Weill away the hours with operatic theatrics

The Three Penny Opera Cabaret is an opera within a play. The Yale College Opera Company, tackling this unusual format, utilizes its resources well: the casual atmosphere of "The Red Angel," the cabaret in which the music is performed and the uncanny similarities between the players and their characters combine to capture the enduring quality of Bertolt Brecht's libretto. The troupe sets out to perform the songs as a tribute to composer Kurt Weill and—as Max Dopeldorf (Andrew Osarchuk, ES '02), who will proceed to sing the part of Macheath, hastens to add—the Marxist lyricist Brecht.

COURTESY INTERNATIONAL BRECHT SOCIETY COURTESY CLASSICAL MUSIC PAGES Bertolt Brecht (top) and Kurt Weill (bottom) collaborated on 'Three Penny Opera,' performed this weekend by the Yale College Opera Company.

Conferencier Marta von Kuckro (Grace Kuckro, BK '03) sets the cabaret's tone, warming up the audience with teasing sexual jokes before proceeding to perch upon the piano to watch Max as Macheath and Gregor as Brown (Brian Johnson, '01) join in the "Army Song." The two tenors are downright jolly as they declare, "We like our hamburgers bloody." However, their cheerful attitudes never give way to rowdy, sloppy singing. Rather, they remain restrained through the bawdiest of lyrics. This decision to retain the purity of the music runs the course of the opera: between songs, the characters offer up drinks and mocking, seemingly off-the-cuff remarks galore, but the music—no matter how coarse the lyrics—is simply too good to be as convincingly spur-of-the-moment as the spoken lines. The juxtaposition of the two—the cabaret's risqué and informal tone and the singer's universal talent—succeeds in making the performance simultaneously entertaining and satisfying.

The cabaret is rollicking fun, but it ultimately stays true to the opera by being more than just a good time. Underlying the jokes are tensions present both in The Three Penny Opera and the cabaret script, written by Michael Yen Ming Lew, JE '03. Sophie van Hausen (Kimberly DeQuattro, BR '03), who sings the part of Jenny, works by day in a soup kitchen to earn money for herself and her son. In the "Tango Ballad," Jenny recalls her past relationship with Macheath in a lovely, soaring soprano. Life was tough, living quarters were small, and she earned her living shamefully. Jenny, however, will get her revenge, as Polly (Allison Ewoldt, PC '03) promises in the far-ranging soprano "Pirate Jenny." Each of the characters is avenging him- or herself upon the capitalist system as all join in with Lucy to sing, "The bulging pocket makes the easy life." Peachum (played by Johnson) likewise agrees that he found "Working like a dog was useless if you wanted to get ahead in life." His tenor is subdued but powerful—above all, the singers don't want their voices to spill over as much as the humor of the dialogue. They don't want to overwhelm Weill's music or heap too much joking upon Brecht's story.

Weill's Down in the Valley, on the other hand, despite its folksiness, sticks to Arnold Sundgaard's libretto, a story with breadth in its sound and emotion despite its brevity. It is a hand-clapping, whistling, happy kind of opera told in flashback form; like all great stories, this opera has the capability to hold audiences rapt even though the ending is obvious. Brack Weaver (Osarchuk) is in prison, yearning for his love, Jennie Parsons (Catherine Cochran, DC '01); she mourns his impending doom. Yet for a brilliant speck of time before they are forever separated, they reunite and create beautiful music. Cochran's soprano is rich and passionate; it soars to the ceiling and dips to the floor, and when it joins with Oscarchuk's strong tenor, simple characters become complex and beautiful people who just happen to drop the endings of their words.

Theater

Down in the Valley Directed by Jonathan Bernstein Produced by Greg Distelhorst Fri., Oct. 20, 5:15 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 21, 4, 8 p.m. Sudler Hall Free A Cabaret of Songs & Duets from Three Penny Opera Directed by Michael Lew Sat., Oct. 21, 11 a.m., 2 p.m. Beinecke Library, 2nd floor Free

The most pleasurable scenes in the opera are those of unconcealed joy, those ephemeral moments when the two lovers are happy. Jennie and Brack are irrepressibly charming, twirling and spinning and singing. If the opera had a happy ending, these scenes might be meaningless, but with the end looming in the background, these small thrills are all the more meaningful and beautiful. In the end, the opera finds beauty in the smallest and simplest of things. In this opera, the two leading roles are splendidly portrayed, and most other aspects fall together perfectly. The exquisite piano accompaniment creates a mood so subtle that one might not even notice until music director and pianist Perry So, CC '04, paused to give Jennie a brief but chilling a cappella solo. The lighting promises to similarly enhance the show, with a specialist coming from New York for the Parents' Weekend performances.

Ultimately, both operas are successful in their simple librettos and underlying depth; both the pleasure-seeker with the short attention span and the intellectual should be satisfied.

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