Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Fire Island Opera performs Kurt Weill rarity

Guto Bittencourt (left) and Matthew Morris (right)
The Fire Island Opera Company is presenting the East Coast Premiere of Kurt Weill's first opera, The Protagonist. The piece stars a few singers familiar to this site, Liam Bonner, who sings the role of the Young Man; Matthew Morris, a former barihunks calendar model who sings one of the Schauspielers; and, Jeremy Galyon, who sings the innkeeper. Someone to keep an eye on in the production is model and singer-songwriter Guto Bittencourt, who is also one of the Schauspielers. 

The remainder of the cast includes tenor Samuel Levine in the title role, Maeve Höglund as the sister, tenor John Easterlin, as the Chief of Staff, as well as Jeremy Hirsch, Katrina Yaukey and Megan Marino as the remaining Schauspielers.

Liam Bonner
The opera is bases on a lurid subject drawn from a play by Georg Kaiser an is an example of the sensationalistic, psychologically oriented operas popular during the Weimar Republic. The story is about a theatrical troupe run by the Protagonist, an actor who is overly protective of his Sister. Unable to distinguish between illusion and reality, he kills her after she tells him she has a fiancé; at the close, he calls the murder his greatest theatrical performance. 

The Pines Pavilion on Fire Island has been transformed into a wild, dream world by Marfa-based installation artist, Charles Mary Kubricht, and project runway finalist and former Mark Morris dancer, choreographer/costume designer, Bradon McDonald.

The evening will culminate in a Kurt Weill inspired Haus music dance party!  [Hey, it's Fire Island].

The Sunday matinee production is preceded by a performance of Un Amour de Proust on The Pavilion's Lower Deck and followed by an Opera Pool Party on the Pool Deck! 

Performances are on August 23 and 24 and tickets are available online

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