The Threepenny Opera
The Brecht Police will probably snipe at the San Diego Rep's Threepenny: how it fails to achieve this or that aspect of his "epic theater." And parts are open to potshots. But the Sam Woodhouse-directed show not only recreates Brecht's notion of a primitive opera that turns the grandiose into a "dirty joke," it's one of the Rep's finest efforts in quite some time. "Art isn't nice," said Brecht. He not only wanted to expose theatrical trickery, he wanted "the top stratum of the bourgeoisie to laugh at its own absurdity" because, he believed, "to laugh is to criticize," and their laughter would raise the question: "Criminals are bourgeois; are the bourgeois criminals?" The Rep follows Brecht's guidelines. No sane clown would dare apply the cast's gray-and-brown-streaked makeup (from Revlon's "ghoul collection"?), and the romance has a "strange-making" feel, as if perched on quicksand. As Mack, slick-haired Jeffrey Meek wears a red pin-striped suit (designer Jennifer Brawn Giddings) and has the vocal chops-plus. He could play Mack more menacing, though (especially since the character's based, in part, on Jack the Ripper). Leigh Scarritt (making fearless, freaky choices), Amy Ashworth Biedel, and Amanda Kramer excel as Celia Peacham, Lucy Brown, and Polly Peacham. Threepenny's allegedly a beggar's opera. But Kurt Weill's music, his first major score, blurs all distinctions between the basement and the stars. Brecht wanted the music bled of emotion. Though it's a no-no, the singers belt song after song with an infectious, performative verve. Music director Mark Danisovszky's seven-piece band and Javier Velasco's inventive choreography de-Broadway the numbers. They critique the strategies and tricks of commercial theater the way Threepenny critiques capitalism's.
Critic's Pick.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, March 29, 2009
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |