ICSM Online Journal > Reviews

Reviewed by Michael Eagleton
posted 19 March 2006

In the late 1970s, when my opera-going career was still in its impressionable infancy, I spent a few days in Berlin . It was my first visit, and I have been back to this fascinating city almost every year since, but one evening of that trip stands out in my memory – Joachim Herz’s production of Weill’s Mahagonny at the Komische Oper in (East) Berlin . In my youthful ignorance, I knew nothing of Herz, and not much more about the piece I was about to see, but even so I was soon aware this was something very special. This was definitely Music Theatre and not ‘opra’. The experience began outside the theatre, where Begbick and company’s jalopy had pitched up on the pavement in Behrenstrasse, and it ended with the storming of the theatre by armed troops who joined the menacing parade of placard carriers on stage. And all this after the hassle at Checkpoint Charlie to get there in the first place!

Now, older and wiser, and with a dozen and more Mahagonnies behind me, I know that Joachim Herz was a pupil of the great director Walter Felsenstein, and had succeeded him as Intendant at the Komische Oper in 1976. In 1981 Herz moved from Berlin to Dresden for a ten-year stint at the Semper Oper and was succeeded in Berlin by another Felstenstein pupil, Harry Kupfer, and it was Kupfer who was chosen for the new – and first – production of Mahagonny in Dresden in May this year.

I also know Mahagonny much better, and that that groundbreaking Komische Oper production, though not the first after the War, was the one which secured the status of the work as a mainstay of the repertory (it was restaged by the Theater am Gärntnerplatz in Munich in 1984). I have also come to realise that it is a fragile piece; it does not always survive even the smallest of liberties being taken (Declan Donnellan at English National Opera in 1995), but paradoxically can withstand quite drastic treatment provided its essential spirit is not compromised (Ruth Berghaus in Stuttgart). Some distinguished directors seem to miss the point to such an extent that Brecht and Weill disappear almost without trace (Günter Krämer’s ‘Mickey Mouse’ affair at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin in 1999, and earlier in Hamburg).

It would be interesting to know whether Kupfer saw the Herz production in Berlin . I suspect he did. Of course, the world has moved on. Begbick and her crew arrive by helicopter (my heart sank when the machine descended – slowly and sedately – onto this venerable stage, but only momentarily…), and aided by cunning use of the revolve the fuselage provides ample opportunity for use as bar and brothel. The relentless progress of the hurricane is watched on television, as is the fatal boxing match between Trinity Moses and Alaska Wolf Joe. But the world is still driven by big money: the model buildings in the background – a ruined Reichstag among them – are imperceptibly replaced by modern skyscrapers as the evening progresses. That they are later blown up is, I suppose, inevitable, in the same way that the Berlin Wall and its breaching makes a dutiful, if irrelevant, appearance.

Most local reviewers were a bit sniffy about the whole thing. The general consensus seemed to be that Kupfer had nothing new to say about the piece. But did he need to? Perhaps they failed to notice that in the final awesome parade, the placards had contradictory messages on each side. We do not know what we want!

Musically, the evening was a real treat. The Dresden Staatskapelle is a pretty up-market institution and might have considered Kurt Weill somewhat beneath it, but under Sebastian Weigle (Berlin-born, and one of the rising stars of his generation – good to hear that he has just been appointed Frankfurt’s new Generalmusikdirector) taut rhythms and pungent winds ensured an authentic Weill sound. The orchestra’s pedigree showed where others find difficulty – for instance, the precision and vitality in the scurrying string-writing at the beginning. There was a delicious, treacly depth of string-tone to the chorus ‘Lasst euch nicht verführen’ at the end of Act 2, and a lovely sax solo (on stage) for the Benares song.

Leandra Overmann was a ‘traditional’ Begbick – large and loud, but with her wide mezzo she was easily able to sing all the notes, and acted for all her worth. Jenny was Birgitte Christensen – a small but nevertheless attractive voice which gave her a welcome touch of vulnerability. As Jim (Johann), the American Douglas Naswari was a disappointment – a nasal tenor not pleasant to listen to and strained in the big moments. Other parts were well up to scratch, and there was a boiler-suited Brecht look-alike who addressed the audience at the beginning of each scene with the captions which were projected on a screen at the first performances.

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