Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny

Gyron's review is quite good. I'll just add a couple points.

I don't agree that "Jimmy" running out and harassing the audience is something good. Who needs that? But this is consistent with Brecht's philosophy of the stage, even if that touch wasn't actually specified. The theater is not there to entertain an audience (while perhaps offering insights along the way), but its purpose is to instruct and regiment. This leads to endless tendentious little explanations, just to make sure you "get it." Leftists claim they object to rightists "wanting to impose their values" but Brecht, a Communist, does nothing but tediously impose his values. His plays are really sermons.

BTW, as far as "showing the evils of Capitalism," this is a bit simplistic, but in addition: then Brecht was a supreme hypocrite. He made sure he was well-paid and that his royalties were secure by being owned by a Frankfurt publisher, not a DDR one. See chapter on Brecht in Paul Johnson's Intellectuals.

Three fugitives from justice found a city in the American desert. Their leader, the widow Begbick , reasons that it is easier to extract gold from prospectors than it is to extract it from Alaskan rivers. They are joined by a group of whores, led by Jenny Smith. The city attracts many prospectors, lured by the attractions of cheap whiskey and the aforesaid whores. Among them is Jimmy Mahoney, played by Jerry Hadley. Jimmy is attracted to Jenny but, at first, finds the city tedious with its petty restrictions (no singing, no kissing). The city is narrowly missed by a hurricane which causes Jimmy to declare that, since they have been spared, anything goes and all restrictions should be abandoned. There follows an orgy of eating, whoring, boxing matches and drinking. Finally, Jerry is condemned to death and executed for not being able to pay his bar bill.

I do not usually start a review with such a full summary of the plot. I do so here because I am bemused by it. In The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny , Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht seem to eschew any sense of irony or satire and present us with a simple story of the horrors of capitalism. I find it difficult to believe that, in 1930, people needed to be told in such a simple way that capitalism has its sordid side. I have never seen a production of Mahagonny before and it is easy to see why it is so rarely performed. It seems so dated: there is nothing more old-fashioned than the recent past. Maybe, like Handel's operas, it will have to wait 200 years before it is brilliantly revived.

Meanwhile, we have this 1998 production from Salzberg, which makes a very strong case for the work, despite the weakness of the material. In Peter Zadek's production we see a vast, bare stage, representing the desert at the outset, gradually being filled with buildings and people as the city of Mahagonny progresses. The conductor, Dennis Russell Davies, drives the score along nicely although 2 ½ hours of Kurt Weill does become rather fatiguing. The performances are excellent. The great Wagnerian, Gwyneth Jones turns in what is essentially a character performance as the Widow Begbick. Catherine Malfitano's Jenny is full of mature voluptuousness. She has the only well known number in the show, Alabama Song. I found her rendition strangely disappointing, perhaps because I usually hear it sung by jazz-inflected singers. Her later, more operatic, numbers (they are scarcely arias) are more successful. The outstanding performance for me was from Jerry Hadley as Jimmy. He combines his lyric tenor with a Siegfriedian destructive exuberance. It made me want to see him in a more substantial role. I loved the way he jumps down from the stage and harangues the embarrassed Burghers of Salzberg on the pleasures of anarchy.

This seems to be a commendable but hopeless attempt at breathing life into a moribund opera. By the end I needed a stiff drink and I felt like Catherine Malfitano singing Alabama Song: "O show me the way to the next whiskey bar…"

As much as I do love opera, I have never considered The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny one of my favourites. It does have an interesting story structure, but apart from the Alabama song Weill's style in general is one that I haven't ever warmed to for some reason. While I do much prefer the 1979 Met production with Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Cornell MacNeil and Paul Plishka, this 1998 one from Salzburg is still pretty good.

Do I think there are any problems? I do think so. The sound quality is rather diffused and doesn't feel very balanced. This is especially true in regard to the orchestra. The sets are also drab in colour and rather bare considering how huge the Salzburg stage is. I would have preferred a more evocative approach like with the Met. The video directing is also a disappointment. I do often find Brian Large's work interesting and sometimes almost cinematic, but here there are a lot of in-your-face close-ups and sadly not much else. It is especially unkind to Catherine Malfitano.

However, the costumes are colourful, and the staging makes the most of the material. I personally also found it very amusing when Jimmy jumps down the stage, runs out and starts harassing the audience, that was a neat touch and didn't detract from the music or story. The orchestral playing is richly detailed and does its best to make the music energetic. Dennis Russell Davies paces things nicely, though I did find it odd that he was wearing casual clothes.

Jerry Hadley is an outstanding Jimmy. His voice fills the auditorium, which is quite a feat considering the scale of it, yet also has some ardour. His acting is compellingly exciting and he seems to believe and feel every word that comes out of his mouth. Catherine Malfitano may be a tad too mature for Jenny, and I would have preferred a more jazzy sort of voice for the Alabama song compared to Malfitano's thrilling but rather loose-vibratoed tone. However, she sings beautifully, really immerses herself in the role and her duets with Hadley have a great sense of intimacy.

Gwyneth Jones vocally is not at her best. While having some signs of power, this is a stage in her career where the voice was very wobbly and I also got the notion that the role of Begbick was too low for her. However, the intelligent and musical singer she is, she does give it her best shot, her drinking and trial scenes are very vivid.

Roy Cornelius Smith sings lusciously, while Wilbur Paley's Trinity Moses is imposing and sometimes obnoxious, Toby Spence is a youthful Toby Higgins and as Jimmy's group of friends Udo Holdorf, Dale Duesing and Harry Peeters would do Weill and Brecht proud. Overall, an interesting and well-sung and acted production, if not my first choice and imperfect. I just hope that my perception of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny goes up from mild appreciation overtime.

7/10 Bethany Cox