Street Scene: Charismatic But Clunky

Kurt Weill's Street Scene is a strange and unusual creature, and it is a brave opera company that decides to take it on. However, Opera North has never been one to dodge a challenge, and indeed, has championed Weill's music many times.

This performance marked Opera North's first staging of this opera by the German-Jewish composer which is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Elmer Rice. A synthesis of European traditional opera and American musical theatre, Weill referred to the piece as an “American opera” and considered the score to be his masterpiece.

Set in sweltering 1940's New York, the plot centres around the residents of a single tenement building. Taking place over a 24-hour period, it focuses on one family in particular - the Maurrants. Frank Maurrant is deeply suspicious of his wife Anna, and his daughter Rose longs for a better life away from the squalor of the city. As the heat builds, the tension erupts into terrible violence…

In this new production by Matthew Eberhardt (designed by Francis O'Connor), the inside of a four-storey tenement building, with its maze of staircases, stairwells and hallways, is on view to the audience. It is an amazing construction which contributes much to the atmosphere and success of the show.

Lighting by Howard Hudson follows the changing time of day with subtle shifts of colour and shadows, transforming everyday objects into something magical - the New York street light turns into the moon for ‘ Moon Faced, Starry Eyed’.

The Orchestra of Opera North is on top form, navigating the stylistic shifts from Broadway song and dance style to traditional aria with ease. However, I must confess to being rather disappointed in Weill's music itself: firstly that it didn’t make more of an impact on me, and secondly that the songs weren't as memorable as I'd hoped.

Having said that, there are strong performances from the leads and wonderful cameos from the large supporting cast. Highlights include: Gillene Butterfield as Rose Maurrant and Alex Banfield as Sam Kaplan, who have great chemistry and sing beautifully, both separately and together; Mae Jones and Rodney Vubya light up the stage with their musical theatre number ‘Moon Faced, Starry Eyed’; Quirijn de Lang is disturbingly charismatic as Rose’s creepy boss Harry Easter; Byron Jackson’s gorgeous baritone voice in the poignant ‘I got a Marble and a Star’; and finally, the song ‘Catch Me if You Can’, which is brilliantly choreographed, fizzes with energy and is delivered by an ensemble of very talented children.

Matthew Eberhardt and his talented cast throw everything at Street Scene, but at times it feels laboured. This is in no way a reflection on his direction, which is well paced and moves swiftly from scene to scene; the problem lies with the structure of the opera itself, which is unbalanced and clunky: a first half where very little happens, apart from the introduction of a large cast of rather clichéd characters, is followed by a second half where everything happens too quickly, leaving no time for character development, or for the audience to make an emotional connection to any of the characters.

The fatal shooting half an hour from the end, is immediately followed by a comedy number which feels anachronistic and totally dissipates any dramatic tension. Sadly, despite the best efforts of the cast, the opera struggles to get going and we were left hanging on for the end.

Having said that, there is much to admire about this production, and all credit to the talented creatives, musicians and cast of actor/ singers, who couldn't have tried any harder to do justice to Weill's opera. Unfortunately, due to its inherent flaws, Street Scene ends up being far less than the sum of its parts.