My three cents worth: The Threepenny Opera at BAM

I'm not above writting about something that impresses me, theater or otherwise. Well . . . last night my wife and I shared a theatrical experience that was well worth spending some time writing about. We saw the Berliner Ensemble's production of The Threepenny Opera at BAM. It floored us both.

Every aspect of the piece was amazing. The voices were superb, and the set design, while minimal, was evocative and artful. The acting was as deep and rich as anything I've seen, ever; and the singing voices were stunning.

The only mild hang up was having to watch the translation on supertitles above the stage, so you had to steal glances upward quickly so as not to lose anything that was happening on stage. At first I was considering just watching without translation, it was that gorgeous to look at and to listen to . . . if what was happening on stage wasn't enough for you, you could have had a nice evening just closing your eyes and listening to the music . . .

I wish I could have taken notes; some of the lines in the play about art, and war and economic injustice were timeless . . . in fact this play, first performed in 1928, rang very true for today.

That, kiddies, is what theater is all about!

The curtain calls were long and rapturous; they did a group call, then by ascending order of characters, then each individual actor got the chance to walk on stage and soak up the love, then one more ensemble call. I had to wonder if, since this was the closing performance, they gave the actors the individual calls as a treat . . .

A special shout out here for the actors. Every single person in the Ensemble was right on target. Their acting and singing was topnotch and their physicality was mindblowing; not that it was Cirque Du Soleil or anything, but the movements were precise and each character had their way of carrying themselves (not as easy as it looks) . . . many many gorgeous stage pictures. (My first Robert Wilson experience, I'm a believer now)

Of course, the Berliner Ensemble was Brecht's creation way back when; so you had to figure whatever they do vis a vis one of his pieces is going to be pretty damn worth seeing . . . I was in hopes that it would wash the taste of the embarrassing production that the Roundabout did a few years back out of my mouth. It's so nice that now, whenever I think of Brecht, or Weil, I will immediately see images from last night's stupendous production.

This was the first of four productions we have tickets for at BAM this fall. And what a way to start!