The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday,^ September 14, 1989-Page 51
s music
IS
Bv
FRANK RASKY
TORONTO -
Most theatregoers think of Kurt Weill only as the composer, who collaborat-
.....ed with Bertolt Brecht on
. the 1928 satirical drama about decadent Berlin, The Three Penny Opera.
To be more precise, they identify him almost exclusively as \ the man responsible for that brassy cabaret pop tune glorifying a gangster. :Mack The Knife.
However, Weill (1900-1950) was infinitely more versatile than that.
If for no other, reason, we ought to thank Leah Posluns producer Reva Stem for reviving the 1972 Off Broadway musical revue, Berlin To Broadway With Kurt Weill (running until Sept. 24 in the theatre at the Jewish Community Centre; 4588 Bathurst St., 630-6752). • . :
I, for one. must confess I'd forgotten the immense range of Weill's output:
The son of a cantor, he supported himself by playing liturgical compositions ■ in a Berlin synagogue and piano at a rowdy,beer hall. His two other major-influences were' Engelbert Humperdinck. His music school teacher who composed the opera Hansel and Gretel. and the recorded jazz music of George . Ger.shwin.
Director Tom Diamond and book writer Gene Lerner have conveniently packaged for us a two-act cavalcade of 36 songs representative of Weill's music in 11 stage productions^
I regret to report, though, that the musical numbers are as uneven as the five local performers who sing aiid dance on the imaginative set designed by Terry Gunvordahl — a ship docked at a wooden pier, while film scenes from the-voyage are flashed on a backdrop.
The first half of the slTpw is devoted tcrWeill's dark Berlin period. Almost all the songs are harsh aiid sardonic, they are fanged with a cynical bite, typified ; by The Survival. Song:. ' "What keeps a man alive? He lives on others!"
The second act songs, after Weill has fleid from Hitler's Germany in 1935 to find refuge in Manhattan, tend to be more upbeat. Some are deservedly forgotten, like the corny patriotic flag-wavers,//oM' Can You Tell An Ameriean? and
Iviarie Baron (left), Bruce Clayton and June Garba co-star in Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill at Leah Posluns Theatre.
Songs Of Peace And War.
Others are timeless bail-lads. tender with nostalgic rue. that deserve to be : resurrected. Most notable of these statidards is the: \o\>ely Septemi?er Song from Maxwell Anderson's musical, Knickerbocker Holiday:''Ks a long, long-way/From May to December/But the days grow short/When you reach September."
That evergreen is performed beautifully by one of the two outstanding members of the cast. He is baritone Gary Kraw-ford, who co-starred in the Noel Coward revues at Toronto's old Theatre-in-the-Dell with Tom Kneebone and- Dinah Christie, and here is menacingly believable as a murderous Mack the Knife.
Likewise exceptional is. June Garba, an adroit comedienne in the Posluns productions. Applause and Last of The Red Hot Lovers. Here she is in peak form as a belter capturing the earthy, gritty flavor of Weill's bitter songs.
She is especially mar-velloiis in her impassioned delivery of Surabaya John-ny. It's the epitome of torch songs, "You betrayed me, Johnny/You have no heart, Johnny/Goodbye, Johnny/Yet God, I love you so, Johnny "She ends it on her knees, imploring him with her hands.
The other female singer, Marie- Baron, has been badly miscast. She is a lilting soprano, with a sugary, refinwj, operatic voice, better equipped for the'role
of Yum-Yum she performed in the Stratford production of Vie Mikado. "But here, in the Jealousy Duet from Threepenny, she is no match for Garba; you feel that her rival for Mackie's affections is capable of chewing her and spitting her out like a sunflower seed before breakfast.
Similarly miscast are Bruce Clayton and David Scammell. They are good-looking juveniles with sweet tenor voices.
Pos/un's curtain to
or
By
BEN ROSE TORONTO -
The curtain for Berlin to Broadway by Kurt Weill at Leah Posluns Theatre will be held at 8:30 p.m., Satur-, day. Sept; 23, in order to give those observing Shab-bos an opportunity to be there for the opening. The other evening performances begin at 8 p.m.
Ruth Hyman told the CJN that the theatre had overlooked the need for a late opening for one of the four Saturday performances to accommodate
ormance
Sabbath observers. As a long-tme subscriber, she said, she was disappointed that no provision had been made.
"They offered me another night but that's not the point," she said.''I did receive support from Bernard Dales, the theatre's, branch chairman."
Heather Bond, the theatre's associate administrator, said its season opened this year earlier than usual and the need for one shot late Saturday curtain was-overlooked.
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But when delivering Weill's tough and cynical songs, they come across as wimpy creampufTs.
Partly to blame is music director John Karr. He frequently drowns out their , voices with his strident piano-playing. And he is apparently responsible for misguiding the singers in their interpretation of some of the ballads.
I was dreadfully disappointed in the quartet rendition of my favorite Weill song, Cry The Beloved
Country.
It should be a cantorial wail that ought to pierce the heart._But under Karr's misdirection, the lament becomes a happy-time morale booster, as though everything were' turning out hunky=dory in South Africa.
But enough of that nitpicking. I feel grateful to the Leah Posluns showfolk for helping me rediscover such Weill m~usical wonders as Lonely House (from the Elmer Rice Man-
hattan foll^ opera,, .Aree/
Scene, with lyrics by the Black poet, Langston Hughes); Progress (from the Alan Jay Lemer wicked satire on American marriage. Love Life): and Saga Of Jenny (from the Moss Hart musical comedy about psychoanalysis with witty Freudian lyrics by Ira Gershwin).
Despite its falterings and manifold flaws, this voyage uito Weill musical country is a delightful trip well worth taking.
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