{"id":832,"date":"2020-01-28T08:28:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T08:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=832"},"modified":"2020-01-28T08:58:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T08:58:27","slug":"street-scenes-praised-by-steve-bewick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/01\/28\/street-scenes-praised-by-steve-bewick\/","title":{"rendered":"STREET SCENES praised by Steve Bewick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STREET SCENE by Kurt Weill: Opera North <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grand Theatre, Leeds, January 18th<\/sup> 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The synopsis for the Opera North production of Street Scenes, which opened at \u00b4The Grand Theatre,\u00b4 Leeds on Saturday 18th<\/sup> January 2020, of one of Kurt Weill\u00b4s lesser known musicals, was atmospheric and dramatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
composer of Street Scenes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4On a stiflingly hot summer\u00b4s day and  night in New York a family is pushed to breaking point. Frank is angry at a world that’s changing too fast. His daughter Rose longs for a different life away from the squalor of the city and his wife, also unhappy, struggles with a terrible  secret that would blow their world apart. As the heat builds, the tension rises and explodes into violence that will their lives changed for ever. The backdrop is America in the post war years. The apartment block is a microcosm of life at that time. With the hindsight of history the audience knows that the America world itself soon explode into its own pool of violence engulfing the lives of the residents of downtown New York. Kurt Weill skilfully blends these two worlds and their conflicts, telling the tale of the family through his musical arrangements.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world and its conflicts, darkness and war and tensions in domestic lives were common currency of Kurt Weill, and his musical compositions and arrangements capture that secrecy and intrigue and fear. Street Scene he blends the arias and duets of the opera world with the jazz of Broadway, the new musical form of its day. Soaring arias and duets rubs shoulders with the golden Broadway days of jazz and the jitterbug. Puccini shakes hands with Gershwin, in a fictional embrace, to create a musical in the hands of Kurt Weill. Whilst the piece lacks the show-stopping hits of some of its contemporaries, numbers such as Lonely House, Moon Faced and Starry Eyes won him the prize of best musical score in the very first Tony award in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leeds audience was attentive to every detail and applauded every song. The youngsters opening the second act had the audience spellbound in their playground games and songs taking the form of the lives of their elders for whom they were destined to copy so long as the backdrop for their lives played out. The cast, tonight, included Guisell Allen, Robert Heywood, Gelline Butterfield, Alison Langar, who made up the Maurrant family and I must mention Amy Payne (who plays Greta Firontino) as she looked so menacing in the program notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Steve Bewick (left) and Norman Warwick
presenting all across the arts on Crescent Radio
Steve presents Hot Biscuits on FCUM Radio and on line<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

All of the above\ncame to the all across the arts office on Lanzarote via an attachment to an e\nmail from Steve Bewick, radio broadcaster and jazz buff. The body of that e\nmail told us the above had all been tapped into his phone pad as he returned\nover the Pennines to his Milnrow home on the last night train from Leeds to\nManchester. His e mail rambled on about plans for a proposed holiday over here\nwith us, and somehow managed to name Faust, Trotsky and Boris Johnson in the\nsame sentence, a trick surely no one else has ever achieved. He also told me he\nhas recently been attending events at Bury Jazz Society that\nmeets to listen to and discuss all types of jazz music from New Orleans, swing,\nmainstream Bebop and contemporary jazz. Members will give a talk, or invite\nothers to the Society to give a presentation on these topics. Entrance is \u00a33.50\nto a jazz society that already has its own Facebook page and has been receiving\npositive press in The Bury Times. They meet at The Mosses on Cecil Street, but\ncheck fb for further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Steve mentioned a change in direction of his own visual\nart work I was reminded not only of Steve\u00b4s skills with a pencil, but also the\nmusic of Miles Davis. When Steve last holidayed with us a few years ago he\ncreated to some incredible sketches of our Lanzarote landscape, which naturally\nwe entitled Sketches Of Spain, in homage to Miles Davis\u00b4 seminal album. Later\nthis year, Steve will be staging an exhibition of work with his artistic\nmentor. And by then Steve also expects to be presenting a new \u00b4live\u00b4 radio\nprogramme on his favourite topic of jazz music, so watch this space for\ndetails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told me that Street Scene is a lesser known musical by Kurt Weill, in which Porgy takes Bess to see West Side Story,. a descriptive comparison of Steve\u00b4s own making. For anyone who might not be prepared to cross the hills into the county of the white rose, the production will be presented at The Lowry, in Salford, but for one night only. so check details at their box office or on line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Leeds Grand Theatre
& Opera House<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When \u00b4polite society\u00b4 still thought that the music-hall tradition lowered the tone of entertainment, the deliciously titled Leeds Grand Theatre And Opera House was built. In that time, 1878, music halls were seen as \u00b4pub-based\u00b4 establishments so the name of the new-build on a three quarter acre site fronted by the Briggate space could not have further distanced it from such associations. It took more than a year and more than sixty thousand pounds to build. Its architects, George Corson and james Robertson Watson, who had together toured Europe seeking out its churches and theatres, drew inspiration from that journey. The gothic ecclesiastical spires they would have seen are there amidst the Romanesque and Scottish baronial style of the building, in which can be found many more gothic motifs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significant\nof its elevated status was the fact that only those with tickets for the best\nseats were allowed to enter via the main entrance. All others were herded\nthrough side doors so that class conscious Victorian high society could remain\ndetached from those \u00b4below their ranks. The Dress Circle and Boxes were furnished\nwith free standing chairs hen elsewhere in the theatre the seating was all of\nthe bench style, some of which, in the Upper Circle, was upholstered, but those\nin the Gallery were simply hard wood and backless, and packers were employed to\ncram as many people as possible on to these benches, which must have made theatre\ngoing then a cramped and uncomfortable experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grand\ntheatre and Opera House, Leeds is now well over one hundred and fifty years old\nand has become widely regarded as major milestones in Victorian theatre\nbuilding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first\never performance at the venue was of Much ado About Nothing on 10th<\/sup> November\n1878. Stars who performed their in the twentieth century include Sarah Bernhardt,\nJulie Andrews, Morecambe And Wise and Laurence Olivier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a\ncapacity of slightly over 1,500 the theatre now houses performances of all\ntypes and the best and most notable examples of dance, drama, comedy and music\nproductions have been shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone seeing a performance of Kurt Weill\u00b4s Street Scene at both the Grand Theatre Leeds, and later at The Lowry Salford could not but help noticing the difference in the between the venues, and for that reason alone it would be worth checking out https:\/\/thelowry.com\/whats-on<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Lowry Theatre, Salford<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According\nto Wiki, to\nredevelop the derelict Salford docks<\/a>, Salford City Council<\/a> developed a regeneration plan in\n1988 for the brownfield<\/a> site highlighting the leisure,\ncultural and tourism potential of the area, and included a flagship development\nthat would involve the creation of a performing arts centre. The initial\nproposals were for two theatres and an art gallery on a prominent site on Pier\n8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1990 and 1991 a competition was launched\nand architects James Stirling Michael Wilford Associates was selected. After\nthe death of James\nStirling<\/a> in June\n1992 Michael Wilford continued the project. The city council bid for Millennium\nand other British and European funds and private sector finance to progress the\nproject. Funding was secured in 1996 and The Lowry Trust became responsible for\nthe project which comprised The Lowry Centre, the plaza, a footbridge, a retail\noutlet shopping mall and Digital World Centre. The National Lottery<\/a> provided over \u00a321 million of funding towards its construction. The\nproject was completed in 2000 at a cost of \u00a3106 million. The Lowry name was\nadopted in honour of the local artist, L. S. Lowry. In 2002, a nearby shopping\ncentre that was also named after Lowry was opened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complex is close to the Imperial\nWar Museum North<\/a> and the Old Trafford<\/a> football stadium. It is served by the MediaCityUK<\/a> stop on the Metrolink<\/a> tram network. In 2010 and 2011\nit was Greater Manchester’s most visited tourist attraction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lowry, though, is not only a theatre but is also a registered\ncharity (No: 1053962) committed to using visual and performing arts to enrich\npeople\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It offers audiences a diverse programme of theatre, opera, musicals,\ndance, music, comedy and visual art as well as events and activities to expand\nthe horizons of audiences and artists alike. I have been privileged to work\nthere as a freelance artist on a couple of occasions and as an audience member\nI have seen concerts by the likes of Joan Baez and poetry recitals by\nwordsmiths like Roger McGough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of the theatre\u00b4s work is a commitment to local communities\nand young people. Tapping into the work on their stages and in their galleries,\nwe The Lowry offers thousands of free creative participation opportunities each\nyear. There is a passion about nurturing talent, developing creative\nprofessionals of the future and raising aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a majestic, metallic structure that still seems futuristic, twenty\nyears after being built. It still dominates a huge stretch of Salford Quays\nhaving been at the forefront of that areas re-gentrification\u00b4at the time. There\nis wonderful lighting outside that seems to imprint the structure on to the\nnight sky, and there are galleries, libraries, workshops and coffee shops and\ntwo or three theatres \/ concert halls of various sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of a community project I had been involved in I once took a\ngroup of disadvantaged youngsters from a deprived area in Rochdale to see a Matthew\nBourne ballet at The Lowry. The staff were amazing, and invited the kids on to\nthe stage before the event, and making sure these young people had a\nlife-changing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I went there again, later, to my first Lowry concert and arrived\nthere in the dark the light of the theatre as I approached it took my breath\naway, and that night, like Steve Bewick furiously typing up his review on the\nnight train I launched into a stream of consciousness review that was unlike\nanything I had ever written. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just for fun, (mine certainly, and perhaps for yours too) I will post\nthat review of the Janis Ian concert called Boots Like Emmylou\u00b4s over the next\ncouple of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Lowry, of course, is named after Laurence Stephen Lowry\n(1887 \u2013 1976) \u2013 an artist who spent much of his life in Salford and whose work\nis strongly associated with the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salford Museum & Art Gallery had been a long-standing collector of\nhis work and some 400 individual works \u2013 as well as an extensive archive of\nphotographs, press cuttings and exhibition catalogues \u2013 were transferred to The\nLowry on its opening in April 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, The Lowry provides critical and curatorial analysis of his work\nand seeks to raise his profile as an artist of international stature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
stamp of approval
Kurt Weill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Kurt Weill, writer of the Street\nScene piece that had so intrigued Steve Bewick, was an American composer, born\nin Germany in 1900, who, in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht, created\nrevolutionary Opera, full of sharp social satire. After gaining experience as\nan Opera coach and conductor in Dessau, Weill settled in Berlin in the early nineteen\ntwenties and studied music, beginning as a composer of instrumental works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two early works, Der Protagonist and Royal Palace, established him as one Germany\u00b4s most promising Opera composers. Critics noted his music as being expressionistic, experimental and abstract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brecht<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Weill\u00b4s first collaboration with\nBrecht, Mahagonny, was something of a success and more of a scandal at the\nprestigious Baden Baden Festival in Germany in 1927, as it was seen as\nsatirising life in an imaginary America that was somehow recognisably Germany,\ntoo. The following year Weill created perhaps one of his most famous works, The\nThreepenny Opera, a transposition of John Gay\u00b4s \nBeggar\u00b4s Opera, written 200 years earlier. Gay\u00b4s eighteenth century\nvagabonds were turned by Weill into recognisable character from the Berlin\nunderworld of the nineteen twenties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work, and performances of\nextended versions of Mahagoony under the title of Rise And Fall Of The City Of\nMahagonny, forged Weill\u00b4s reputation as a composer of music that could be harsh,\nmordant, jazz flavoured and touched by a haunting melancholy. His work\nillustrated an awareness of American popular music genres, including ragtime\nand jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular musicians, too, have\ninterpreted Weill\u00b4s work, with Marianne Faithful making several recordings of\nhis work. However, respected music journalist Bob Gottlieb, begins an otherwise\npositive review of one such album, Seven Deadly Sins,  with something of a public health warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4If you’re looking for the angelic Marianne Faithfull<\/a> of As Tears Go By<\/a>, or the angry diva of Broken English<\/a>, or the lusher but piercingly acute imagery of her work with Angelo Badalamenti<\/a>, you will not find it here. What you will find, though, is a fully orchestrated work that she has been selling out the house with in Europe — a parable of commerce called The Seven Deadly Sins<\/a>, with the Vienna Radio Orchestra<\/a> and Dennis Russell Davies<\/a> conducting. These are the songs of Kurt Weill<\/a>, composer, and Bertolt Brecht<\/a>, lyricist. This work, it would seem, is a perfect match of voice timbre and sound wished for by the composer. The husky and weary voiced Faithfull<\/a> does these songs as they were intended to be done, her voice a beautiful match in tone and colour. It is the heavy and sombre tone of the music that blends so perfectly with her voice here. Weill’s music tends toward a formality and sombreness that shadows the concerns of the songs. Here Brecht’s lyrics tell the moribund story of a girl placed on a tour by her family to earn money for their luxury; her voice reflects the weariness that becomes the ideal vehicle for her travails and lacerations. According to the tabloids, if they are to be believed, Marianne spent her life researching this work. She displays that rare intelligence that allows all “misfortunes” to be converted to her benefit. There is a detachment that allows one to be intimately involved with, but not consumed by, this type of work. This is her best work in quite some time. She deserves all the accolades that come her way as a serious singer who can pull off the piece. A wonderful disc from one whose live presence we must count as miraculous considering what she has lived through.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, a brief e mail, composed on\nthe night trains took me wandering the Sidetracks And Detours that meander all\nacross the arts, and took me Leeds to the Lowry, from twentieth century Germany\nand America to 21st<\/sup> century gentrified Manchester, and whilst doing\nso learned a little bit about social attitudes then and now. I followed Steve\u00b4s\nsignposts and signals to Opera and jazz and drama, had a quick \u00b4glance\u00b4 at his\nown new art work, and fell in love all over again with Marianne Faithful, and by\ndoing all that created this \u00b4new\u00b4 piece to post to the blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting Gobby At The Lobby<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve, though, was not the only\none to guide me down new sidetracks and detours this week. Also fulfilling the\nrole of tour guide all across the arts was the poet Ian Whitely who tells me\nthat they are \u00b4Getting Gobby In The Lobby\u00b4 which is actually the title he has\ngiven to a new series of poetry and comedy nights in Wakefield. Oddly enough\nthat sounds like just the sort of thing the eclectic Steve Bewick might fit\ninto one of his quirky jazz programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ian Whitely
cd available<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ian is an innovative writer who\nsometimes sets his poetry to music and has released a cd which I reviewed in\npositive terms a few years ago. I will try to retrieve that from the aata\narchives and re-generate it for you whilst also inviting Ian to keep us updated\nre dates and performances. They are getting Gobby At The Lobby on the second\nWednesday of each month, with the next event being on 12th<\/sup>\nFebruary., in what looks on-line like a great venue at Lobby 1867, Unity Hall, Westgate,\nWakefield WF1 1EP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STREET SCENE by Kurt Weill: Opera North Grand Theatre, Leeds, January 18th 2020 The synopsis for the Opera North production of Street Scenes, which opened at \u00b4The Grand Theatre,\u00b4 Leeds on Saturday 18th January 2020, of one of Kurt Weill\u00b4s lesser known musicals, was atmospheric and dramatic. \u00b4On a stiflingly hot summer\u00b4s day and  night in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,45,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-writers","category-music","category-performing-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}