The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Nick Hart Robin Eubanks plays the trombone in a performance of the Dave Holland Band at Jorgensen Thursday evening.

People may go to the theater to escape reality. But in the Connecticut Repertory Theater's The Threepenny Opera, reality, in that Brechtian twist, is at the theater with you, and refuses to let you leave.

The musical, which runs tonight through May 3 at Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, is set in a messy, grease-stained, mildly anachronistic Victorian London. There's nothing elegant or refined about this play, though, a fact that's clear from the moment the cast stumbles onstage for the opening "Mack the Knife."

"The Threepenny Opera" tells the story of notorious criminal Macheath (Michael Hanson), a womanizing ruffian who seems to have finally fallen for the vacuous Polly Peachum (Heddy Lahmann). The two are to be married shortly, which is of course unbearable to Polly's parents, Mr. J. J. Peachum (Christopher Hirsh) and his wife Celia (Lauretta Pope). Enraged, Mr. Peachum, master of all the beggars in the city, plans to stop the wedding by any means necessary, up to and including capital punishment. Matters are complicated when Macheath turns out to have the Chief of Police Tiger Brown (Michael Daly) in his pocket. A multitude of arrests, escapes, prostitutes, love affairs and unlikely twists later, the play reaches its happy conclusion - but who's really happy at the end?

The acting is occasionally notable, but it's also occasionally bad, and the two don't really manage to balance each other out. Hanson feels subdued and wooden as Macheath, a role which suggests dangerous smiles and deadly style. As Mrs. Peachum, Pope happily snaps herself back and forth, double-taking and mugging furiously, but she feels more slapstick than characterful. Hirsh, on the other hand, makes a fantastic Mr. Peachum - he adds an honest bit of charm to the lumbering gait and snarl of his character. And though she has a relatively minor role, Hillary Parker is enjoyable as Jenny, with a stunned, doe-like demeanor and a pitiably awkward posture.

Similarly, the singing has only a few particularly bright points. "Mack the Knife" is catchy enough that it's difficult to screw up, but many of the other numbers don't have that advantage. "Army Song" puts some good energy on the stage, though it necessarily cuts out when the getting is good, and Lahmann's "Pirate Jenny" verges on spine-tingling.

Continued...

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