Opera Scotland

Dreigroschenoper 1990Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Threepenny Opera

Scottish Opera's first staging of The Threepenny Opera, was an uncompromisingly modern effort, under the direction of a theatrical young Turk, Lucy Bailey, not previously associated with opera.  It had a simple set made up of TV monitors on stands, and unrelieved, hard-edged cynicism from first to last - all quite appropriate.

There was a short tour round the medium-scale circuit, though that does not suggest any kind of reduction in the appropriate scale.  The Glasgow performances were at the Tramway, instead of the Theatre Royal, and Edinburgh ones at the Lyceum.  Perhaps more surprising was the number of venues down south - Blackpool,  Swindon, Bury St Edmunds and Basildon - populations completely unaccustomed to visits from the Scottish company.

Janis Kelly had shown her credentials in Weill the year before in Street Scene, a rather different enterprise, and now sang Polly beautifully.  And there were several good singing actors, including Beverley Klein and Sara Weymouth.  Graham Valentine had sung Peachum at Dundee Rep a couple of years earlier and had an excellent idea of the appropriate style, but Stewart Porter's delivery really overdid the gravel in the voice.

In Scotland this piece had generally been the preserve of theatre companies - either the reps or touring outfits such as Borderline.  The great advantage of a staging by Scottish Opera was that the pit band, crisply directed by Stuart Hutchinson,  was superb.

Scottish Opera's Season -1989/90

The 1989/90 season of Scottish Opera included new productions of Salome,  La forza del destino, Così fan tutte,  The Merry Widow, The Threepenny Opera and Duke Bluebeard's Castle.  The revivals were Oedipux Rex (partnering Bluebeard),  Madam Butterfly,  Die Fledermaus and Jenůfa.  There was an Opera-Go-Round tour of Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana (in that order).