Kurt Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Kurt Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny Welcome to Mahagonny, where sin is "in" and love is always on sale. This Old West boomtown rises from the desert to become a razzle-dazzle mecca for lust, liberty, and the pursuit of pleasure. Cash is king, poverty is punishable by death, and anything worth doing is worth overdoing. With book and lyrics by the influential playwright Bertolt Brecht, Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald stars as Jenny, a tart-with-a-heart, and Broadway legend Patti LuPone as the town's feisty madam Kurt Weill (composer of "Mack the Knife" and the Threepenny Opera) penned a haunting score, which crosses over from opera to cabaret to Broadway including ragtime, jazz, raucous music hall songs and the classic pop hit "Moon of Alabama". John Doyle, the director of Broadway's smash hit revival of Sweeney Todd, delivers a risqué new production as controversial as the original one banned by the Nazis in the 1930s. The provocative work that inspired the Broadway hits Cabaret and Chicago. A gripping evening of grand entertainment! This programme earned 2009 two Grammy® Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording. ORCHESTRA: Los Angeles Opera CONDUCTOR: James Conlon PERFORMERS: Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Anthony Dean Griffey Artistic Staff: John Doyle, stage director Awards: 2009 Grammy® for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording