As the first main stage production in Australia in over 40 years, Melbourne Opera and IOpera will present a reinterpretation of Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at The Athenaeum Theatre, Collins St on May 3 and 5 at 7.30pm.
First performed in Leipzig in 1930, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera that was banned in Germany after 1933 by the Third Reich.
Regularly performed in the great opera houses of the world (including recent revivals at Covent Garden and The Met), its criticism of corruption in a world with increasingly shaky moral foundations makes it more relevant than ever.
Directed by Suzanne Chaundy, the production will see two-time Helpmann Award-winner James Egglestone in the role of Jimmy, Antoinette Halloran as the provocative Jenny Smith and tenor Robert Macfarlane in the role of Fatty the Bookkeeper.
Rounding out the lead cast are Christopher Hillier, Liane Keegan, Christopher Tonkin, Fraser Findlay, Darcy Carroll, Alastair Cooper-Golec as well as the Melbourne Opera chorus under Chorus Master Raymond Lawrence.
The cast and 40-piece orchestra is conducted by multi-award winning conductor and singer Peter Tregear.
Performed in English, using the Australian premiere of Jeremy Sams’s new translation for The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Performance Details: May 3 and May 5 at 7.30pm at the Athenaeum Theatre, Collins St., Melbourne.

• Cheryl Threadgold