LISTEN TO MY SONG: KURT WEILL’S THEATER MUSIC
With almost no spoken dialogue to set up the songs or flesh out the characters, it’s hoped the 42 selections will flow spontaneously from one to the other to create a self-contained conversation, patterns of juxtaposition sparking a sort of enlightenment by association.
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But to do that, the performances must really make up for the lack of dialogue. Here they mostly do, but not everyone shines consistently. In the first act, Donna Jerousek seemed to be warming up, her voice metallic in an overly peppy version of Lady in the Dark’s cautionary “The Saga of Jenny.” But by the second act she’d come into her own, giving a pile-driving rendition of the little-known “Susan’s Dream” from Love Life. Jerousek has the makings of a major belter.
After having asked too often the question most appropriate when watching a musical–“Why are they singing at us?”–it’s a joy to remember at evening’s end that, even though this show doesn’t always provide an answer, Weill’s music does.
