Musical Revue. Tacoma Opera takes on the life and music of Kurt Weill in its production of "Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill," this weekend. (Photo Courtesy of Tacoma Opera)
Tacoma Opera is going from opera alley to the Great White Way with its mid-season production that runs this weekend. The non-profit opera company will be staging "Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill," a cabaret view of the life's work of one of the most celebrated composers of Broadway performed by the Tacoma Opera Young Artists. Performances of this musical revue will cover the span of Weill's most famous music for two nights only. Shows are at 8 p.m. on Feb. 11 and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Theatre on the Square in Tacoma.
Weill was the king of the keys during his reign in the 1930s and 1940s. He worked with the likes of Moss Hart, Ira Gershwin, Langston Hughes and Alan Jay Lerner to create the scores for "The Threepenny Opera," "The Rise and Fall of the City Mahagonny," "Knickerbocker Holiday," "Lady in the Dark," "Street Scene" and "Lost in the Stars." While he is best known for his Broadway works, Weill's musical journey covers two decades of transformation that saw him jumping from the Weimar Republic of Germany after World War I to Paris during the rise of Adolf Hitler to America. This revue stamps the passport of that journey. "Although Weill wrote primarily for the Broadway stage in this country, his musical output was quite serious in nature and was written in a quasi-operatic style. 'Street Scene' and 'Lost in the Stars' probably represent this new Broadway 'operatic' style from the late 1940s and early 1950s best," opera spokesman Noel Koran said. "Tacoma Opera's production of Kurt Weill's music emphasizes the composer's more serious side and his deep concern for social issues of his day. The songs chosen for this production, which are loosely grouped in two categories (The Politics of War and the Politics of Love), will give the audience not only a good representation of Weill's musical style as a composer over the years, but also an insight into his strong commitment to exposing important social issues through his music."
The Tacoma version of the show has pared down the original 31-song play list to 21 songs, including the addition of Weill's "Walt Whitman Songs" and "Unknown Songs" that were not in the original production. The production is directed by Jeff Clapp, artistic director of theater at Pacific Lutheran University. The music director for the production is Sheila Bristow, an affiliate artist at PLU. The cast for the production are: Celeste Godin, Woong Kim, Ksenia Popova, Bryan Hiroto Stenson and Heather Weirich, all of whom are young artists for Tacoma Opera. All but Stenson will be making their Tacoma debut during this show.
Soprano Godin received her training in both vocal performance and pedagogy at PLU. There, she performed in opera workshops in choruses and orchestra pits and stages. In spring 2011, she was featured as a student soloist with the University Symphony Orchestra.
Kim, a baritone, was born in Seoul, South Korea. He received a certificate in vocal performance and a bachelor in arts degree in music at Chung-Ang University in Seoul. While attending CAU, he appeared in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" as Count Almaviva, Puccini's "La Bohéme" as Marcelo, and Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" as Belcore. Kim's most recent performances include singing Ford in Verdi's "Falstaff," Papageno in Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in Seattle Opera Preview Guild, Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" as Prince Yamadori in Skagit Opera, "Celebrate Asia" with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Father in University of Washington's recent production of Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel." He is currently attending the University of Washington.
Soprano Popova recently received her second encouragement award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. Past performances include Madame Goldentrill in "The Impresario," the title role in the world premiere of "The Legend of Poker Alice" and the Northwest new-translation premiere of "Une Education Manquée." She has also performed with numerous local organizations including Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Rainier Family Opera, Shoreline Community College and Public Concert Opera. Stenson, a tenor, is a recent PLU graduate coming from Tokyo, Japan. It was at PLU where he started performing in operas with his first role as Apollo in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo." Major roles so far include Jupiter in "Semele," Albert in "Albert Herring" and Eisenstein in "Die Fledermaus." He was involved in other performance-based activities such as musical theater, dance, composition seminars and choir, including the acclaimed Choir of the West. He was last seen at Tacoma Opera in the role of Albazar in "The Turk in Italy" earlier this season. He is also a choral music intern for both Charles Wright Academy Lower School and Tacoma Youth Chorus under the guidance of Judith Herrington.
Weirich, a mezzo-soprano, was born and raised in Leavenworth. She is currently earning an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at PLU. Having done productions throughout the region, Weirich has performed shows with Leavenworth Summer Theater, Wenatchee One-Act Opera Company, Ascension Theater Productions, Tacoma Opera, PLU Opera and the PLU Theater Department. Tickets for "Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill" are $30 and are available by calling (253) 627-7789 or at www.tacomaopera.com.
