Operafest Lisboa 2021
Double Bill
Mahagonny Songspiel & Until Death tear us apart (absolute creation)
KURT WEILL & ANA SEARA
Opera Creations
3, 4 SEP | 21h30
Garden National Museum of Ancient Art
Two Operas in 1 Act
Length: 1h20
Sung in original language
Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht first collaboration (1927) resulted in this new operatic paradigm, built in kabarett style, breaking all opera canons of the time, in an implacable satyr to Capitalism ideals. In the city of Mahagonny the only crime is to be poor. Songs such as Alabama Song and Benares became big hits. Having the bar and whisky has common elements, hundred years later in double bill, appears the opera in absolute creation Until death tear us apart by Ana Seara, composer in residence of the festival, based on the homonymous novel by Ana Teresa Pereira. With an atmosphere of film noir, this opera unveils the story of Tom, a police inspector, haunted of having killed an innocent literature teacher, ending up in an affair with a mysterious woman, he marries and takes takes home to live together with his blind daughter. The daughter dies and the secret of the young bride is revealed.
"There are moments in which happiness is stronger than horror, when we read a book together, when we make love to each other (...), however one of us will kill the other, we both know it. The one who will stop loving first."
Musical direction: Jan Wierzba
Stage Direction: António Pires
Light Design: Gi Carvalho
Stage design and props: Daniela Cardante
Cast
Jessie: Rafaela Albuquerque
Bessie: Mariana de Sousa
Billy: Jorge Leiria
Charlie: Carlos Monteiro
Bobby: Tiago Amado Gomes
Jimmy: Diogo Oliveira
Pat: Mariana de Sousa
Tom: Christian Luján
Emilie: Célia Teixeira
Mike and John: Jorge Leiria
Ensemble MPMP