Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Weill, From (2022/2022), Directed by Henning Brockhaus, Conductor Christopher Franklin, Teatro Regio, Parma, Italy

A testament to the fruitful, if strained, collaboration between composer Kurt Weill and theater man Bertolt Brecht, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is one of the great operas of the 20th century. Brecht may not have liked music over lyrics, but together they created a richly melodic work of unstoppable dramatic momentum. The scene of the trial, expressionist and grotesque, leads inexorably to the final “Schlager” where the citizens of Mahagonny demonstrate en masse. Director Henning Brockhaus is inspired by paintings of mythical America by artist Edward Hopper. For him, the citizens of Mahagonny are a constant threat, like the ominous shadows of