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Street Scene in Production at Central City Opera

Jul. 21, 2024

This summer season, Central City Opera in Colorado opens a production of Street Scene, Kurt Weill’s classic Broadway opera. Street Scene is a poignant work that continues to hit hard today, with action unfolding over twenty-four hours on a steamy New York City block inhabited by a panoply of ethnically diverse immigrants playing out their hopes and dreams for a better future. A gallery of artistic talent has been associated with the work over the years, beginning with the original creative team of Weill, Langston Hughes, and Elmer Rice. At Central City, Daniel Pelzig and Adam Turner continue the interpretive legacy as director/choreographer and conductor respectively.

Turner has already become something of a Weill specialist. In a review of his performance of Street Scene with Virginia Opera (2018), Opera News hailed his “sensitive conducting” and praised his “affinity for a score as stylistically diverse as the characters in the plot.” In 2016, as the inaugural recipient of the Julius Rudel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellowship sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation, Turner collaborated with renowned conductor John DeMain on Washington National Opera’s production of Lost in the Stars, Weill’s final stage composition. He has also conducted The Seven Deadly Sins twice, with Virginia Opera and the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Shortly before his death in 1950, Kurt Weill predicted, “Seventy-five years from now, Street Scene will be remembered as my major work.” More than seventy-five years later, it seems that Weill substantially underestimated how many of his creations would be considered major works, but he was certainly correct about the importance and staying power of his Broadway opera. Full productions have been issued twice on home video: Theater des Westens (1995) and Madrid (2018) – see links below. In parallel with its advances among professional companies, Street Scene has become a repertoire staple in conservatories and music-theater training programs all over the United States and Canada, with many new productions every year.


Francesca Zambello’s co-production of Theater des Westens and Theater im Pfalzbau (1995), originating
at Houston Grand Opera; conducted by James Holmes


Production by Theater Real Madrid (2017), directed by John Fulljames, conducted by Tim Murray,
and featuring Paolo Szot and Patricia Racette

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