Word: brecht
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Rarest item on the program was Sessions' 72-minute, one-act opera, The Trial of Lucullus, with a libretto originally written as a radio play by Germany's Bertolt Brecht. The unrelievedly dissonant work has to do with the plea of the Roman general Lucullus, for admission to the Elysian fields before a jury of citizens. Although it had several appealing orchestral passages and at least one rousing chorus, the opera for the most part is in what Sessions calls his "linear and severe" mood, with many of the vocal parts written in droning monotone...
There are other plays worth seeing in New York. Brendan Behan's The Hostage is every bit as funny as Miss Delaney's play, and also takes a look at such human insanities as patriotism, the brink, and men who take themselves too seriously. High hopes are held for Brecht's Jungle of the Cities, which is opening now. Unfortunately, this is far from the poet's finest work, though New York seems ready for good Brecht. The Wall, by Millard Lampell, is a good reminder of the Nazi atrocities, but it is too reminiscent of Diary of Anne Frank...
...very difficult one for an actor to follow. It requires that he not only play his character with full emotional understanding of the role, but that he communicate to the audience the fact that he is an actor, making his own judgement of what the character does. Azdak is Brecht's ideal man, sympathetic to the aspirations of the masses, never condemning their immorality or brutality, and always ready to assume whatever mask his situation requires. In danger of being executed by the henchmen of the governor's wife, he is servile; he cringes and begs without pride, knowing that...
...relatively minor actors also gave outstanding performances--Jean Weston as the prim and vicious governor's wife and Robert P. Youngsberg as the loutish corporal. Brecht displayed his discretion in not giving the little prince any speaking lines, and Mr. Hancock displayed his in choosing a beautiful urchin to play the role...
...intend to see The Caucasian Chalk Circle a second time and hope to see a good deal more of both Brecht and Hancock around here...