The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny will open at the Cutler Majestic Theatre tonight, February 23, 2007 7:30 pm. Other showtimes include Sunday, February 25, 2007, at 3:00 pm and Tuesday, February 27, 2007, 7:30 pm. For more information, visit Opera Boston's website.
In the city of Mahagonny, you can do anything you want - but you better make sure you pay your bar tab!
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht unleashed The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on the world in 1930, and Opera Boston will be recrating the experience this weekend and next week. Just like other Weill and Brecht collaborations, Mahagonny makes bold statements about society through the behavior of those who either scrape by or lurk at the bottom.
Three outcasts start a rogue city dedicated to vice. Suggesting the disaster that befell New Orleans, the characters wait for a hurricane to strike in the first act. During the second act, Weill and Brecht comment on the absurdity of how punishments are doled out when one of the more hapless characters must die for not paying a bill.
The opera will be sung in English with subtitles. For a taste of this daring show, watch a 1979 performance by Teresa Stratas as Jenny the Prostitute singing the show's "Alabama Song":
Recognize it? The Doors and David Bowie covered it. Stratas' performance is a stunner, and, if Boston comes even close to hitting that target, the show promises to be a success.
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