“The Threepenny Opera,” Bertolt Brecht's harsh satire on the bourgeois Weimar Republic, set to music by Kurt Weill, comes to Yulman Theater.
Director William A. Finlay, professor of theater and director of Yulman, says “this has a contemporary message; it's a musical with guts.
“This production is very large for a theater program of this size,” he continued. “We don't typically do musicals here at Union, but this one had something to say to the students, the artists and the faculty.”
The set, designed by Prof. Charles Steckler, will incorporate “environmental style theater.” The entire theater will be used, and the audience is surrounded by cast members, at times. The four-piece orchestra will be conducted by Adrien Gleason, a recent graduate of the Crane School of Music.
Lloyd Waiwaiole, the College's costumer, has designed and made all the costumes. “They are spectacular,” said Finlay. “He's made stunning representations of Victorian-era London.”
Performances run Thursday through Saturday, May 19 to 21, at 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 29, at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call the Yulman box office at 388-6545.