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Kurt Weill - On Stage: From Berlin to Broadway ReviewKurt Weill's career has been hotly debated for more than 60 years. The questions began while he was still alive: Did he sell out his German artistry for the crass commercialism of Broadway? Or did he only really come into his own when he was freed from European snobbery? The answer is that both opinions are somewhat true and somewhat false. Rather than treat Weill's work as two separate careers, a European one and an American one as most commentators seem to do, Foster Hirsch treats Weill's career as a single entity. Hirsch's KURT WEILL ON STAGE is a superb chronological overview of Kurt Weill's work for the theatre, showing the logical evolution of his work. Weill became a world famous celebrity by age 30 as a result of his sensational THREEPENNY OPERA and MAHAGONNY. With the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, Weill wisely fled Germany, ending up in America after a period in Paris. But could he succeed in a new country and a new culture? Many distinguished European artist-refugees of that period simply could not adapt and faded into obscurity. Weill determined that he could succeed by writing in an American idiom. He made the transition quite smoothly, creating a string of popular Broadway shows that spawned hit songs like "September Song" and "Speak Low" before dying of a heart attack at age 50. At the time of his death he seems to have been just another Broadway composer, but with the passage of time, Weill's reputation has grown and he is now recognized as one of the 20th Century's great composers. In Hirsch's book, Weill's American shows are revealed to be a continuation of the innovative thrust of THREEPENNY OPERA. Just as he had worked with the prodigy Berthold Brecht in Germany, in America he collaborated with the nation's most prestigious writers, including the Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Green, Maxwell Anderson, Ira Gershwin, Moss Hart and Elmer Rice. Among his other collaborators were Ogden Nash and a pre-MY FAIR LADY Alan Jay Lerner. He worked with such noted directors as Max Reinhardt, Elia Kazan and Josh Logan and choreographers George Balanchine and Agnes DeMille. Mary Martin had her first starring role on Broadway in ONE TOUCH OF VENUS. Gertrude Lawrence made a huge hit in LADY IN THE DARK, which also catapulted Danny Kaye and Victor Mature to fame. And of course, there was Lotte Lenya, the German star whose unorthodox marriage to Weill is still confounding to most people. She had affairs with members of both sexes before, during and after the marriage to Weill; He made no secret of his affairs with other women. But they had an unbreakable bond that went beyond sex. Lenya devoted her life to promoting his work after he died and achieved her greatest fame late in life.
Hirsch keeps his opinions of the work fairly restricted, which I appreciated. The only Weill score he really seems to denigrate is LOST IN THE STARS. (I have to agree with him, though.) This is not really a biography of Weill. The biographical aspects of the book are very sketchy. They are there to provide a context for the work. I enjoyed this book enormously and listened to all my old Weill recordings (and bought some new ones) during the weeks I was reading it. There will probably be a revival of interest in Weill with the arrival of the new Broadway show LOVE MUSIK, which deals with the relationship of Weill and Lenya. KURT WEILL ON STAGE provides an excellent overview of Weill's life and work that I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject.
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