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elfsOur date night was to attend Falling In Love Again and For A Look or a Touch, two very different musical presentations about life before and during the Nazi era in Germany.
Falling In Love Again featured the full chorus behind an on-stage orchestra, while in front dancers from Spectrum Dance Theater performed the Tango and other provocative dancers. They sang many popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "Mack the Knife," "Love For Sale," and "Falling In Love Again," some in the original German, some in the English versions known to have been popular in Berlin at the time. The settings was, of course, a gay cabaret in the 1930s, and the story conveyed was about the vibrancy of Berlin's nightlife prior to the coming of the Nazi party.
All in all, this was the kind of song-and-dance that the Seattle Men's Chorus is known for, with small singing groups, brief solos, a wide variety of music, effective use of the chorus as visual effect, and lots of ribald humor
For a Look or a Touch was a "musical drama" about two real men, Gad and Manfred. Gad lived until the late 1990s; Manfred died in a concentration camp in 1942. They had both been 19, and in love, in 1942, when the Nazis came and took Manfreds's family away. Manfred was given a choice: to run away with Gad, or to go with his family as they all went to the camp. Manfred chose his family. Gad survived, but homosexuality remained a criminal offense after the war and he was unable to ever speak about his guilt until very late in life. Because he was unable to speak about it, he refused to revisit it, and it wasn't until late in life that he learned just how horrific the camps had been.
The Seattle Men's Chorus was again a major component of the piece, especially as Manfred's ghost recounts the horrors of the camp. It was neither gratuitous nor maudlin, but it was especially harsh, in an appropriate way. Dressed in prison rags, the chorus provided voice and counterpoint to the orchestra (now down in the orchestral pit), as Manfred and Gad sang and spoke their way through Gad's guilt and redemption.
Omaha went to read the exhibits in the foyer after the performance, but I went to talk to some of the chorus. I had to ask, "Why was there smoke?" Because there was a very light smoke in the theater. Both said it was to give the scene that otherworldly, fantasy feel of a ghost visitation story. It was so light, however, that I kept wondering if something was wrong with my new prescription, now only a week old.
I learned that one special effect failed due to a burned-out stage light, but the piece about how the Nazis had "improved" upon crucifixion with the mechanical crane, and used it exclusively on those who wore the pink triangle, in which a member of the chorus was slowly hoisted and silhoutted in a side-light, was especially horrifying and effective.
For a Look or a Touch isn't a nice piece, but it is about redemption, the complicated kind of redemption that comes with survivors' guilt, with acceptance of your survival. It's very sensitively mixed in with that gay-tinged adulation of one's glory days, when, as the libretto went, "night was for more than just sleeping," and for how the ones who died young will always be young in our hearts. Beautiful boys, surrendered old men, and a shared sense that life could have been better, but failed. It's very effective, and if you have a chance to see it, please do.
Falling In Love Again featured the full chorus behind an on-stage orchestra, while in front dancers from Spectrum Dance Theater performed the Tango and other provocative dancers. They sang many popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "Mack the Knife," "Love For Sale," and "Falling In Love Again," some in the original German, some in the English versions known to have been popular in Berlin at the time. The settings was, of course, a gay cabaret in the 1930s, and the story conveyed was about the vibrancy of Berlin's nightlife prior to the coming of the Nazi party.
All in all, this was the kind of song-and-dance that the Seattle Men's Chorus is known for, with small singing groups, brief solos, a wide variety of music, effective use of the chorus as visual effect, and lots of ribald humor
For a Look or a Touch was a "musical drama" about two real men, Gad and Manfred. Gad lived until the late 1990s; Manfred died in a concentration camp in 1942. They had both been 19, and in love, in 1942, when the Nazis came and took Manfreds's family away. Manfred was given a choice: to run away with Gad, or to go with his family as they all went to the camp. Manfred chose his family. Gad survived, but homosexuality remained a criminal offense after the war and he was unable to ever speak about his guilt until very late in life. Because he was unable to speak about it, he refused to revisit it, and it wasn't until late in life that he learned just how horrific the camps had been.
The Seattle Men's Chorus was again a major component of the piece, especially as Manfred's ghost recounts the horrors of the camp. It was neither gratuitous nor maudlin, but it was especially harsh, in an appropriate way. Dressed in prison rags, the chorus provided voice and counterpoint to the orchestra (now down in the orchestral pit), as Manfred and Gad sang and spoke their way through Gad's guilt and redemption.
Omaha went to read the exhibits in the foyer after the performance, but I went to talk to some of the chorus. I had to ask, "Why was there smoke?" Because there was a very light smoke in the theater. Both said it was to give the scene that otherworldly, fantasy feel of a ghost visitation story. It was so light, however, that I kept wondering if something was wrong with my new prescription, now only a week old.
I learned that one special effect failed due to a burned-out stage light, but the piece about how the Nazis had "improved" upon crucifixion with the mechanical crane, and used it exclusively on those who wore the pink triangle, in which a member of the chorus was slowly hoisted and silhoutted in a side-light, was especially horrifying and effective.
For a Look or a Touch isn't a nice piece, but it is about redemption, the complicated kind of redemption that comes with survivors' guilt, with acceptance of your survival. It's very sensitively mixed in with that gay-tinged adulation of one's glory days, when, as the libretto went, "night was for more than just sleeping," and for how the ones who died young will always be young in our hearts. Beautiful boys, surrendered old men, and a shared sense that life could have been better, but failed. It's very effective, and if you have a chance to see it, please do.
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Date: 2011-04-04 01:31 am (UTC)Elf, the first time I read this sentence, I read it the way you intended, oddly enough. The second take through, however, revealed that you've got a Manfred where you should have a Gad (indicated by underlines). You might want to fix that. :)
Otherwise, very compelling review. I don't know that we'll be able to go see it, but it sounds utterly fascinating. Thanks for posting it.