Word: peachum
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Thus all that the cast must do is sing properly some of the loveliest airs ever written, and, with a few minor exceptions, this they all do. There is little to be said about Shirley Jones as Polly Peachum; I can not conceive of the role's ever having been played any better. Jack Cassidy, a bold and dashing Macheath, lacks the noble voice of Miss Jones, but sings most pleasingly. George Irving triumphs as scheming Mr. Peachum; both in his comedy bits and arias he is Peachum as Gay must have envisioned him. Zamah Cunningham as his wife, however...
...vintage rotgut to travel. The "chamber orchestra" of the august Vienna State Opera bravely buckles down to the hurdy-gurdy score with its plinky-plink banjos, but it is played with excruciating slowness. The star is a charming Viennese nightclub chanteuse named Liane, who sounds less like Polly Peachum than an operetta shopgirl mooning over an archduke. The record does have its high spots, notably the duet between the prostitute Jenny and her pimp. To a wistful tango melody they...
...singers were equally right and equally impressive. "Brilliant," again, is the only word for Elisabeth Hubbard as Mrs. Peachum. Not only is her voice magnificent, but her acting is equal to the rigorous demands of Weill's music. Her cruelty and cynicism give added dimension to numbers like "The Ballad of Survival" and "The Ballad of Dependency." Bronia Sielewicz, as the prostitute Jenny, will make even the most sentimental viewer forgive her for replacing the familiar German accent of Lotte Lenya. "The Pirate Jenny" and "The Solomon Song" are two of the best examples of Weill and Brecht...
Though the ladies in the cast are all near-perfect, the men do not suffer from comparison. As Jonathan Peachum, Fred Kimball can carry along the Brecht text in those rare moments when it wants in wit. Plagued by throat trouble, Kimball's singing was only the more authentic for the part. Dean Gitter, as Mack the Knife, was amusing and sleazy on cue, and when called upon near the end to carry the whole production through several numbers, rose to the occasion with no strain. He was a fine Macheath. With principals so admirably in hand, Mr. Aaron might...
Faded Waltzes. The plot takes Macheath through a fake marriage with pretty Polly Peachum, two betrayals by one of his earlier loves, and right up to the moment of his execution-when he is saved by a royal pardon. Beaten into the mixture of bawdry and cynicism are a couple of bitter speeches of social protest, written in a heavy Teutonic style that even Blitzstein's tart translation could not leaven...