"The Threepenny Opera" at Atlantic Theater Company Off-Broadway

Prior to my annual theater week in NYC this year, I had never seen the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill ground-breaking opera The Threepenny Opera, and was unfamiliar with the music, except of course for the standard "Mack the Knife." But in a strange coincidence, I will see it twice in a little over a week - at the Atlantic Theater Company Off-Broadway in NYC as well as a production by Frank Theatre in Minneapolis. I'm happy to have the opportunity to see it twice; it's not an easily accessible piece of music-theater but it's worth the effort.

First produced in 1928 in Berlin, The Threepenny Opera tells the story of a criminal/mobster/thief named Macheath (aka Mack the Knife) in Victorian London. When Mack marries the daughter of his rival Mr. Peachum, head of the beggers, Mr. Peachum retaliates by trying to get Macheath arrested and hung. Despite Mack's many crimes, it's not an easy task since the police chief is Mack's buddy. But eventually, Mack is jailed and about to be hung when he's suddenly miraculously freed. The story is told through a series of vignettes and songs, with each character getting their moment to be heard.

Laura Osnes and Michael Park

The Threepenny Opera is gorgeously staged at the intimate Atlantic Theater Company stage in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC. The wonderful orchestra is placed in a little room at the back of the stage, alternately hidden and revealed by a drawn curtain. At the front of the stage is another curtain, but not a typical luxurious theater curtain, just canvas hanging on a wire that is opened and closed manually by the cast as the scene requires. Clutter resides on the edges of the mostly bare stage with furniture moved in when necessary - tables, chairs, a jail cell. The costumes are gorgeous, from the pristine finery on Mack and his bride Polly to the mismatched rags worn by the prostitutes Mack visits. (Set by Robert Israel and costumes by Donna Zakowska.)

This is a wonderful cast, including TV/film/stage vet F. Murray Abraham as Mr. Peachum and Mary Beth Peil as Mrs. Peachum (see also Follies). I was thrilled to see Michael Park as Macheath, since I've long been a fan of him on stage (his voice is on the original cast recordings of Smokey Joe’s Café and Violet, and I saw him in How to Succeed a few years ago) and screen (his Emmy-winning performance as Jack on the dear departed soap As the World Turns). This is a great role to showcase his many talents; his Macheath is a charming rogue with a sinister presence on stage that can silence or beguile with just one look, and his voice is divine! Minnesota's own Broadway star Laura Osnes sings like an angel as Polly Peachum. She's come a long way since I last saw her seven and a half years ago on the Chanhassen stage as Sandy in Grease, becoming a regular on the Broadway boards and racking up two Tony nominations. I'm so proud of her success and happy I finally got to see her perform in NYC, and meet her and chat about Minnesota theater. The entire ensemble is just wonderful, especially Sally Murphy as Jenny, Mack's one-time love who turns him in.

Atlantic Theater Company's production of The Threepenny Opera is seedy, sexy, raw, earthy, and gorgeously staged and sung by the talented cast. I'm so grateful I had the chance to see it during it's two-month run, and I'm looking forward to seeing The Threepenny Opera again soon back home in Minnesota.

"Follies" at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway

Bernadette Peters and Stephen Sondheim on Broadway.  That's all it took to get me to see Follies last weekend, a show that I previously knew nothing about.  Sometimes it's best to go into a show with no expectations.  I was blown away.  It's an absolutely stunning production.  From the set and costumes, to the huge veteran cast, to the gorgeous Sondheim music, it's an amazing musical theater experience.

Follies is set in 1971 and was first produced on Broadway that year.  It takes place in a theater about to be demolished and reunites the women who worked there in the 30s and 40s as "Follies girls."  The main characters are two erstwhile best friends, Sally (Bernadette Peters) and Phyllis (Jan Maxwell), and their husbands Buddy (Danny Berstein) and Ben (Ron Raines).  They comprise an awkward and complicated love quadrangle.  Buddy loves Sally but Sally loves Ben.  Ben only loves Sally until he has her, and then he wants Phyllis back.  As they reminisce about their past and their stories unfold, we also see the young versions of these four characters.  Their costumes are slightly faded, they're lit with a softer light, and even the sound of their voices is slightly echoing, like we're seeing visions from the past.  Sometimes the past and present action occur simultaneously.  The worlds overlap and we see the parallels between then and now.  It's really beautifully and effectively done.

The show opens with the orchestra playing the Prologue while beautifully dressed women walk slowly and elegantly across the stage, a run-down theater.  They're ghosts of the past, dressed in blacks and greys, with the elaborate headdresses of showgirls.  They continue to walk around or stand in the background as the present-day action goes on in front of them, and one or two even remain on stage during intermission.  There's a sad, wistful feeling about the show, and the costumes, set, lighting, and sound design all contribute to that feeling.

As I'm beginning to learn is typical in a Stephen Sondheim show, everyone in the large ensemble gets their moment to shine.  And they all just knock it out of the park - Mary Beth Peil slinking across the stage singing "Ah, Paris," Jayne Houdyshell singing the classic "Broadway Baby," Elaine Paige belting "I'm Still Here," and Terri White tapping up a storm in "Who's That Woman."  These women are all stars in their own right, but are in this show for one shining moment.  And the beautiful thing is that they're all over 50.  After seeing RENT starring a bunch of 20-year-olds (which is appropriate for the show) just the night before, it was nice to see mature, beautiful, talented, amazing women kicking it up on a Broadway stage.  That's a rare sight, and thrilling.

Follies celebrated its opening night just this week.  I fully expect and hope to see all four leads nominated come Tony time next spring.  They are all spectacular, especially the women, and each have their "folly" moment at the end of the show.  Danny Burstein (whom we loved in his Tony-nominated role in South Pacific a few years ago) does a funny vaudeville number ("The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues") that is hiding deeper pain.  Jan Maxwell has a killer dance number with a bunch of dancing boys behind her.  Bernadette walks out onto an empty stage in a gorgeous purple dress and pours her heart out in song, as only she can do.  Finally, Ron Raines (one of those theater/soap crossover actors), comes out in a top hat and tails and leads the ensemble in a great song and dance number, until he falls apart at the mess he's made of his life.  It's not a happy ending, but it's a conclusion.  I felt like I had been on a journey with these people and shared a moment in their lives.

We waited at the stage door, but because it was a matinee before an evening performance, we didn't see any of the four leads.  But we did see young Buddy and the tap-dancing Terri White, who informed us that the cast was going into the studio in October to record the soundtrack.  I'll be watching for that.

Follies is on Broadway for a "limited engagement" after a run at the Kennedy Center in DC earlier this year.  I'm not sure how long the engagement will last, but it would be a crime for any musical theater lover who has the opportunity to see it, not to.  One could say that it would be folly to miss this show.