Brechtfest VI at the AllWays Lounge
Sure New Orleans has potholes and too many corrupt politicians and a crumbling education system. But it also has phenomenal restaurants, vibrant art galleries & museums, and Mardi Gras.
Add to that latter list, Brechtfest whose sixth iteration recently appeared in the Twilight Room of the AllWays Lounge. Regrettably, productions of the works of the great German dramatist Bertoldt Brecht are all too rare here; if we occasionally get to see one of his musicals (The Threepenny Opera, Happy End), I can recall only two of his plays that have been done here in the last 20+ years, both in university settings.
Fortunately, Harry Mayronne and David Symons have seen fit to rectify this with their annual presentation of a smorgasbord of Brecht’s songs and poetry in a cabaret setting. Brecht’s words, filled with mocking irony, still have bite, and his standing up for the common man resonates now more than ever.
Brechtfest has another compelling raison d’être for its occurrence here. Sarah Brecht, Bertoldt’s granddaughter, lives in New Orleans half the year and has blessed the series with an annual appearance, reciting one of her forebear’s works. This year’s choice was Ballad on Approving of the World, a lacerating indictment of those who go along with unjust and corrupt systems rather than standing up to the powers that be. It could’ve been written yesterday.
Sarah Brecht
Sarah may not be the most natural performer (she’s not an actress but a marvelous artist whose paintings are exhibited at the Sullivan Gallery on Magazine Street), but her grandfather’s words speak for themselves and powerfully so.
Another regular member of the Brechtfest family is Bremner Fletcher who, with his theater background, knows how to put over a number like Supply and Demand, with its Elon Musky narrator who only cares about the price, be it of goods or men. Fletcher not only gave this “Song of Commodity” an impassioned performance but with his crisp enunciation and forceful projection, one could understand every gleefully sardonic lyric of it.
The same could be said of the other song he did, Out With the Men. Alas, while I once might’ve wholeheartedly agreed with its message, now, with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard, Lauren Boebert, et al. in government, I’m not so sure.
The evening started off with Brecht’s 1947 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, edited from an archival recording, with Symons’ offstage voice interrogating Brecht as rendered by Mayronne’s marionette version of him. Tho Brecht/Mayronne wittily parried the congressman’s snarky inquiries, lamentably, not long after this took place, the German writer left the United States, never to return.
On the other hand, it was wonderful to see Donald Lewis’ return to the stage after some recent health challenges. With his mellifluous bass/baritone voice, he recited Brecht’s still apt poem Why Should My Name Be Mentioned? While a clear-eyed assessment of memory and one’s necessity for recognition (or not), when it asks “Why should there be a past if there is a future?”, I couldn’t help thinking “because in our digital age, things live on forever and ever.”
Chris Wecklein, another Brechtfest stalwart, performed the amusing Ballad of the Button and Against Seduction which, with its last line “you die like all creation and after: nothingness”, was a bit of a downer, even as done by the innately sanguine Wecklein.
Yusa, a marvelous singer/guitarist new to Brechtfest, sang Ballad Of The Soldier’s Wife in Spanish, showing that Brecht works well in any language, and then accompanied Anna Laura Quinn on the haunting The Drowned Girl which we later learned from Susanne Ortner was about Rosa Luxemburg, the revolutionary Marxist/socialist; Ortner then gave us Epitaph 1919, the Brecht/Weill ballad also about Luxemburg.
David Symons, Anna Laura Quinn, and Bremner Fletcher
Quinn’s version of Youkali, in the original French, was another highlight; I hope we might see more of this talented songstress on musical theater stages here. Quinn as well premiered To My Countrymen, David Buchbinder’s setting of Brecht’s words to music; another new work, Song of the Rose, with Symons providing the music for Brecht’s lyrics, concluded the program.
In addition to Buchbinder and Symons, praise must be given to Brecht’s other collaborators, Hanns Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender, and, first among equals, the peerless Kurt Weill; Kitty Baudoin took his well-known Alabama Song from the opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at an exuberant tempo to close out the evening’s first half.
Throughout the two-hour, breezily-paced entertainment before a packed house, the terrific nine-piece band led by Symons on accordion appropriately recreated the aural atmosphere of Weimar Germany and beyond. That said, the musicians sometimes overpowered the singers (Fletcher being a notable exception) and so it was at times challenging to discern all of Brecht’s brilliant lyrics. I’m not sure if this was due to (a) the sound system, (b) the band playing too loudly, (c) not precise enough diction, (d) translations that could cause words to blur together or (e) some combination of all of the above, but let’s hope this won’t be a problem in next years ’fest.
After another triumphant Brechtfest, one could only wonder, if Brecht was still around, what would he make of the world today?
The cast of Brechtfest VI
