Two Directors Reshape Classics From the 20's; 'The Threepenny Opera'

• Published in: The New York times
• Main Authors: Ward, Simon, Simon Ward is a London-based actor
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y New York Times Company 10.09.1989
• Edition: Late Edition (East Coast)
• Subjects: Brecht, Bertolt; Dexter, John; Gay, John; THEATER; WARD, SIMON; Weill, Kurt
• ISSN: 0362-4331

DASHED OFF BY [BERTOLT BRECHT] and [Kurt Weill] in 1928 in order to open a a young impresario's first season, ''The Threepenny Opera'' is a sublime example of theatrical triumph achieved through catastrophe and chaos. A script hurriedly cobbled together from a new German translation of [John Gay]'s 18th-century satire ''The Beggar's Opera'' - along with Brecht's rewrites, Weill's music and a few borrowings from [Francois Villon] and Rudyard Kipling - was treated to a rehearsal period that would make the toughest and most sanguine of theatrical managers fall sweating and weeping to the office carpet. Appendicitis for one actress and sudden widowhood for another, performers' objections, both artistic and moral, a dress rehearsal that was three quarters of an hour too long, songs cut, songs added - it was the artistic process at its most vibrant and exciting. That Kurt Weill's bride, the fabulous Lotte Lenya, was accidentally left off the program was an incidental misfortune. And ''Mack the Knife'' - the mysterious and dangerous ballad that Bobby Darin made a Top-10 triumph - was a last-minute entry. Naturally the show became the hit of the year, indeed of the decade, in Weimar Germany. Mr. [John Dexter]'s aim is to get ''Threepenny'' on in the Brecht style. ''It's very tempting at the beginning to turn it into a show with electrical gadgets and turntables and whatnot,'' he says. ''But I don't think that is the way to get the most juice out of the piece. I think the way Brecht himself suggested staging it is probably the best way - the half-curtain, the orchestra on stage, the exposed mechanics give it the improvised look of an opera as only a beggar could imagine it. It has to have that look without being boring. Brecht's directions are almost as specific as Shaw's, and you had better follow them. It's very simple, but then the simple is always difficult. . . Always!'' To provide the difficult solutions to these simple problems, Mr. Dexter has assembled a formidable team, including Julius Rudel, general director of the New York City Opera from 1957 to 1979, as music director. ''We worked together twice at the Met and again in Paris,'' Mr. Dexter says, ''and the presence of Maestro Rudel means that musically the play will be absolutely authoritative.'' Jocelyn Herbert, a close collaborator since the 1950's, when Mr. Dexter first arrived at the English Stage Company, will design the sets and costumes. ''Jocelyn and I have worked together so often,'' says Mr. Dexter, ''that many of the preliminary discussions can be eliminated in just one meeting - 'Do you remember how we. . . ? Can we just pull this downstage four feet?' It's the best way of working I know.''