The Three-Penny Opera: It’s worth much more!

The CCP and the Goethe Institut under Volker Adenmarg jointly presented at the Little Theater Konsiyertong Tatlong Kusing, a Tagalog translation-adaptation of The Three-Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Translators for the clever, fast-paced staging, which was directed by Chris Millado, were Rody Vera and Vic Torres.

Brecht was introduced here years ago by PETA founder Cecile G. Alvarez through the plays The Good Woman of Setzuan and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and by Rep director Zeneida Amador through Mother Courage.

Konsiyertong Tatlong Kusing significantly diversifies our theater history: It goes back to The Beggar’s Opera, the Restoration ballad-opera by poet-satirist John Gay. It was first seen at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1728 under the aegis of John Rich, and punsters claimed the production "made Gay rich and Rich gay". Two hundred years later, Brecht adapted it; Weill’s Broadwayish songs had lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, Lerner, Brecht himself, etc.

Gay depicted the seamy side of London society – its prostitutes, criminals and gangsters. Brecht made an audacious move by transferring the locale to Berlin; hitherto, no German opera had featured social outcasts.

Yet, by today’s standards, Tatlong Kusing seems mild and tame. Nothing in the opera approaches the gory program cover picturing a bloodied victim of Mac Balisong. Nor does it induce much laughter despite the Filipino’s heightened sense of humor.

The opera opens with Weill’s songs, each actor/actress singing solo. This extra portion took a bit of time but it did give the very pleasurable ambiance of a nightclub or cabaret.

Gay’s Three-Penny Opera is defined in my literature class of yesteryear as "a light-hearted mixture of political satire and burlesque of Italian opera, then a fashionable craze". With this as point of reference, how did the Tagalog version of Brecht’s opera compare with that of Gay? Not knowing first-hand the original English nor German work, I can’t tell. But presumably, the CCP audience had expected to laugh much more, the translation having aimed doubtless at creating a socio-political satire; indeed, there was mention of Cory and Kris, Dolphy and Zsa Zsa, etc. However, as observed previously, the opera did not tickle the risibilities to a notable degree.

Leading the cast was the remarkably versatile Michael Williams —–Narrator, among others – who appeared in an amusing scene doing the pas de bourée while holding a quarter-moon aloft. Obviously, to infuse a comic note to the romantic dialogue between newlyweds Karla Gutierrez (Puri) and Eugene Villaluz (Mac). Agnes Barredo’s powerful contralto stood out as she portrayed Lucy, one of Mac’s girl friends; the rest were similarly seasoned professionals, both as singers/actors, Josephine Roces Chavez (Puri’s mother), Lynn Sherman (the prostitute Jenny), Lionel Guico (Puri’s father, pulis), Karla and, of course, Villaluz (the culprit-hero Mac). Pianist Mary Anne Espina was the other "heroine", having served as reliable accompanist throughout the opera.

Millado, as well as the translators, sustained Brecht’s anti-opera stance, this achieved, among other factors by the "distancing effect": whenever the audience got too involved in the action, they were immediately reminded that they were merely watching a "rehearsal", with each player reading his/her script.

Dennis Marasigan was behind the marvelous lighting design.