.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny; Rosie Aldridge, Kenneth Kellogg, Mark Le Brocq, Simon O’Neill, Danielle de Niese, director: Jamie Manton, conductor: André de Ridder; English Nationwide Opera on the London Coliseum
Reviewed 16 February 2026
Brecht and Weill’s fascinating however problematic work in a night that mixed high-energy efficiency and Brechtian Epic Theatre however was let down by the problem of performing it within the London Coliseum
Brecht and Weill’s Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny could be an iconic work, nevertheless it stays difficult to carry out and produce off within the theatre. English Nationwide Opera final carried out it within the Nineteen Nineties in a manufacturing directed by Declan Donnellan [see the review in The Independent], while Covent Backyard essayed the work in 2015 [see my review]. Now, ENO has chosen the work as a showcase for the abilities of conductor André de Ridder, the corporate’s incoming music director.
With simply three performances on the London Coliseum, opening on 16 February 2026, this was very a lot blink-and-you’ll-miss-it theatre, however Jamie Manton‘s stripped again manufacturing, designed by Milla Clarke, was clearly meant to be high-energy, leaning into the concept of Brechtian theatre.
Rosie Aldridge was Begbick with Kenneth Kellogg as Trinity Moses, Mark Le Brocq as Fatty the Bookkeeper, Simon O’Neill as Jimmy Macintyre, Alex Otterburn as Financial institution-Account Billy, Elgan Llŷr Thomas as Jack O’Brien, David Shipley as Alaska Wolf Joe, Danielle de Niese as Jenny Smith, and Zwakele Tshabalala as Toby Higgins. Lighting was by D.M.Wooden, and choreography by Lizzi Gee. Sound design was by Jake Moore.
.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Adam Taylor (dancer) -English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – Adam Taylor (dancer) – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny is a wierd work that encompasses a lot of the working relationship between Brecht and Weill. They started work on it earlier than Threepenny Opera, and Brecht’s third model of the libretto, which he printed, was much more aligned to his Marxist rules and helped to create the breach with Weill. Weill’s music skitters in every single place, from the cabaret-style songs initially written for the Mahagonny Songspiel, to extra operatic numbers, to Weill in full symphonic mode. It was a time when Weill was experimenting with all sorts of musical theatre, and Mahagonny could be seen as one thing of a transitional work. This, and the work’s historical past, make discovering a efficiency type troublesome.
Written for the opera home, it premiered in Leipzig, with a forged of opera singers. A revised model was produced in Berlin with Lotte Lenya as Jenny solely as a result of, within the edgy political local weather following the Nazi Occasion’s rise to energy, no opera home would carry out it. Following the Anschluss, the rating was misplaced and one solely surfaced within the Nineteen Fifties. This was recorded by Lenya as Jenny, very a lot as a singing actress purely out of necessity as Lenya knew that if she did not carry out the work, no-one else was going to. (Additionally keep in mind that the post-Warfare Lenya was a chanteuse with a voice within the low contralto vary, while the pre-Warfare Lenya had been a soubrette soprano!).
On the London Coliseum, the efficiency actually leaned into the music theatre facets of the piece. Microphones have been very a lot in proof, with Danielle de Niese typically crooning Jenny’s songs. The set was merely a large open stage with a big container that doubled as nearly every little thing from a knocking-shop to the venue for Jack O’Brien consuming himself to demise.
.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Danielle de Niese, Simon O'Neill - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – Danielle de Niese, Simon O’Neill – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
The manufacturing may need had aspirations to Brechtian Epic Theatre, however director Jamie Manton took care to make sure that he was telling a narrative. This Mahagonny was a bit grim and moderately a hole-in-the-corner type of place, which works. Lavish manufacturing values the opera doesn’t want. However performing this music on the vast open areas of the London Coliseum stage presents one thing of a problem. With no actual set to kind a backdrop and support the singers, the steadiness was not at all times what it may have been. With the forged delivering what was clearly a excessive power efficiency, I moderately longed for the manufacturing to have been given in a considerably smaller, extra sympathetic venue.
Rosie Aldridge, Kenneth Kellogg and Mark Le Brocq made Begbick, Trinity Moses and Fatty moderately into ringmasters, corralling the opposite putative residents of Mahagonny. A moderately apt metaphor, nevertheless it meant that the three singers typically moderately disappeared into the group. Aldridge particularly introduced an actual edge to her efficiency that was an excellent profit right here.
.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Rosie Aldridge - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – Rosie Aldridge – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
Jenny Smith has among the work’s finest identified numbers, and Danielle de Niese definitely labored the attractive angle and delivered the songs with sturdy music-theatre type, however she additionally introduced actual edge to her solo on the finish of Act Two when she refuses to assist the destitute Jimmy. As Jimmy, Simon O’Neill sang with a heroic sense of line and vibrant, if considerably insistent, tone. O’Neill managed to deliver actual pathos to Jimmy’s downfall together with a way that he had change into foolishly keen on Jenny.
In fact, the work punctures all these concepts. That’s a part of its enchantment, the best way Brecht and Weill use nice, hummable tunes within the service of skewering the concepts of capitalism, romantic love and extra. There are some oddities, the Benares Tune in Act Three feels nearly misplaced and thrown in for good measure, nevertheless it was admirably carried out
Alex Otterburn got here to the fore as Billy in the course of the latter a part of the opera, nearly making the character appear sympathetic. Elgan Llŷr Thomas ate himself to demise with fantastic aplomb as Jack, while David Shipley’s Joe had the good dangerous fortune to die within the boxing match.
.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Elgan Llŷr Thomas - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – Elgan Llŷr Thomas – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
The six girls who arrived with Jenny (Joanna Appleby, Deborah Davison, Sophie Goldrick, Ella Kirkpatrick, Claire Mitcher, Susanna Tudor-Thomas) supplied a welcome contact of color to the proceedings and made Weill’s advanced weavings across the Alabama Tune appear utterly pure. And naturally, there weren’t simply girls, the six good-time ladies have been accompanied by two lease boys, dancers Damon Gould and Adam Taylor.
The interval was positioned after Act Two, which meant that we had fairly an extended first half at round 100 minutes. This highlighted a downside with the manufacturing, the sensation that the pacing was gradual at instances. This will have been as a result of means the dialogue and sung dialogue was being delivered in an effort to be understandable. However although the pacing of the person numbers was admirable, total the second act moderately sagged, and I longed for a extra intimate, zippier account of the piece.
The work was sung in Jeremy Sams’ witty English translation, although I did miss among the extra acquainted strains from the older English variations.
.jpg "Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Kenneth Kellogg, Rosie Aldridge, Mark Le Brocq - English National Opera (Photo: Tristram Kenton)") |
| Brecht & Weill: Rise and Fall of the Metropolis of Mahagonny – Kenneth Kellogg, Rosie Aldridge, Mark Le Brocq – English Nationwide Opera (Picture: Tristram Kenton) |
Within the pit, de Ridder and the orchestra gave a loving account of the work, bringing out the richness of Weill’s rating and making the extra advanced, symphonic facets of the piece sound all of a complete with the remaining.
The weblog is free, however I might be delighted in the event you have been to point out your appreciation by shopping for me a espresso.
Elsewhere on this weblog
- A lightness of contact shot by means of with seriousness: a brand new Marriage of Figaro at Opera North with an enticing sense of ensemble – opera evaluation
- The facility of the extraordinary: Phyllida Lloyd’s fantastic, stripped-back model of Britten’s Peter Grimes at Opera North with John Findon – opera evaluation
- Sky with the 4 Suns: we rise up shut and private with Manchester Collective within the Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields – live performance evaluation
- Fantastical & surreal: Thaddeus Strassberger’s imaginative and prescient of Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini in Brussels anchored by a heroic efficiency from John Osborn – evaluation
- Ethel Smyth’s String Trio on Solaire data: Trio d’Iroise draw our focus onto this uncared for piece – file evaluation
- Nameless no extra: sixteenth century works from a choirbook created in Arundel & now residing in Lambeth, given voice for the primary time – evaluation
- The Strijkkwartet Biënnale Amsterdam: punching nicely above its weight to the delight of its admiring worldwide viewers – evaluation
- Letter from Florida: Verdi reminds us to grieve for and bear in mind troopers in all places. Messa da Requiem from Cleveland Orchestra – live performance evaluation
- Dwelling
.jpg?ssl=1&description=Epic+Theatre%3F+ENO%E2%80%99s+incoming+music+director%2C+Andr%C3%A9+de+Ridder+on+the+helm+for+Brecht+%26+Weill%E2%80%99s+difficult+piece+of+operatic+music+theatre%2C+Rise+and+Fall+of+the+Metropolis+of+Mahagonny){kind=link}