LA: Virginia Woolf & City of Mahagonny

I'm sure others will post more erudite (and lengthier) reviews, but two recent openings at the LA Music Center bear mention. Saw "Virginia Woolf" at today's matinee (which I believe opened last night) at the Ahmanson, and it was just as brilliant and devastating as when I saw it on Broadway in May 2005. It was interesting to see how Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner have settled into their roles since then, yet still keep the sparks flying. Act I was particularly hilarious and the audience (myself included) laughed constantly. The more serious monologues in Acts II and III were weaker, I thought, and I could tell this immediately because I felt my mind wander... the Honey (Kathleen Early) and Nick (David Furr) owed much to the NY originals (Mireille Enos and David Harbour) yet the dynamic was completely different, especially Martha/Nick. Heartily recommend this to anyone who hasn't see it, or those who saw in NY with the first cast. Be sure to get tickets close to the stage-- the $20 Hot Tix are at the extreme side of the orchestra but you won't miss a thing. The backs of the mezz and balcony are blocked off, but you wouldn't want to miss out on the actors' faces by sitting even in the front of the mezz.
After that I saw the opening night perf of LA Opera's John Doyle-directed "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." I am struggling to find anything redeeming about it. It makes the Roundabout "Threepenny" (which I hated) seem in retrospect as crowd-pleasingly entertaining as "Hairspray." Except for the presences of LuPone and McDonald (who were, of course excellent-- and leggy), I was bored to the proverbial tears. Doyle's frontal, static blocking is frankly more staid than "real" operas I've seen at LAO (which, in fact, I do quite often) and the Iraq references stuck in at the end seemed awkward and forced. I couldn't believe that there was an LED scroller-- must've been salvaged from "Threepenny"! Recommendation: for die-hard Weill and Broadway diva fans only!

Just behcause thenewmoon hasn't been posting on this website long, doesn't mean that the opinions of that poster lack validity.

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She posted her opinion, I posted mine.

I don't need to get a grip on anything, thanks.

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You don't need a code; you just have to call or go in person to get the $20 "Hot Tix." You can't order them online.

I know about the HOT TIX. They dont tell you where your seats are and I want to make sure Im not in the balcony...but there was a promotion for $35 seats where you get to choose your seats.

Code 6305

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I agree with thenewmoon. I saw Mahagonny Sat. nite and it was really stagnant. Plodding. Pretty lifeless. A lot of wonderful voices, but so what? And the English translation was pretty crappy. If they were going to do the supertitles, why not perform it in German and do the titles in English? And during the trial sequence they used onstage video, which was old when I saw Trevor Nunn use it in the original production of Chess in London.

Patti was out of her depth, sorry. She didn't have much to do, either, and I felt her abilities were wasted. Audra is an absolutely goddess, sounded and looked like a dream, and was not doing opera acting but real acting. She's like some genetic theater freak - just ridiculously gifted.

Disappointing overall. Doyle is better than this.

I could not disagree more about Mahagonny. The production is a must-see for fans of musical theatre as well as for opera afficionados.

Direction, orchestra and exceptional cast come together in this post-modern production of Mahagonny. While McDonald and Lupone do not disappoint, Anthony Dean Griffey is a revelation as Joey, the ex gold miner. John Doyle proves that he can work without the tired the actor-musician concept and James Conlon shows why he's the premier go-to conductor for Weimar Republic composers.

Yes, it was an operatic production rather than a musical theatre production- there were no "production numbers", no real choreography to speak of and the aesthetic was definitely post-modern European opera house than Broadway.

Yes, there were a few over-the-top bits such as the televised trial and Audra's character suggesting Condi Rice in the 2nd act. Yes, the Feingold translation sounds a bit stuffy (a new one by someone like Frank McGuinness would have been better) but overall, the production was very true to the Brecht/Weill message.

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