A Play With Music

The Threepenny Opera

Light the candles, chill the champagne and cut the cake! Unbelievably, Theo Ubique is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary of excellent musical and dramatic productions, while (thankfully) showing no sign of slowing down. Artistic Director extraordinaire, Fred Anzevino, once again dons the director’s cap himself to personally guide this peerless production. And it is, indeed, a stellar, full evening of theatre. 

This much acclaimed and deservedly accoladed theatre company had its start at the cozy Heartland Studio. It then relocated down the street at the equally intimate and thoroughly charming No Exit Cafe, where it also offered beverages and dinner to the ticket, if patrons desired. The allure for Theo Ubique patrons not only included a polished, professional performance, but also being waited upon and chatting with the actors in the show. This friendly actor/audience relationship continues today in the theatre’s new, larger Evanston venue on Howard Street. The productions are still up-close and personal, often weaving among the audience. And 25 years later, the creative, highly respected Fred Anzevino brings the world of Macheath and his cronies of beggars, thieves, prostitutes and low-lives to the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre to entertain and enlighten.

Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera” opened in Berlin in 1928. The first American production opened on Broadway in 1933, but closed after only 12 performances. The jazzy and Germanic-sounding songs in it by Kurt Weill can stand on their own. They don’t necessarily further the plot; they purposely interrupt the action at specific moments. Thus, we have a new theatrical form called a Play with Music, rather than a traditional musical comedy. The piece was based upon John Gay’s 18th century English Ballad opera, appropriately entitled “The Beggar’s Opera.” Both Gay’s play and Brecht’s theatrical piece are satires, an unapologetic criticism of capitalism, with a nod toward the socialist movement.

The story is about London’s greatest and most notorious criminal, an antihero named Macheath, variously called Captain, Mackie and Mack the Knife. Consummately portrayed by the multi-gifted Carl Herzog, he’s introduced to the audience in the most famous song from this show, the “Ballad of Mack the Knife.” It’s sung in this production by a prostitute named Jenny, who is his former girlfriend. She’s seductively played by the phenomenal belter, Liz Bollar. Mackie, the always dressed-to-kill crime lord, is about to marry Polly Peachum (the dazzling Chamaya Moody) in a grimy stable, amid the company of his criminal gang. With no one offering any sort of entertainment at the wedding, Polly volunteers to serenade the assembly with a powerful ballad entitled, “Pirate Jenny.” 

Macheath’s buddy Tiger Brown (a terrific Michael Mejia), who happens to be the corrupt London Chief of Police, finally shows up at the ceremony. He and Mackie once served time in the British military, and they delight everyone present with their old escapades in the rousing “Army Song.” But, unbeknownst to Mackie and his new bride, Polly’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peachum, who control all the thieves, beggars and pickpockets of London, are conspiring to have Mack the Knife arrested and hanged.

Within the three-acts, the bawdy Mrs. Peachum, played by the incredibly talented Megan Elk, joins Thomas M. Shea as Mr. Peachum in “The World is Mean.” They both delight with a solo performance of the “Ballad of Dependency” and later joins Macheath in the scathing “How to Survive.” In Act III, this gifted performer leads the other beggars in the “Useless Song.” 

Jenny returns to delight the audience with her duet with Mackie, the “Tango Ballad.” But in Ms. Bollar’s triumphant solo, the “Solomon Song,” she tells the history of how powerful men throughout history have all been brought down in the end.

One of the finest performances is this production is by Nathe Rowbotham as a non-binary Lucy Brown. Their stirring rendition of the “Barbara Song,” as well as their musical catfight with Ms. Moody, aptly called the “Jealousy Duet,” is pure magic. The enchanting Rowbotham, who played Lancelot in Music Theater Works’ “Camelot,” and was an ensemble member of Theo’s “Once Upon a Mattress,” is certainly a master of their craft. 

Fred Anzevino has paced his production with pulse and pleasure. Music Director and pianist Ryan Brewster has brought out the best in this company’s voices, while keeping the show humming as he madly tickles the ivories. The sparse, but effective scenic design by Mara Ishihara Zinky incorporates Maggie Fullilove-Nugent’s ceiling of multi-shaded lamps to accent and illuminate the space. Choreographer Jenna Schoppe has economically filled the Theo Ubique venue with movement and dance steps to help tell the story of Mack the Knife. And Cindy Moon’s interesting Costume Design is a ragtag collection of contemporary and period fashions that sometimes work very well (especially for Mackie, Polly and the Peachums), but at other times seem unconsidered and haphazardly thrown together.  

The very nature of “The Threepenny Opera” has led to countless discussions over the decades about how it should be categorized. The consensus seems to be to call it a Play with Music, rather than a Musical Comedy. According to one critic, the work is “the weightiest possible lowbrow opera for highbrows and the most full-blooded highbrow musical for lowbrows.” I must admit that the show might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the sheer array of talent on the Theo Ubique stage, and Anzevino’s exquisitely directed production, are nothing short of stellar.  
 

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented March 10-April 30 by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater, 1751 Howard St., Evanston, IL.

Tickets are available in person at the door, by calling 800-595-4849 or by going to www.Theo-u.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.