RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

Robert Wilson returns with this version of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera, performed by the Berliner Ensemble. Written in 1928, this story of gang war and corruption pioneered the musical comedy genre. The Threepenny Opera became a seminal classic and was directed by Robert Wilson at the theater founded by Brecht himself in 2007. In Wilson's production, the tale of Mackie Messer, Polly Peachum and the Whores of Turnbridge takes place in a setting that is influenced by German Expressionism and the shattering, seductive world of Weimar-era cabaret. 

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ROBERT WILSON

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Born in Waco, Texas, Wilson is among the world’s foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide. After being educated at the University of Texas and Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, Wilson founded the New York-based performance collective “The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds” in the mid-1960s, and developed his first signature works, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-1975). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach (1976). Wilson’s artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi. He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande, Goethe’s Faust, Homer’s Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Verdi’s La Traviata and Sophocles’ Oedipus. Wilson's drawings, paintings and sculptures have been presented around the world in hundreds of solo and group showings, and his works are held in private collections and museums throughout the world. Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, two Premio Ubu awards, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, and an Olivier Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds 8 Honorary Doctorate degrees. France pronounced him Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2003) and Officer of the Legion of Honor (2014); Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit (2014). Wilson is the founder and Artistic Director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts in Water Mill, New York.

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THE THREEPENNY OPERA

 

by Bertolt Brecht | adapted from the German version by Elizabeth Hauptmann for John Gay's The Beggar's Opera | lyrics by Bertolt Brecht | music by Kurt Weill | direction, set, light concept by Robert Wilson | with Berliner Ensemble

Hans-Jörn Brandenburg and Stefan Rager - musical direction, voice coach | Jacques Reynaud - Costumes | Ann-Christin Rommen - Co-direction | Serge von Arx - Associate set designer | Yashi Tabassomi - Associate costume designer | Jutta Ferbers, Anika Bardos - Dramaturg | Andreas Fuchs / Ulrich Eh - Lights

Cast: Jürgen Holtz, Traute Hoess, Johanna Griebel, Christopher Nell, Axel Werner, Anna Graenzer, Angela Winkler, Georgios Tsivanoglou, Ulrich Brandhoff, Martin Schneider, Boris Jacoby, Winfried Goos, Dejan Bucin, Jörg Thieme, Uli Pleßmann, Michael Kinkel, Janina Rudenska, Ursula Höpfner-Tabori, Laura Mitzkus, Anke Engelsmann, Gabriele Völsch, Georgios Tsivanoglou, Walter Schmidinger

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Orchestra: Ulrich Bartel, Hans-Jörn Brandenburg, Valentin Butt, Martin Klingeberg, Stefan Rager, Jonas Schoen, Florian Bergmann, Otwin Zipp | Sound: Joe Bauer

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project and international production: Change Performing Arts, Milan, Italy | director: Franco Laera | production coordinator: Simona Fremder | public relations and text translation: Maristela Gaudio

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production in Brazil: prod.art.br | production directors: Carminha Gongora, Matthias Pees and Ricardo Muniz Fernandes | technical director: Júlio Cesarini | technical coordination: Ana Cristina Irias, André Lucena and Ivan Andrade | executive producers: Alexandra Roehr, Carlos da Silva Pinto, Daniel Cordova and Ricardo Frayha

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Realisation: Sesc São Paulo

Teatro Paulo Autran - Sesc Pinheiros

São Paulo, SP, Brazil

06 to 10/11/2012

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