'Threepenny' matches tenor of the times, but needs a little more pitch
The Hypocrites couldn't have made a more appropriate choice for their first musical than "The Threepenny Opera." Inspired by John Gay's 18th-century satire, "The Beggar's Opera," Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's seminal 1928 critique of capitalism, self-interest and the bourgeoisie suits not just The Hypocrites' sensibility - smart, experimental, contradictory - but the tone of these troubled times.
Aggressive, with a hint of Grand Guignol, Sean Graney's well-acted, inventively staged show has his company's characteristic sharp edges and shadows. The ambitious, mostly successful production places Weill's sophisticated score - a pastiche of German kabarett, modern classic and barrelhouse - in the very able hands of Timothy Splain, the show's lone pianist. Special arrangements with the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, which holds the rights to "The Threepenny Opera," allowed for the stripped-down accompaniment, which has the added economic benefit of requiring one musician instead of eight. Splain hit all the right notes at Sunday's final preview, earning some of the evening's most enthusiastic applause.
It says something about the ensemble's vocal prowess or lack thereof when the instrumentalist gets a bigger hand than the singers. Therein lies the problem with this "Penny." In all fairness, the theater itself poses challenges, mostly related to the less-than-ideal acoustics which, coupled with some heavy-footed choreography early in the show, made for some unintelligible lyrics.
Not all of Graney's actors meet the demands of Weill's score. A musical set on society's fringes, in a violent, unforgiving environment populated by cutthroats, thieves, prostitutes and extortionists doesn't necessarily require lush voices. In fact, a certain lack of vocal refinement rather suits these characters. And yet, that does not excuse the errant pitches. In a musical, musicality counts.
The acting is another story. The performances are ferocious, especially Gregory Hardigan's turn as the predatory Macheath, the cutthroat who aspires to the middle-class and whose charisma is exceeded only by his menace. Sara Sevigny is in classic harpie mode as the blowzy Mrs. Peachum, mother of Macheath's bride, the innocent Polly (Jennifer Coombs), who adapts quickly to her husband's criminal ways. Vanessa Greenway subtly suggests the wounded heart within the seemingly pitiless prostitute Jenny Diver, and Robert McLean lights the mood as Tiger Brown, the comically corrupt chief of police in cahoots with his cronie Macheath. Then there's Kurt Ehrmann, terrific as the amoral moralist J.J. Peachum, the beggar's big brother who exploits panhandlers for profit. It's Peachum who expresses the opera's prevailing mood when he says, "the wickedness of the world is so great you have to keep running so your legs won't be stolen out from under you."
The action unfolds atop and around large, kidney-shaped platforms in the dimly lit Steppenwolf Merle Reskin Garage Theatre against a backdrop of graffiti-covered walls and below hanging clusters of gray-tinged shoes, a reminder of those who weren't swift enough to survive this corrupt world.
The Hypocrites provocative production - with its contemporary references and its audience asides - illustrates nicely Brecht's concept of epic theater appealing to intellect rather than emotion, the kind of theater that shakes up an audience, that forces them to shake off complacency and confront real-world issues and not simply immerse themselves in an illusion. If only it sang just a little sweeter.
"The Threepenny Opera"
Three stars (out of four)
Location: Steppenwolf Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Times: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 12
Running time: About 2 hours, 40 minutes with intermissions
Tickets: $20, $25
Parking: $9 in the Steppenwolf parking garage
Box office: (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org
Rating: For adults