About This:

SULLIVAN SINGS WEILL

roberto cassan........accordian
crick diefendorf....banjo
paul dosier............tuba
valentin gregor.....violin
john manning........tuba
ellen polansky...piano

Musical Selections
(in order of performance)

Alabama Song - from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Instead of Song - from The Threepenny Opera
Pirate Jenny - from The Threepenny Opera
Useless Song - from The Threepenny Opera
Barbara Song - from The Threepenny Opera
Bilbao Song - from Happy End
The Ballad of Dependency - from The Threepenny Opera
Surabaya Johnny - from Happy End
Je Ne T'Aime Pas - Magre/Weill
Morit㲠Von Mackie Messer - from The Threepenny Opera
The Saga of Jenny - Gershwin/Weill from Lady in the Dark
Benares - from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Youkali Tango - Fernay/Weill
September Song - Anderson/Weill from Knickerbocker Holiday

All selections are by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill unless otherwise noted.

These performances were recorded live in Boston at the Coolidge Corner Theater on November 19, 1999 and the Somerville Theatre on March 31, April 1 and 2, 2000.

In Boston a magician named Kate Sullivan has created a simple yet elegant script out of Weill's letters to his wife, Lotte Lenya. Sullivan cleverly invents Lenya's side of the correspondence, where none now exists, by answering his letters in song --- his songs, of course. Sullivan also portrays Lenya, transforming herself with the drop of a jaw, the delicate slur of a phrase a la Lenya, and the studied shrug of the nonchalant. Listening to the orchestra center stage you focus on Weill's uncanny mixture of gypsy, folk, dancehall, and klezmer. Sullivan gives a tour de force performance, delivering searing renditions of favorites like "Mack The Knife" and "The Pirate Jenny Song" from "The Threepenny Opera" and "Surabaya Johnny" from "The Happy End". In the context of their correspondence this speaks volumes about their off again, on again relationship. Weill fans will be amazed at Sullivan's artistry and enchanted by his affectionate letters. Newcomers to the fold will be mesmerized by the lean and hungry songs and delighted with Sullivan's charmingly devil-may-care Lenya.
-- Beverly Creasey, c 2000 The Theater Mirror