Department of Theatre and Dance to present The Threepenny Opera
New production is "visceral, exciting and in-your-face."
by Georgeann Kenney
The UB Department of Theatre and Dance will present The Threepenny Opera, in the first production in the United States of a new adaptation written by Tony and Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens, which premiered in 2016 at The National Theatre in London. Nathan R. Matthews, associate professor and director of music theatre, will serve as director and music supervisor for this newly conceived and designed full production with orchestra at the UB Center for the Arts Drama Theatre, May 2-5, 2019.
The Threepenny Opera, the second most revived musical in Broadway history, celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2018. The work, by Bertrolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann, is a play with music, dancing and singing based on John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. Weill called it the first opera for actors. A product of Weimar Germany, The Threepenny Opera is a work that criticizes capitalism and middle-class morality while following a cast of criminals and prostitutes. Director Nathan Matthews said Stephen’s adaptation brings with it some changes, but it remains a criticism of capitalistic society. This will be the fourth production Matthews has done of this timeless classic, and the first presenting this new adaptation on stage.
“The politics have always been in the play, inherently in the way it’s written,” said Matthews. “Stephens has modified the structure to make it a more forward-moving play, but more than that, he’s rewritten and expanded the female roles. They become active participants in what happens; their choices, even more than in the original, affect the action of the play.”
Matthews, a contributing author to The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies, has worked on Broadway, at the Santa Fe Opera, across North America and abroad. He has developed and produced new works of music theatre as the founding Producing Artistic Director of New York’s Riverside Opera Ensemble where he has helmed events with the participation of Leonard Bernstein, Rosemary Harris, and Harolyn Blackwell. Matthews has worked with internationally acclaimed artists such as Dixie Carter, Mark Hamill and Anne Hathaway. In Western New York, Matthews has music directed/conducted at the Irish Classical Theatre Company, the Kavinoky Theatre, Musicalfare Theatre, and Artpark.
John Fredo, the production’s choreographer, is a Buffalo native where he is well-known for his involvement as a director, choreographer and actor in nearly 100 productions in Western New York. He has worked across the US, Europe and Asia as a choreographer, dancer, singer and actor. Fredo has worked with Mercedes Ellington, Judith Jamison, Harold Nicholas, Maurice and Gregory Hines among others, and has acted, directed and choreographed at Musicalfare and the Kavinoky Theatre. Matthews is particularly excited to have Fredo working with him on this production.
Alison D’Amato, assistant professor of vocal coaching at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester is the music director.
“This adaptation is a very mature, adult take on it,” said Matthews. “It’s visceral, exciting and in-your-face. Everyone should come."
Don’t miss this milestone of 20th century music theatre and U.S. premiere of this new adaptation.
Tickets are $20 for general admission, students and seniors can reserve tickets for $10. Reserve your tickets online at www.ubcfa.org.
Threepenny Opera is funded in part by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc., New York, NY, and in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences’ Kurt Weill Festival.