(Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny)
Opera by Kurt Weill
Libretto by Bertolt Brecht
Premiere: March 9, 1930, Leipzig

February 23, 25m, 27, 2007
Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College
Boston, Massachusetts
Sung in English translation with titles

Leocadia Begbick:  Joyce Castle, mezzo-soprano
Jenny:  Amy Burton, soprano
Bank Account Bill:  Stephen Salters, baritone

Conducted by Gil Rose
Directed by Sam Helfrich
Scenic Design by Caleb Wertenbaker
Costume Design by Nancy Leary
Lighting Design by Christopher Ostrom

Opera Boston’s season takes a dark and satirical turn with The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, an opera set in a city where vice—fighting, drinking, murder, gambling—rules and failure to pay the bar tab is punishable by death. 

Mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle makes her Boston staged opera debut as Leocadia Begbick, a career criminal and one of the founders of Mahagonny.  Ms. Castle has previously appeared as Begbick with the Washington National Opera. 

Soprano Amy Burton makes her Opera Boston debut as Jenny, a prostitute who tries to escape from Mahagonny.  Ms. Burton’s recent engagements include Marzelline in Fidelio at the Metropolitan Opera and Elle in La Voix Humaine in a Glimmerglass Opera production created for her.  Baritone Stephen Salters returns to Opera Boston as Bank Account Bill.  His previous engagements with the company include Hercules in 2005’s Alceste, and the title role of Elena Ruehr’s Toussaint before the Sprits, a world premiere that was a highlight of 2003’s Opera Unlimited Festival. 

Mahagonnny will be directed by Sam Helfrich, whose Agrippina for Boston Baroque was among the most highly-regarded productions of 2005; it will be his Opera Boston debut.  He has worked extensively with Berkshire Opera and most recently directed L’elisir d’amore. Opera Boston’s production of Mahagonny will reunite him with soprano Amy Burton, who starred in his La Voix Humaine for Glimmerglass Opera. 

Scenic Designer Caleb Wertenbaker makes his company debut with this production.  Recent designs for opera include the Boston Conservatory’s production of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Sanford Sylvan, and Adamo’s Little Women and Massenet’s Cendrillon for New England Conservatory, both directed by Mark Astafan. 

Costume designer Nancy Leary returns for her second engagement of the season.  In addition to her freelance designs, she is a Teaching Associate at Boston University’s School of Theatre Arts. 

Lighting Designer Chris Ostrom returns for his second production of the season.