Angelina Réaux directs the California Stage production of "The Threepenny Opera," by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. It opened in 1928 and proved to be one of the great musicals of all time.
It recalls what happens when the banks get richer and the poor get poorer. The play tells the tale of the doomed love affair of Mac Heath, London’s reigning thief, and Polly Peachum, the deceptively sweet daughter of a successful businessman who specializes in human misery and controls the city’s beggars. Based loosely on John Gay’s much earlier Beggars’ Opera, it is filled with betrayals, schemes, revenge, reversals of fortune, and Weill’s famously dissonant score. The popular singer Bobby Darin made the song “Mac the Knife” famous.
Stars of the local musical theater make up the cast: Kelly Daniells, Michael RJ Campbell, Michael Sokol, Angelina Réaux, Gregory Jurado, James Rollans, Mark Fejta, Jabriel Shelton, Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly, Jessica Goldman, Joelle Wirth, Senga Smith, Laura Lothian, Annie Coke, and Whitney-Claire Roeder.
Director Réaux has appeared on the stages of opera houses, concert halls, cabarets, and theatres around the world, singing everything from Italian Opera to "OKLAHOMA!" She has won wide recognition for her performances of French and German Cabaret and "The American Songbook." She has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, John Mauceri, Kent Nagano, Marin, Alsop, and Ned Rorem; worked with Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, Stephen Wadsworth, Tony Taccone, Tony Kushner, sung with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Boston Pops, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia; and with the Santa Fe Opera, Washington Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera.
Internationally acclaimed for both her performances and recordings of the works of Kurt Weill and Leonard Bernstein, Reaux has also worked on and off-Broadway, toured nationally with "Sweeney Todd," and has been presented by some of the world's leading theatres and concert houses.
The orchestra will be conducted by Christopher Cook, local director and conductor who recently produced and directed “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at The California Stage Theater.
“Threepenny Opera” opens February 5 and plays through February 27, 2010. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 general; $15 students, seniors, and actors. For reservations, more information, or ticket sales, contact California Stage at 916-451-5822 or online at www,calstage.org or seeaplay.com. California Stage Theater is at 1723 25th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816. It is a non-profit, collaborative production company and is fully accessible.
No comments:
Post a Comment