'Heggie’s song-studded score (with whiffs of Weill and klezmer) was deftly handled by a six-piece chamber ensemble conducted by Fringe music director Catherine O’Shaughnessy.' | DeannaIsaacs
—must have lost their minds for a moment when they tacked this over-the-top number on as the opera’s climax, after a heartrending second-act tale of lost love amid calamity., $25-$40.
Turns out it was no accident. The author of those lyrics, Krystyna Zywulska—one of the two real people who are the opera’s subjects—was, like Brooks, a satirist. With an important difference. While Brooks’s parents left Eastern Europe for America before he was born, Zywulska was turning out her parodies in Auschwitz.is a pair of one-acts, each focused on the life of a survivor. Heggie has said that his intention, in part, was to take on the too-simple idea that survivors are heroes.
In the second act, elderly gay activist and former resistance member Gad Beck, who’d rather forget memories that bring pain, is visited by the ghost of his youthful love, 19-year-old poet Manfred Lewin. The pair had last met in Berlin as the Nazis were closing in on gays as well as Jews. Lewin, who was already in detention and ultimately headed to Auschwitz, declined Beck’s daring offer of a chance to escape because he didn’t want to abandon his family; he was murdered along with them.
On opening night, cover Dana Campbell stepped in to deliver a beautiful performance as the older Krystyna . Anna Caldwell was solid as the young Krystyna, as were her versatile prison-mates, Lauren Ingebrigtsen, Bridget Skaggs, and Alex Salas. Peter Vamvakas had the mostly spoken role of the haunted Beck, and Jonathan Wilson’s vibrant baritone brought Manfred to life. Sophia Sinsheimer and Derek Van Barham stage directed.
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