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.
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.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher
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.
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.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
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.)
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joined:11/1/10
Posted: 11/5/12 at 10:05pm