The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny  By Bertolt Brecht

music by Kurt Weill  From the production in English at the Los Angeles Operahouse 2007

Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James Conlon, conductor



                               Presented in the three Acts  from DVD

                                        Includes Commentary track

                                     Sung in English with EN SP DE FR

                                 subtitles in your VLC or Daum Player

                                  featurette: John Conlon talks about                                    the opera and Epic Theatre

Run time  2 hrs  13 mins



IMDb  /tt1240172



Cast and Creatives



Directed for the stage by  John Doyle

Directed for the screen by  Gary Halvorson



Audra MacDonald                 Jenny  Smith

Patti LuPone                    Leocadia Begbick

Anthony Dean Griffey            Jimmy MacIntyre

Robert Worle,                   Fatty the Bookkeeper

Donnie Ray Albert               Trinity Moses

John Easterlin                  Jack O'Brien

Mel Ulrich                      Bank Accountant Bill



 full cast and credits in the credit roll



Summary :



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 and the pursuit of pleasure, where cash is king and poverty is punishable by death.



  My notes:



  Previously I have made torrents on how opera gets made in "Wonders Are Many" which is from an opera about J.  Robert Oppenheimer and the Manahattan Project.  Then "Wagner's Dream".  Wagner's Dream documents the the set machinery which is the most complex of it's kind for The Ring Cycle.



  Here, in English,  is Bertolt Brecht's "Mahagonny" with music by Kurt Weill.  The best known melody in Mahagonny is the "Alabama Song."  This is more commonly known as the Whiskey Bar song. The interview with James Conlon is included here since Conlon describes not only his interpretation of the characters but also what Brechtian drama is.



  For those who think all this might be pretty stilted, the story of Mahagonny very much resembles how Las Vegas became what it is today.  The settings begin in a desert and through the course of the opera the familiar skyline of LV takes shape.



  More than that would be taking away from the actual production.



  Enjoy Mahagonny and seek out other Brecht pieces available on torrents including Baal (with David Bowie) and NTLive Three Penny Opera (which contains "Mack The Knife".)



This dvd edit should be available from the usual sources for libraries and schools.  It's presented here with a new

subtitle edit and act breaks for more to enjoy.     I've maintained the category entry where other operas are found.



Notes written January 17th  2020