Broadway heavyweights Patti Lupone and Audra McDonald star in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's searing 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Written in 1920s Berlin, partly in response to the difficult economic circumstances that aided the rise of Nazism, Mahagonny is Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's vision of American capitalism run amuck. The story follows a group of fugitive criminals who set up a resort town in hopes of attracting newly rich customers returning with full pockets from the Alaska Gold Rush. Among those who arrive are a group of young girls in search of whisky, men, and money.

Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald plays Jenny, the tart-with-a-heart who makes her way to the boomtown. Patti LuPone is her usual brassy self as Leocadia Begbick, the feisty madam. These musical theater stars are joined by a roster of opera singers including the tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Jimmy and the baritone Donnie Ray Albert as Trinity Moses.

Mahagonny is considered an opera because it is almost fully sung and is scored for a large orchestra but it has much in common with musical theater. Jazz and music-hall influences are prominent and a song, the famed "Alabama Song," has enjoyed popularity in its own right.

This production was recorded on DVD, and subsequently won a Grammy Award for "Best Classical Album" and "Best Opera Recording."

Opera: Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny (in English)
Composers: Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht     
 
Cast:
Jenny Smith - Audra McDonald, soprano
Leocadia Begbick - Patti LuPone, mezzo-soprano
Jimmy McIntyre - Anthony Dean Griffey
Fatty, the Bookkeeper - Robert Wörle, tenor
Trinity Moses - Donnie Ray Albert, baritone
Jack O’Brien - John Easterlin, tenor
Bank Account Bill - Mel Ulrich, baritone
Alaska Wolf Joe - Stevn Humes, bass
Maidens of Mahagonny - Catherine Ireland, Karen Vuong, Rena Harms, sopranos; Natasha Flores, Sharmay Musacchio, Priti Gandhi, mezzo-sopranos
Toby Higgins - Derek Taylor, tenor
A Man’s Voice - Mark Kelley
 
Conductor: James Conlon
La Opera Orchestra & Chorus Master:William Vendice (men only)