This Brecht-Weill operatic double-bill at the Old Fitz is an outstanding production. Exuberant musical theatre at its best! Who would have thought 17 musicians, the conductor, a piano and seven performers could fit into the Old Fitz Theatre? The removal of the back screen and excellent use of the loft meant nothing looked cramped on the enlarged stage. There was room for action, dance and, of course, song.
The first piece is The Seven Deadly Sins. Bertolt Brecht wrote the lyrics and Kurt Weill wrote the music in 1933 during the Weimar Republic and chaotic upheaval in Europe. The piece displays the famous collaborators’ satirical anti bourgeois invective, hate of the hypocrisy of the Church at the time and their fury at the deprivation of the working-class. In this production, Director Constantine Costi’s presentation of the seven sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) is fast-paced, at times hysterically funny and musically faithful to the original score.
Not much is faithful to the original staging of the opera…and thankfully so. This staging in the Old Fitz is wonderful – fast, quirky, bizarre and totally exhilarating to watch. The program says The Seven Deadly Sins is “about two sisters hustling their way across America. They will charm and swindle to make ends meet in any way they can to survive.” It is about so much more, because a Brechtian world expands the possibilities.
The second piece is the Brecht-Weill Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. This opera caused an uproar when it premiered in 1930 in Leipzig, with Nazis in the audience protesting. It opened in Berlin in 1933 and was an immediate success. The piece attacks materialism and the illicit pleasures of the fictitious city. No doubt Brechtian scholars argue over what city Mahagonny might represent.
Brecht-Weill is not everyone’s favourite style of music or preference for subject matter. There are sexual references, gun sound effects, mention of suicide and theatrical haze providing the ominous atmosphere. In this production, the fusion of the dancer, orchestra, opera singers, clever set, bizarre costumes, bold staging and brilliant directing make it a must-see for Brecht-Weill lovers. And for those who aren’t yet Brecht-Weill fans, this show might well convert them.
Allie Graham is the amazingly flexible expressive petite dancer in the double-bill. She is an independent dance artist who has performed with Opera Australia, Sydney Dance Company and Pinchgut Opera. The opera singers are Margaret Trubiano, Nicholas Jones, Benjamin Rasheed, Andy Moran, Anthony Mackey and Roberta Diamond. Less guttural than some other renditions of Weill, including Australia’s Robyn Archer, these opera singers are outstanding. It is the intimacy of the setting, being a few feet from Margaret Trubiano and Roberta Diamond singing the classic “I tell you we must die” that keeps you on the edge of your seat and on the precipice of emotion.
Ensemble Apex provides the 17-piece orchestra in classic Weill style – exuberance, enthusiasm and passion.
The other creatives are: Director Constantine Costi
Conductor Brian Castles-Onion AM
Choreographer Shannon Burns
Set Designer Charles Davis
Costume Designer Emma White
Until 23 APRIL at the Old Fitz, Woolloomooloo
https://www.redlineproductions.com.au/the-seven-deadly-sins-mahagonny-songspiel
Production photos by Robert Catto
Review by Carol Dance