Sendak designs Krasa's Brundibar & Martinu's Comedy(June 2003)Renowned children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak and award-winning playwright Tony Kushner have lent their considerable talents to an uplifting double bill for Chicago Opera Theater: Hans Krása's Brundibár and Bohuslav Martinu's Comedy on the Bridge. Sendak has designed both productions, and Kushner has created new English translations. Performances begin June 4 at Chicago's Athenaeum Theater, repeated on June 6, 8 (matinee), 12, and 14. The operas are produced in association with Sendak's children's theater company The Night Kitchen. In Krása's Brundibár, a group of feisty children triumph over the title character, an evil organ grinder whose name means 'bumblebee' in Czech. This half-hour opera was first performed in 1943 by children at the notorious Terezín concentration camp, a sham "city for the Jews" created by the Nazis as a public relations ploy. With its winning melodies and veiled anti-Fascist allegory, Brundibár became a symbol of hope at Terezín: 55 performances were given. Eventually, the composer and nearly all of the cast members were shipped to their deaths at Auschwitz and other camps. Yet Brundibár has endured: in recent years it has had hundreds of performances around the world, and has been translated into several languages (including Welsh!). The cast and chorus of Brundibár feature children from the Chicago Public Schools and the surrounding area, including students in Chicago Opera Theater's Education and Outreach program. Ela Weissberger, a Holocaust survivor who originated the role of the Cat in Brundibár, will give a lecture before each of the performances. Reviewing a recent production at the Henry Street Settlement in New York, Anne Midgette of The New York Times observed, "The music of Brundibár is certainly good enough to stand alone. The composer may have simplified it for children, but he did not write down to them. It has jazzy moments, intricate ensembles, and keeps the pace varied." Martinu's Comedy on the Bridge is the story of a group of townspeople comically trapped on a bridge because of a border dispute between two neighboring towns. This witty, optimistic work considers the emotions that come with being caught in the middle, between borders and affections. Martinu based his libretto for Comedy on the Bridge on a satirical play of the same title by Vaclav Kliment Klicpera, a 19th-century Czech dramatist who wrote during a period of Czech rebellion against the Austrian empire. Martinu's opera premiered on Prague radio in 1937; fourteen years later, it achieved great success in New York, presented in an English translation. Looking back at the comedic subject, Martinu said at the time of the revival: "Six months later, I could not have written it." Chicago Opera Theater's production features Joyce Castle and David Holloway in two of the leading roles. Alexander Platt conducts the evening's music, and Thor Steingraber directs both pieces. Following the COT run, the Sendak/Kushner Brundibár and Comedy on the Bridge productions will be available for staging in other venues. > Further information on Work: Brundibár > News Search |
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