Review: Kerjäläisooppera

BIG CITY SHARKS AND TRASH FISH

“The shark doesn’t know, the shark doesn’t remember,
You can’t catch sharks.
You accuse sharks of being sharks for nothing,
if you can’t prove it.”

This is how Bertolt Brecht’s and Kurt Weill’s The Beggar’s Opera is sung
Knife Mackie, translated into Finnish by Elvi Sinervo ,
in the last verse of the Ark Song.
The classic tune is like a prologue to the whole story. It presents
central character, its verses draw a picture that becomes more detailed step by step
from the wild and miserable metropolitan environment where greedy sharks
the dominant and the less populous whine. Sometimes the “trash people” a little
rebels, but even then, the stronger, self-serving
by the gamblers.
The two and a half hours after the Knife Mackie song are
The great celebration of musical theatre. Kari Heiskanen Helsinki
Vision directed by the City Theatre for the big stage
The Brecht classic is absolutely top class. The best thing about this genre
have been seen on the stages of Helsinki in this millennium.

Kari Heiskanen has previously shown the skills of a master craftsman
as a taker of space without monumental effects and structures.
Lahti City Theatre’s The Seven Brothers a few years ago
Guy energy and wood chips were enough to guarantee a great result.
At the same time, the external scarcity but internalized acting,
The aesthetics of a holistic presence can achieve great results even now
achievements. Big and small expressions meet in happy signs
Based on Katariina Kirjavainen’s recycling idea,
in a set design where the actors really have space.

The fascinating paradox of songs

In Heiskanen’s Beggar’s Opera , the most important element is firmly in place.
The performance relies heavily on a musical foundation, i.e. it is
Faithful to Weill’s timeless
compositions. Still, the song numbers become unique, alive
in this interpretation and led by these performers. The songs are not
easy in any part. Not for the presenters, not for the recipients.
In that sense, too, they are an organic part of the whole landscape of cruelty,
that is perceived in front of us. The lovable paradox is that
even in their harshness, provocation and rudeness, the songs are not
without falling in love.
The director has also obediently embraced Brechtian alienation
method as a game tool. It can be seen in the stylization of actors’ expressions,
as direct contacts with the auditorium that detach to the level of one’s own reality,
as parodic moves, such as an over-the-top opera aria or
as slapstick bollards and gymnastic.
Okay, sometimes it feels like Heiskanen is distancing himself more than “Dr.
Brecht orders”, but it does not become a major burden.
In the midst of all this interpretative fireworks, it is shocking
to realize how strict the morals and ethics of the play are;
Heiskanen’s direction cannot be accused of being moralistic. Thieves,
Whores and beggars are proud in all the brutality of their activities
professionals, they are not made contemptible in the eyes of the beholder, even though
In the play, they belong to the bottom dregs. Evil is money that everyone
coveting and fighting for it without shying away from any means.
Unemphasized, the message is carried to the consciousness that in the 19th century,
It is not a cruelly long distance from the London of a strict class society
day’s pursuit of mammon. Same winners, same losers but new
means.

Accurate theatrical work

In Heiskanen’s large ensemble of performers, the
A wide range of genres. How delightfully far
for example, Vuokko Hovatta or Laura Pyrrö as Puukko-Mackie’s slippers Polly
Peechumina and Lucy Brown with their expressions take away from it
reality, which the lyrics of the songs tell about. Or Mackie himself:
Oskari Katajisto stylizes the cruel dude so powerfully that
Even on the way home, you have to think about whether it was so bad. Was it right that
What will happen to him in the end?

Heikki Sankari does business with beggars as a disgusting, disgusting
precise work as Mr. Peechum, Riitta Havukainen is apt
choice for the role of the dizzying Mrs. Peechum. Kari Mattila
as the thoroughly corrupt Chief of Police Brown
in a proper role to show their skills, also as a singer. Leena Rapola
Being a raunchy guy who annoys the viewers is a hilarious affair.
Hits are hit by the whole group, there are no weak links there. Not even
on the singing side, because even those who have not been granted the golden-throated
as a birth gift, they can perform difficult songs at least
satisfactorily. And those who have that gift shine. Laura Pyrrö
with her operatic background, of course, but especially Vuokko Hovatta.
From that sonorous brightness echoes the virtuous sound of Polly’s surface.
glitter, and yet underneath beats a heart ready for deception.
After all this, all I can say is that if the calendar has
In season, there is room for only one show, please choose this one.