The concept musical Cabaret, set in Weimar-era Berlin, is widely considered to have been inspired by Weill’s work, and the role of Fräulein Schneider was conceived for Lotte Lenya. Said Ebb of Lenya: “When she walked on the stage, she brought with her the validation of the period and the sound. She personified the authenticity of what we were doing.” 4a Volume 22, Number 2 Topical Weill

News from the North–Opera North, That Is After producing the European premiere of Weill’s Love Life in 1996, Opera North of Leeds now takes on three Weill stage works in as many seasons. The Seven Deadly Sins was part of the innovative “Eight Little Greats” spring 2004 series of mix-and-match one-act programmed in Leeds and on tour. This season the company presents One Touch of Venus, with performances in Leeds (4 December 2004-24 February 2005), plus touring performances in Hull (9 and 11 February), Sheffield (18–19 February), Salford Quays (1, 3, 9 March 2005), Nottingham (8, 10, 19 March), Norwich (31 March), and Newcastle (12, 16, 19 April). And Opera North’s 2005–2006 season will include the first British stage revival of Der Kuhhandel since its 1935 production as A Kingdom for a Cow at the Savoy Theatre in . A co-production with the Bregenz Festival, Der Kuhhandel is currently scheduled for spring 2006. In a program aimed at 1,000 secondary-school students, Opera North’s education wing will bring One Touch of Venus to day-long workshops across northern Britain, exploring the musical, dramatic, and design elements that contribute to the stage production. Students will work in groups with professionals to learn music and stage scenes to gain understanding of the process of creating music theater, then attend a performance of the show.

The Seven Deadly Sins, in Leeds and on tour (14 May–26 June 2004)

Photos: Clive Barda “[] would love ’s bloody reincarnation of Seven Deadly Sins. Playing it in English reinforces the impres- sion of a subverted, scabrous American music, and it packs more violence and heavy sarcasm into its thirty-five minutes than you’d think possible. Rebecca Caine and Beate Vollack sang and danced the role of split-personality Anna with exhausting involvement, and her vile trailer-trash family was brought to horribly vivid life. Flamingly anti-American as it is, this great piece is more full of disgust at all of modern mankind and our sacrifice of humanity in the pursuit of our dubious ends. Weill’s faux-innocent music, pressed into news &news events the service of rabid social critique, is conducted with a light touch by James Holmes.”—Robert Thicknesse, (18 May 2004)

“Pountney’s staging updates this most cutting of all Weill/Brecht collaborations to somewhere closer to the present, enacting the two Annas’ humiliations as a cartoon-like boxing match. Many moments match the savagery of the piece, others are merely gratuitous, but Rebecca Caine’s Anna I makes every word of Michael Feingold’s translation count, while Beate Vollack’s Anna II throws her whole body into her own brutal choreography.”—Nick Kimberley, The Evening Standard (25 June 2004)

“Both Rebecca Caine and Beate Vollack were superb actresses and Caine a great voice for a musical, if not full-scale opera. James Holmes’ conducting of a complex score with a small orchestra worked well, even if this was a disturbing work to watch and, later, to think about.”—Glyn Mon Hughes, Liverpool Daily Post (10 June 2004)

David Pountney’s directing career has taken him from Scottish Opera to , the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, and the , among others. He staged Street Scene at Scottish Opera in 1989, a production which then transferred to the ENO, and Opera North’s Seven Deadly Sins in spring 2004. In his new position as Artistic Director of the Bregenz Festival, Pountney chose to focus the 2004 season on lesser-known Weill stage works, and he himself directed the operetta Der Kuhhandel to great critical acclaim. The Kuhhandel production will be seen in an English translation at Opera North.

David Pountney. Photo: Bregenzer Festspiele/Karl Forster Topical Weill Volume 22, Number 2 5a

James Holmes joined Opera North as Head of Music in 1996 after more than 20 years at English es&events news & National Opera. At ENO, his broad conducting repertoire stretched from Mozart to Britten and Stravinsky, encompassing the British premiere of Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, Street Scene (staged by David Pountney and shown on BBC television), and Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. In 1995 he was asked to conduct Street Scene’s Berlin premiere, in a co-production of Theater des Westens and Houston Grand Opera which was later broadcast on German television and released on DVD. Holmes’ varied conducting repertoire at Opera North has included the spring 2004 production of The Seven Deadly Sins, and this fall Holmes and director Tim Albery collaborate on Opera North’s new production of One Touch of Venus. James Holmes The Threepenny Opera, Theatre Workshop Edinburgh, Bregenz Festival Ancillary Events at Glasgow’s Tramway (17–19 June 2004) Throughout this summer’s Bregenz Festival, the lobby of the Festspielhaus, venue for the Additional performances in Aberdeen (26 June) production of Der Protagonist/Royal Palace, and at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival (1–3 July) was filled with a Weill exhibition created by “What Rae has set out to do, in the most and a half hour length. . . . But the Kurt Weill Foundation staff members Elmar ambitious show of his ten-year artistic production’s difficulties are completely Juchem and Dave Stein. Twenty-five large directorship, is use the political position overwhelmed, in the end, by its terrific posters provided a broad overview of Weill’s of his company of disabled actors as a sense of purpose and occasion and by theatrical career. During the weekend of 6-8 mirror of, and a metaphor for, the social the brilliance of Rae’s staging, which August, the “Bregenzer Frequenzen” seminar exclusion and ‘freak’ status enjoyed by makes superb use of contemporary film provided interested opera goers a chance to Brecht’s cast of beggars, prostitutes, projected on huge screens above the deepen their understanding of the Weill works pimps, people-traffickers and rogues. . . seating-banks, and of a fifteen-strong being presented. After an introduction to Weill Just as Nazism rejected and sought to acting company, backed by a ten-piece from Juchem, lectures were presented by ‘cleanse’ the kind of city low-life por- band, to conjure up a seething sense of Stephen Hinton, Giselher Schubert, Guy trayed in The Threepenny Opera, so it city life at its most violent and politi- Stern, Ricarda Wackers, and Antony Beaumont. sought to eliminate or sterilize the cally threatening. The music, directed Choosing from the new Unsung Weill album physically imperfect; and this produc- by Tim O’Leary, is superb throughout, published by European American Music, music tion, which uses Hugh MacDiarmid’s with the kind of dissonant texture and director/pianist James Holmes crafted an infor- 1973 version of the text, is bracketed in raucous, desperate singing these great mal song concert on 8 August in collaboration political material of the Nazi period that songs were made for. . . . As for the act- with two leading cast members in the Bregenz deftly points up these parallels and ends ing—well, there’s some fine work in production of West Side Story. with a brief reminder of the horrific fate the leading roles, from Ysabel Collyer of disabled people in the Third Reich. . as Jenny Diver, Cerrie Burnell as Polly “Kurt Weill is all over town, again reminding us . . it produces a show that works on Peachum, Garry Robson as her evil old how much of his work from the years before his every level, from the vehement and glit- dad, and the gorgeous Sally Clay as the escape from the Nazis in 1933 and subsequent tering intensity of the performances, to pianist/narrator; and if Scottish the- Parisian exile we have yet to discover. . . . You the ferocious intimacy of its relation- ater sees a better performance this year could try Unsung Weill—seventeen songs from a ship with the screech and rasp of Weill’s than Nabil Shaban’s magnificent, styl- recently published anthology—in the blessedly magnificent music. . . . As a production ish, haunted, and heartrending air-conditioned Seestudio. These gems were on the cusp of community and profes- Macheath, the doomed hero with the dropped from Weill’s American musicals before sional theatre, this Threepenny Opera flick-knife and the addiction to whores, the shows hit Broadway, or were created for has to live with the occasional patch of then we’ll be fortunate indeed.”— films, or for Lunchtime Follies, a second world awkward acting; the disabilities of some Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman (23 war propaganda revue. The lyrics are by the of the actors have an inevitable effect on June 2004) likes of Langston Hughes, Ira Gershwin, and the show’s pace, contributing to its for- Alan Jay Lerner. Even Stephen Sondheim midable, although sustainable, three would be jealous of Ogden Nash’s lyric for a schizophrenic: “How do I feel today? I feel abominable. And is it the result of disturbances Opera Omaha Seminar psychiatric rather than abdominable?” Marisol In connection with its production of The Threepenny Opera, on 2 October 2004 Montalvo has a supple, silvery soprano, a smile Opera Omaha is presenting a seminar entitled “A Political and Theatrical to melt glaciers and sex appeal to burn; Evolution: Kurt Weill, The Threepenny Opera and The Beggar’s Opera.” Alexander Franzen has a creamy lyric baritone Creighton University of Omaha will host the seminar, which features Weill and suave, boyish charisma; together, their experts Stephen Hinton of Stanford University and Jonathan Eaton of Carnegie chemistry is palpable. They could land this act Mellon University, along with Opera Omaha’s artistic team: Hal France, con- in any cabaret in London or New York and run ductor; Dorothy Danner, director; and Peter Harrison, designer. The Creighton for a year.”—Larry L. Lash, Financial Times University Chamber Choir performs selections from The Beggar’s Opera. (18 August 2004) 6 news & events a iconic woman portrayediconic by Lenya inthePabst film version. og“aea wasLotteLenya. Hesaidhewasfascinated with “Lalena” song The 2005 season of The 2005season In aninterview with thesamename. Willner’s well-known album compilation of f comes by herinterestin Weill naturally: hermotherisjazzpianist andcomposerCarlaBley, “LostintheStars” who arranged Weill and Weimar-era herwork, adding on that cabaretasmajorinfluences many German Weill were inherrepertoire. songs Mantl 2004interviewIn a22September with inthebig-bandalbum isincluded Brown, bass. Previously Song” unreleased,“September by featuring Oliver in1969 topplayers Nelson, arranged Orchestra, with theLouieBellson like Ernie Watts, altosaxophone, MaceoParker, Song,” “September tenorsaxophone, andRa James Brown of recorded auniquejazz-funkversion Soul” “Godfather of Tosca Mahagonny City of pieceswas “keep-in-front-of-the-public” 20th-centuryworks.est inregularly programming Onhisselectlistof In a30May 2004profile published in best summer-season offeringsintheNew York theater. On 21June 2004, and directedby Daniele Abbado. and with Rome Opera Teatro by Jonathan 2005,conducted Emilia.Performances are4and6March Reggio Webb Romolo Valli of Barihasscheduled The newly-reopened of opera to theRoyal George 15MayTheatre on 2005for seventy ending28October. performances News Flashes ture are actors whoture areactors have morethanavague ideaaboutsinging.” ven- anartistic such .Indispensable for thesuccessof . “This time, teeth.. thesharkhasonly false 2004) modeled after the mice of the London docks.” theLondon modeled afterthemiceof speakingvoice. herstrong Her singing, however, seemstobe withthehelpof Mack unfaithful her talkingaholethroughthevest of endearingly sweet Polly isat (ChrisPichler) leastcapable of (ledby Rüggeberg). Michael theorchestra The accompanied by the increasingly verve fading of theensemble shakily tiptoesthroughthe multi-strophic songs, shouting,coarse the remainderof Jenny andMackie’s MacDonald) (Sona heart-filled therestrained, voice of “With theexception of 2004) September Die Dreigroschenoper Die you forget someimpreciseplaying andapplause.” fromthepit.Cheers shehadinhaledBrecht. This m teeth and,withpenetrating eyes throws grimaces, andsharp at peopleasif andsongs accusations hadsignedfor (whom theJosefstadt) MacDonald Gratzer isirresistible,the otherhand,Sona precise, herJenny andclear; bare Chris Pichler’s Polly lookslike acute, comicalMarilyn cut-out,but several passages inthemusic prove for tobetreacherous with austeretranquility. Zauner portrays aslimy, Martin intohissongs. kingPeachum Schleyer Erich withshabby portrays thebeggar charm elegance. Tatja Seibt,too, succeedsashisw and Nestroy,Schnitzler indifferentterritory. Föttinger Herbert playboy-like isatemperamental, theKnifewho Mack putsalo scenes deliver theplotinbetween. ..Somehow it’s quitedelightfultoseeandheartheJosefstadt ensemble, ordinarily at h theirown. Fast-revue-like by staging Kurt arethesongs Weill which madethepieceanovernight alifeof hitandalsotookon hasn’t beentaken allthat seriously; rather, and,fortunately, heserves asaprecondition hehasn’t beenupdated. At thecent inapsychedelically shimmeringmirror. That’s something.magnificent Br theater withitsdressed-upaudiencecanlookat itself the sceneslike aclown who wantstobuild for anticipation thenext gag. thelightsgoon tomoralize, And when starts Brecht “Wolfgang Gratzer, haspolishedtheshark’s togetherwithHanspeterHornisch, teethandmadehimgrin. The announcerintroduces . Newsweek , an opera he called a masterpiece fromthelastcenturythat totheMet’s hewould hecalledamasterpiece profile like, anopera toseeasintegral as Canada’s Shaw Festival Billboard magazine listed magazine, Donovan singer andsongwriter thefolk-rock revealed for that his1968hit theinspiration , Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna, TheaterinderJosefstadt, (premiere 16September2004) Financial TimesDeutschland Here LiesJenny ilicuearvvlo thefestival’s of hit2003production arevivalwill include of —Ronald Pohl, oue2 ubr2Topical Weill Volume 22Number2 Aufstieg undFallAufstieg derStadtMahagonny , Metropolitan Opera music, MetropolitanOpera directorJames Levine expressed inter- astrong gemütlich , Bebe Neuwirth’s Kurt, Bebe four Weill revue at theZipper Theater, of asone —RR, The ThreepennyOpera Der Standard ae ate,hl ftheDresdenDollspunkduo, citedKurt of Mantler,, Karen half police commissioner whopolice commissioner always knows how things. toarrange Kleine Zeitung —Caro Wiesauer, (18 September , Graz(18 as asocially musical conscious andwiththe Soul onTop for its opening season, inaco-production for itsopeningseason, Kurier (18 September 2004) (18 September Photo: MaritzSchell Macheath andTiger Brown , reissuedby Verve inJuly 2004. Happy End ieadFl fthe Rise andFall of , which returns ome with ro this er of her. On and the or Hal paced s her echt akes t of er ife y Topical Weill Volume 22, Number 2 7a

Dessau Preview events news &

2005 Kurt-Weill-Fest The German premiere of The Firebrand of Florence in concert and stage productions of Happy End and Street Scene highlight the 2005 Kurt-Weill-Fest in Dessau. Firebrand, with an all-star cast including Rodney Gilfry in the title role, Anna Maria Kaufmann, Kim Criswell, and Christian Baumgärtel, will be conducted by Wayne Marshall, the festival’s 2005 Artist-in-Residence. Baritone Dietrich Henschel, cellist David Geringas, soprano Julia Migenes, and the vocal group Hudson Shad are other noted performers. Although not all events have been finalized, as of 30 September the schedule was as follows:

25 February Happy End (premiere). Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, Herbert Olschok, director; Golo Berg, conductor. 7:00 pm, Anhaltisches Theater. 26 February Saxofourte, saxophone quartet. Works by Weill, Piazzolla, Zappa, and Bernstein. 7:00 pm, Palais Dietrich. 26 February Jazz with pianist Wayne Marshall. 10:00 pm, Bauhaus. 27 February Recital: David Geringas, cello, and Kalle Randalu, piano, in Weill’s cello sonata, Krenek, and Mendelssohn. 11:00 am, Schloss Georgium. 27 February Recital: Dietrich Henschel, baritone, and Tatjana Blome, piano, in Weill’s “Walt Whitman Songs” and songs by Eisler, Busoni, and Dessau. 3:00 pm, Schloss Köthen. 27 February Dresdner Sinfoniker, Celso Antunes, conductor, with soprano Julia Migenes in Weill songs, 6:00 pm, Anhaltisches Theater. 4 March The Firebrand of Florence. MDR Sinfonieorchester and MDR Rundfunkchor; Wayne Marshall, conductor; and soloists Rodney Gilfry, Anna Maria Kaufmann, Kim Criswell, and Christian Baumgärtel. 7:00 pm, Anhaltisches Theater. 4-6 March Symposium: “Großstadt als Heterotopie.” Organized by the Universität Köln, Bauhaus Dessau, and Kurt-Weill-Gesellschaft e.V. Bauhaus. 5 March Street Scene (revival of 2004 production). Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, Golo Berg, conductor; Nicholas Muni, director. 5:00 pm, Anhaltisches Theater. 5 March Weill—Comedian Style. Hudson Shad in music by Weill, the Revellers, and the Comedian Harmonists. 7:30 pm, Marienkirche. 6 March Unsung Weill. Songs cut from Broadway shows and films, with winners of the Lotte Lenya Competition for Singers. 11:00 am, Schloss Köthen. 6 March Happy End. 5:00 pm, Anhaltisches Theater.

Photo: Michael Putland/Retna

Photo: George Landis

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