Word: weill
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With this jarring first image, the current production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera captures the cardinal principle of epic theater: a rigid separation between the stage and spectator. This separation, or alienation, prevents the spectator from identifying with the characters. Brechtian theater presents man for scrutiny, to entertain and instruct the spectator. Didactic in intent, it forces him to observe, make decisions, and act on them. Under R.J. Cutler's direction, Threepenny Opera shines with all the power and excitement inherent in Epic theater...
...visible orchestra emphasizes the sublime marriage of Brecht's text to Weill's music. The two independent elements complementing each other set forth the positions and ideas presented in each, most notably in the ballads. The ballads, more than the text itself, state the characters' situations objectively. Cutler's staging for these ballads underscores their epic nature; they are the strongest cohesive element of the production. The Second Threepenny Finale: What Keeps Mankind Alive?, which closes the second act, encapsulates the message of the play, "Food is the first thing. Morals follow on." Rarely has the persistence...
...spit right back. Martha Hackett gives the strongest female presence of the production Artfully establishing the distance between herself, the character, and the audience, Hackett states clearly that most human conflict between fantasy and reality, between love and money. Her husky voice capturing the harsh sweetness of Weill's music evokes a visceral pleasure in the spectator and, consequently, makes the lyrics more significant...
...Book by S.J. Perelman, music by Kurt Weill...
...Weill's new partner Robinson has already described his bold vision of the future of finance. Said he recently: "By the end of the decade, a typical consumer may have a stockbroker in California, a banker in New York, an insurance agent in Maryland and a real estate agent jetting back and forth from Chicago to Boston. All of that will be on his American Express card, of course...