Caliente

'Unique piece' is next up for Arizona Opera

Arizona Opera's ventures beyond expected repertoire began two seasons ago with a production of Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd," a work that is both opera and musical play. The ventures continue this week with a piece that belongs, surprisingly, to neither genre. "In my knowledge, 'Threepenny Opera' is a unique piece," says George Hanson, music director for Arizona Opera's first-ever production of the 1928 classic. "It de-emphasizes the bel canto abilities of the singers and emphasizes the character of the music. The more successful productions in Germany employ more actors than singers." "The Threepenny Opera" is a work of jazzy flavors, sardonic attitude and smoky ambience. "Sometimes, the more the actors have smoked, the better they sound in 'Threepenny,' " says Hanson, also the conductor and music director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. A collection of short musical numbers without even a hint of operatic virtuosity, the score was created for a band of actor/singers to accompany the politically charged text of Bertolt Brecht. Brecht, a committed Marxist, had discovered an 18th-century English satire called "The Beggar's Opera." Written by John Gay, the piece exposed the corruption and hypocrisy of the powerful elite, something that echoed Brecht's own artistic and political ambitions. He updated the story of a lowlife criminal to the 19th century, but kept the action in London, adding bits of social commentary pertinent to 1928 Berlin. The story transferred over the centuries with relative ease; the score was another matter. "The Beggar's Opera" was not an opera, but a collection of 68 popular songs of the day, outfitted with new lyrics. For instance, a street ditty called "Oh London Is a Fair Town" became "Our Polly Is a Sad Slut." The original melodies and their parody texts were badly outdated, however, so Brecht opted to ask his young collaborator from a previous effort to supply original music to his words. His choice birthed the career of one of the 20th century's greatest theatrical musicians, Kurt Weill. Though "The Threepenny Opera" takes place in 19th-century London, its atmosphere belongs strictly to Germany between the wars. "I'm doing a kind of Marlene Dietrich takeoff," says Gloria Parker, who is one of two narrators in the show - an innovation made by London's Donmar Warehouse production in the 1990s, the version Arizona is using. "The other narrator is Doug Jones, who is the personification of Joel Grey in 'Cabaret.' " "Cabaret" and Dietrich both relate to the era of "Threepenny." Parker warns that the text is explicit: "(The Ballad of) Mack the Knife" - the show's opening number and its one huge popular hit - "has line after line about murder and rape. The text is a sendup of the deliciousness of violence." Parker adds that stage director Bernard Uzan's conception contains a surprise ending - which she declines to hint at. She does aver the message of the show to be "the more horrible a person is, the more he'll get along in life," a theme in keeping with Brecht's view of contemporary society. For "Threepenny" audiences, this means enjoying the passing entertainment even while taking the insults.