Word: brecht
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...Yale School of Drama, Brustein and his colleagues developed a three-year, building-block curriculum in which students progress from the study and practice of poetic realism (Chekhov, Ibsen) to Shakespearean verse-speaking with increased physical stylization, to the total vocal and physical stylization demanded by the post-modernists (Brecht, Beckett, Handke). Along the way, students are gradually mixed into Yale Repertory productions, beginning as spear-carriers and moving up to understudy positions and major roles. Another innovation was the creation of two majors: Theater Management and Dramatic Criticism. The latter included courses in "Dramaturgy," the graduate acting...
...have Macheath hanged. He finally catches the man-about-town at his weekly appointment with his whore, Jenny. This, of course, is the role Lotte Lenya made famous, and it's central to the show. Marylou Ledden plays the part with sense--she catches the world-weariness in Brecht better than anyone else in the cast. But her inadequate singing must be the reason the director, Harvey Seifter, gives Jenny's big number, "Pirate Jenny," to Polly Peachum (Ann Titolo) instead. Well, directors have taken liberties with this script before, and Titolo sings the old favorite with spirit; but Jenny...
Other performers in the Caravan production are obviously talented but don't even try to be sordid. You would be glad to have Ida Beecher's Mrs. Peachum as your grandmother; she plays the kind old lady to perfection, but brings an element of benevolence onto Brecht's stage that doesn't belong there...
CLIFFORD WOODWORTH as Mr. Peachum seems to understand Brecht better, and his operatic voice adds to his performance. It was a shame to see him have to glance up at the conductor (Paul D. Lehrman) in confusion as the musical ensemble fell apart during the finale to Act I. From the opening bars of the overture, Lehrman takes the score at a gallop. He doesn't give the music the time it needs to fester, to spread its fumes; more importantly, the singers couldn't keep up with the pace. (If you want to hear Weill's music...
Seifter makes good use of a small church as the playhouse, and he paces the scenes well. He even suggests the teeming decay endemic to The Threepenny Opera in the opening scene. But failures of casting and characterization quickly break the spell. Brecht's script speaks directly enough, and Weill's music is brilliant enough, so that even a mediocre performance like Caravan's is worth seeing, especially if you've never seen the show before. But The Threepenny Opera ought to more than entertain; if the director, actors and musicians conspire aright, it can give you a whiff...