Mahagonny in 1970

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 11/5/12 at 10:05pm

read an old "Talk of the Town article from New York Magazine saying there was a production of Brecht and Weill's Mahagonny Off Broadway in 1970 and wanted to know if anybody here saw this [at least to me] mythical production or had any info.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 10:34am

They previewed for like 9 weeks and ran 8 performances and when they closed they had like $20 in the bank. They had to open when they did, and they had to close right away because there was no more money to either continue previews or to cushion a run.

Years ago I knew a woman who was in the ensemble and was Estelle Parsons' understudy and that was what she said.

Also, every understudy went on at some point during the preview period.

They played an old Yiddish house on 2nd Avenue at about 4th Street. I think the building is still there, but transformed into something else. The entrance was on 2nd but the theatre was set back. You'd have to look at the side streets to find it. The shape is still of a theatre. It was called The Anderson Theatre.

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 11/6/12 at 8:06pm

Bumping for hope for more info!

[twinbelters]

Posted: 11/7/12 at 4:48pm

Wasn't Meryl in this?

[daredevil]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 11:13am

I saw what was probably the first (or second) Sunday matinee preview. Estelle Parsons was the widow Begbick; the very talented Barbara Harris was Jennie, and Frank Poretta was Jimmy Mahoney.
Carmen Capalbo, who had directed the very successful production of Three Penny Opera, that had ran for years at the Lortel in the fities, was the director. My memory is that the piece was over directed, some film was included (the first mixed media piece?) but that very little made sense; the plot seemed dwarfed by the director's vision. I wish I could say more, but very little of it reached me. The 1977 production at the Metropolitan Opera, directed by John Dexter, made much more sense out of it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 3:04pm

Twinbelters, I believe you are confusing this production with the Broadway production of HAPPY END, in which Streep played Hallelujah Lil. Streep was not in this production at all.

WOSQ is correct--the production played 70 previews and 8 performances. A recording was also announced (by Decca, perhaps?) but that never came to fruition.

You can hear Barbara Harris sing "Alabama Song" on Youtube.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 5:48pm

Yes, Streep was unforgettable in HAPPY END. She was clearly a star from her character's first "Hello". (I didn't know Brecht then and found the production incomprehensible, but there was no missing Streep.)

Thanks for the tip on Harris and You Tube, AC! Updated On: 11/8/12 at 05:48 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 5:54pm

Mahogany in 1975: Do You Know Where You're Going To...?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 6:01pm

I was waiting for someone to post that! I kept wanting to say, "I liked to Diana Ross movie better"

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/8/12 at 6:06pm

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 8:15pm

Any other people lucky enough to have seen the wonderful Parsons and Harris in this?

I've read it's very different from the original and most other productions, and the Kurt Weill Foundation site has this to say about it:

Lotte Lenya and Stefan Brecht (son of Bertolt) are appalled by the production before and during previews, but are unable to prevent it from opening. The show closes in May after only about seven performances.

[yfs]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 12:29am

I saw it. Weirdly, Dave Van Ronk was also in it -- he's the prototype for Llewyn Davis in the Coen Brothers Greenwich Village folk boom movie. And the production definitely smacked of the Village mentality that was still very much a part of late '60s culture at the time. It was a complete shambles, and made very little sense. It played, I believe, at what had been the Anderson Yiddish Theatre on 2nd Avenue, and looked like one of those off-Broadway shows where everyone rehearsed stoned and then suddenly realized that they had to face an audience. It was a glorious era for theatrical daring and catastrophe (Dude, etc.), and I'm glad I saw it, but I don't remember much about it except being utterly baffled by the whole thing -- including the wonderful performers, who looked stranded and lost in it.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 3:21pm

"It was a glorious era for theatrical daring and catastrophe"

I wish we had this today. Everything is so calculated. I think the off-Broadway spirit has died.

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 5:42pm

Yes, it was an odd production,but anything with Barbara Harris was worth watching. I was not familiar with the piece then (saw the Met production in the late 70s, and the more recent Audra/Pati one on video), but this was Barbara's last New York stage appearance before she went to Hollywood. She was great, and yes, you can hear her sing "Moon of Alabama" on Youtube. As many know, her performances in ON A CLEAR DAY and THE APPLE TREE are legendary.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 10:08pm

There were several different versions (large and small) of MAHAGONNY back in Germany in the 1920s. I don't know what they were doing in 1970, but I doubt it bore much resemblance to MAHAGONNY at the Met.