University of Minnesota Opera Theatre
November 20-22 7:30pm
November 23 1:30pm
Kurt Weill STREET SCENE
American Opera in two acts
Book by Elmer Rice, based on his play of the same name
Lyrics by Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice
Based on Elmer Rice’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of 1929, the piece highlights both the hardships and the resilience of working-class people in a rundown and impoverished community at the height of the depression in New York City. The composer, Kurt Weill, a Jewish emigre who had fled Nazi Germany, and the African-American lyricist, Langston Hughes, both understood the power of the play to portray racism and intolerance in a country that showed little empathy for its underclasses. Despite the tragedies that unfold in the second half of the work (a hybrid between opera and musical theatre), the message that we are left to reflect on is the importance of realcommunity and compassion, for and with others, in our shared existence. This all feels as pertinent today as it was then! The ’opera’ was written in 1947 and has been hugely successful on Broadway and in opera houses ever since!
David Walsh, director
Leon Kobayashi, conductor