’Threepenny caps Syracuse Opera season with brilliant critique of classism (Review)

Threepenny Opera

A scene from Syracuse Opera's performance of "The Threepenny Opera."

Conductor Christian Capocaccia cues the 10 musicians, the audience settles, and a Street Singer enters, carrying a lantern to announce the imminent presentation of a show so inexpensive that even a beggar can afford a ticket. Thus begins Syracuse Opera’s season closer, a memorable production of composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 “The Threepenny Opera.”

The collaborators, looking back 200 years to John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera,” which cost a mere threepence to view, found the name and the characters for their creation. But, where Gay wanted only to entertain with his ballad opera, Weill and Brecht, among the disillusioned artists of Post-World War I Europe, used searing satire to challenge audiences to examine their views on capitalism, religion and culture, even parodying the stuffy elitism of traditional opera itself.

The local company gives its audience a production that is as relevant today as it was in 1920s Germany or 1720s London. It is a scathing commentary on class and financial disparity that mocks upper class society and takes a farcical view of its values.

Baritone Gregory Rahming engages the audience as the Street Singer, a role he fills perfectly as he supplies context and lays out the plot line. His is the first of the characters to offer direct audience address, breaking the fourth wall in a technique for which Brecht is famous. The Street Singer introduces the protagonist with the show’s signature song, “The Ballad of Mack the Knife,” which ironically was a last-minute addition to “Threepenny Opera.” And, although the song is familiar from Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong and many others, Rahming sings it with a chilling undertone that belies its soothing melody.

The plot, played out against Penny Gilbert’s expressionist sets, takes place in London during the coronation of Queen Victoria. Head thief Jonathan Peachum controls the beggars, and his bawdy wife (mezzo-soprano Tara Curtis) assigns their ragged costumes. When criminal Macheath returns to town and marries Peachum’s daughter, Polly, Peachum declares him the enemy and plots to have him arrested. Macheath is imprisoned twice and saved from the hanging rope only by a last-minute pardon from the Queen, who makes him a baron. That’s the short version of a story with many twists and turns and which, although generally attributed to Brecht, is at least partially the work of his collaborator, Elisabeth Hauptmann (1897—1973).

Given the slipperiness of categorizing “The Threepenny Opera” as a play with music, not quite either opera or musical theater, the show is cast with people who are equally adept in either genre, and the singing is testament to their talent and experience. Director Cara Consilvio, making her debut with the company, approaches the production from the milieu of the early 20th century cabarets, emphasizing the earthy, lusty and gritty elements.

Audience favorite Peter Kendall Clark is back after having won acclaim in the Syracuse Opera’s 2014-2015 season in “Die Fledermaus” and “A Little Night Music,” and 2015-2016, “My Fair Lady.” He lives up to his radiant reputation as a convincing actor and engaging singer in the role of anti-hero Macheath, portraying the callous rogue with exceptional energy in his resonant, articulate baritone.

His marriage to Polly (Amy Justman) takes place in a stable, where his colleagues in crime provide stolen furniture and decorations, and a tipsy clergyman produces a few words to form the union. Justman has a few fine comedic moments when her character seems to question Macheath’s devotion, and her solo lines are delivered in a sweet, clear soprano.

Polly is wise to doubt Macheath, who is loyal to no woman. He is a regular at the brothel, where Jenny, played by soprano Sharin Apostolou, is in charge of the prostitutes, and he returns to her again and again despite their antagonistic relationship. Apostolou, with her animated stage presence and lusty delivery, brightens all her scenes.

Macheath is also involved with Lucy Brown, played by Central New York native soprano Julie Ebner, whose Act II solo about love is one of the best in the show. Program notes celebrate Gregory Sheppard, who plays the part of Tiger Brown, for his 30th year on stage with Syracuse Opera.

In addition to blending art and social activism, “The Threepenny Opera” is intended to convey a sense of the general malaise of the period between the two world wars. It may be that quality that resulted in some staid delivery both in song and dialogue at the Friday night opening. Still, the music was true to Weill’s style, and the production provoked thoughtful assessment of the nature of human relationships on the personal and societal levels.

THE DETAILS

Who: Syracuse Opera; Christian Capocaccia conductor; Cara Consilvio, director

What: “The Threepenny Opera,” Marc Blitzstein translation

Where: Crouse-Hinds Theater, John H. Mulroy Civic Center

When: Final performance Sunday, April 14, 2 p.m. (Reviewed opening night, April 12)

Running Time: Approximately two and a half hours with one intermission after Act I

Language: English

Tickets: Online at syracuseopera.org; by phone at 315-476-7372, or at the door

Price: From $10 to $206

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