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Volume CXXXIII, Number 17 |
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Berlin to Broadway to Bowdoin
LESLIE BRIDGERS
STAFF WRITER
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| Wish Theater is transformed into a German cabaret for this weekend's performances of Berlin to Broadway. Here Brandy Maloney '06 welcomes the crowd to a world of desire and debauchery. (Jennifer Lee, Bowdoin Orient) |
Last night, Wish Theater took audience members on its first trip across the Atlantic in the musical revue Berlin to Broadway. The production follows Jewish composer Kurt Weill as he flees from Germany in the 1930s to pursue his career in American musicals. The transformation of the theater, with close-up and intimate table seating, promises to not only let its audience watch the journey but to come along for the ride.
Weill began writing shows by collaborating with Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright. However, the two could not continue to compose their politically controversial productions in Weimar Germany as Weill's religious background, as well as the commentary of the songs and storylines, provoked Nazis to prohibit performances and set fire to their scripts.
Weill and Brecht stole away to France before heading to America, where the social undertones of Weill's compositions were not only accepted, but embraced.
Though Weill's songs are not all immediately recognizable, they are all powerful and original, making him one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He worked to create layered lyrics with great musicians and poets, like Ira Gershwin, Langston Hughes, and Ogden Nash. Weill's musicals had a profound effect on fellow composers, such as Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein, and were important in advancing the world of musical theater, in general.
Compiled in the 1970s, Berlin to Broadway traces Weill's travels through selected songs from both German and American musicals. The first act is set in Berlin and includes numbers from The Threepenny Opera and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany, among others.
The stage is transformed into a New York City scene for Act II, which features songs from musicals such as Johnny Johnson, and Lost in the Stars, which was based on a novel by Alan Patton called Cry, the Beloved Country.
In total, the musical revue includes 40 of Weill's songs, which makes very little room for dialogue between them. Seven players assume various roles from the different shows, and "the guide," played by Torin Peterson '07, gives commentary throughout, to place songs in the context of Weill's extraordinary life. A live orchestra plays on the stage as the actors move around them. Director Davis Robinson, chair of the theater and dance department, describes the stage decor as having the feel of a "cabaret theater reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich and The Blue Angel," creating a connection between the audience and the actors.
The show was selected to be performed at Bowdoin by Adam Baber '05, who is also the musical director. The cast and the musicians have been working hard since November to put on a performance that Baber hopes will not move audience members to "leave the theater humming a catchy tune...[but] to leave with a sense of purpose."
Weill's songs are diverse in their sounds and themes, but each one is original, complex, and thought-provoking. Berlin to Broadway gives Weill, an under-sung musical and theatrical influence, the chance to have his own voice heard. However, it takes a careful listener to truly appreciate Weill's music and the meaning behind it.
For the remainder of the weekend, the Bowdoin Department of Theater and Dance gives the Brunswick community a chance to be that attentive audience and, consequentially, to be moved, both across continents and inside themselves. Berlin to Broadway will show tonight and tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., as well as at 2:00 p.m. for a Saturday matinee. Tickets are available at the Smith Union Info Desk and at the door.
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