May 07, 2007

'LoveMusik' called 'sluggish but unmissable'

The newest musical to open on Broadway, "LoveMusik," traces the lives and complicated love of composer Kurt Weill and his often-wife Lotte Lenya, who also performed in many of his works, including "The Threepenny Opera."

Well-pedigreed, the musical stars Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy, is directed by Hal Prince and has a book by "Driving Miss Daisy" playwright Alfred Uhry. The critics are split; some love it, some hate it, but just about all call it flawed in some way.

"LoveMusik" has an open-ended run at the Biltmore Theatre, located at 261 W. 47th St., map. Tickets are priced $76.25 to $101.25 with student rush seats for $30.25. A series of AfterWords talks are scheduled to follow some Saturday matinees.

The reviews:

New York Times - "This bio-musical about the marital and professional relationship of the German-born composer Kurt Weill and the actress Lotte Lenya, directed by Harold Prince, is sluggish, tedious and (hold your breath) unmissable — at least for anyone who cherishes stars who mold songs into thrilling windows of revelation."

Variety - "Emotional ambiguity is almost as characteristic of Kurt Weill's work as the musical discordance that echoes it. It ripples sorrowfully through the melody of the composer's French chanson, "Je ne t'aime pas," and in Maurice Magre's translated lyrics: "For you understand that I don't love you/But don't press my hand or look deep in my eyes." That wounding impulse to abnegate both the love itself and the pain that comes with denial colors every scene of "LoveMusik," an uneven but fascinating portrait of the corrosive relationship between Weill and his wife Lotte Lenya."

Sun - "Using some two dozen of the composer's haunting songs and eliciting superb performances from Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy, "LoveMusik" comes tantalizingly close to explaining how the son of a cantor and a former child prostitute formed one of the 20th century's most curious romances. Ironically, though, the project is foiled by the very thing that made it so tempting in the first place — Weill's own versatility."

Bloomberg - "If you're looking for a musical that leaves its recent and current competition miles, if not light years, behind, ``LoveMusik'' is it. With Alfred Uhry's empathetically inventive book and Kurt Weill's unbeatable songs (composed with various top-notch lyricists), this is the one not to miss."

Post - "The book is frankly clunky. But time and time again it is luckily resuscitated by the music and the altogether remarkable performances from the whole cast under Harold Prince's inspired direction."

Daily News - "Beginning in 1920s Europe, the story by Alfred Uhry ("Driving Miss Daisy"), which he based on the book "Speak Low," covers the couple's meeting, courtship (if that's what you can call sharing a few awkward kisses and cactus plants) and successes, particularly with "The Threepenny Opera." Act II covers two decades beginning in 1935, as Lenya's singing career stalls while Weill finds even greater success on Broadway and in Hollywood. After the long - too long, actually - and shadowy first act, the brighter, bouncier second half is almost jarring."

Associated Press - "There's a goose-bump moment right at the beginning of the second act of "LoveMusik," an uneven yet fascinating examination of the highly charged relationship between composer Kurt Weill and actress Lotte Lenya. The robust pit band segues into a haunting rendition of Weill's classic "September Song" (showcasing violinist Katherine Livolsi-Landau). It breaks the heart and raises spirits at the same time. Sort of like the musical itself."

New Yorker - "Murphy plays Lenya’s grief as she plays most of the part: by rote, and with no discernible understanding of the emotional complexity that ran through the real woman’s performances."

Wall Street Journal - "But Mr. Cerveris, Ms. Murphy and David Pittu (who plays Bertolt Brecht, Weill's famously arrogant collaborator) speak their lines with fiery conviction and sing their songs so poignantly that the book's weaknesses recede into the distance."

Newsday - "The show has its problems, some inherent in the range of Weill's music, and a few that seem to be almost willfully wrong-headed choices by director Harold Prince and author Alfred Uhry. But its strengths - especially the courageous, ruggedly brilliant performances by Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy - are far more haunting than the flaws are troubling."

NY1 - "Neither a heartbreaking love story, nor a compelling backstage tell-all, “LoveMusik” is a bland tale of an unhappy marriage between two showbiz celebrities. On the plus side, Cerveris and Murphy turn in gorgeous renditions from this brilliant catalogue, such as the Moritat of Mac the Knife and the famous Alabama Song. "

Newark Star-Ledger - "Such initial enchantment returns now and again -- there are some truly exquisite moments -- but the new musical that opened Thursday at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theater proves to be an uneven mix of striking songs and an alternately flat or sharp script, directed by Harold Prince with flashes of subtle artistry and tons of mostly ugly scenery."

New York magazine - "As long as you only have to listen to the music, you stop wondering what a bolder director might have accomplished by tossing out the biopic conventions and using these artists to create something strange and new and possibly wonderful."

amNewYork - ""LoveMusik," which is now receiving its world premiere as a limited run at Manhattan Theater Club's Biltmore Theatre, resembles the tryout of a major musical rather than an official Broadway birth. It is an unquestionably fascinating piece, with a captivating biographical subject, some of the twentieth century's most brilliant music and two remarkable performances from two of Broadway's best actors, and staging by the most accomplished director of the twentieth century. Still, it's not yet finished."

USA Today - "The Manhattan Theatre Club production, directed with grace and wit by Harold Prince, also features winning performances by John Scherer as Lenya's loyal supporter (and second husband) George Davis, and David Pittu as Weill's collaborator Bertolt Brecht, revealed here as a man who lusted for more than artistic integrity and social justice."

May 7, 2007 06:32 AM in Broadway

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