Street Scene

Imperial Opera presents

Street Scene

by Kurt Weill

13 - 16 June 2001 at 7:30 pm

London Oratory School Theatre

Tickets £12 / £6 concessions

Kurt Weill fuses European opera, Broadway musical and jazz to create this uniquely American music drama - a story of romance, humour and domestic tragedy set within the cramped confines of a callous urban environment.

Imperial Opera’s next show is Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. Musically it lies between Opera and musical theatre, and it charts twenty-four hours in the life of the residents of a tenement house in New York between the wars. Most of the characters are immigrants and the text deals with the racial and cultural tensions, and the lack of communication and empathy between them.

There are 38 named parts, including 20 great singing ones, so we need an enormous and talented cast, who reflect the diverse backgrounds in the society portrayed. This show is very rarely performed, due to the huge forces required and the complexity of the music, but I’m convinced Imperial Opera can do it fantastically. It should be a really rewarding experience for both cast and audience.