Word: musicalization
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...revolutionary tract should leave you asking yourself whether you're any different. Brecht's script keeps up a steady fire of political comment, and his socialism slips in discreetly enough so that even American audiences in the '50s could stomach it. But it's Weill's brooding, often harsh music--so evocative of Weimar Germany's rotten core--that fixes The Threepenny Opera's world of human iniquity and mortality in the audience's mind. Maybe it's just a case of the fascination of the grotesque: the songs aren't beautiful, but you don't forget them...
...Threepenny Opera is long--almost three hours--and demands a versatile cast of singing actors. They don't have to be polished--gravelly, ugly voices suit Weill's music better than smooth ones, anyway. But they have to capture the sordid decadence that fills both text and music--they need a sense of atmosphere. The production fails because director and performers never secure this black mood...
...Lucy Brown, his daughter and Macheath's other wife. Falk's delivery of the pathetic "Barbara Song" was the best number of the evening. In most productions this is Polly's lament; I suppose Lucy took this one on after Polly got "Pirate Jenny." Playing a game of musical numbers like this may match singers up with the songs they can perform, but it also unties the music from the plot...
Wednesday, November 1: Music at Midday--Music of the Baroque, with Charles Caldwell, recorder; Robert Hill, harpsichord; Elli Potash, viola da gamba. Bach, Hotteterre and Gimna. Jewett Arts Center...
Wednesday, November 1: Concert--Debbie and Suzanne Sobol. Four-hand piano music of Franz Schubert, 8 pm. free...