Love Life

The Badische Zeitung, Freiburg's only local newspaper, frequently offers goodies to its subscribers, such as excursions and theater shows. In November of last year, Red Baron was excited to read about a vaudeville at the city's theater called Love Life, with music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.

Who does not remember Weill's The Threepenny Opera with the Moritat von Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife) and, even more magnificent, the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, a critical look at modern civilization in a fictitious, prosperous town somewhere in the south of the US.

Kurt Weill, a Jew who fled from Nazi Germany to the States in 1933, had to earn his living in New York. So he composed the music for a couple of early musicals. Among them is Love Life, which he and Lerner called a vaudeville rather than a musical. On Wikipedia, I read, "Love Life opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in October 1948."

The plot follows an American couple, David and Susan Cooper, as they live through more than 150 years of US history, with the usual ups and downs in their relationship.

They are just singing in the rain bed (©Theater Freiburg)

Critics regard Love Life, for its music, as a precursor to later, more successful Broadway musicals, e.g., Chicago. Cabaret, or A Chorus Line. Indeed, Weill experimented with many musical styles, though at times the music reminded me of Anni, Get Your Gun. Still, Kurt's genius shines through in the overtures. Lerner's Text and lyrics sounded simple to me, at least in their German translation. Love Life ran on Broadway for only seven months with just 252 performances.

Why was Love Life never revived? Why was it forgotten? Is the plot too socialist? The risk of unemployment during industrialization, the fight for female suffrage, and capitalist abuse are some of the topics clad in music. 

The performance in Freiburg doesn't end there. It brings back memories of The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, and My Fair Lady, which can sometimes be challenging for a German audience to grasp. You meet Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Frankenstein, Charlie Chaplin, Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe, and Groucho Marx. 

Suddenly, I found myself in the musical Gigi, listening to the famous "I Remember It Well" lyrics that Lerner later reused, in a revised form, in the 1958 movie Gigi.

©Theater Freiburg

The Freiburg performance in February 2018 received excellent reviews throughout Germany. The Theater group and orchestra surpassed themselves. Classical opera singers also had to play and dance, and the orchestra met Weill's musical demands with a high degree of flexibility, virtuosity, and concentration.

©Theater Freiburg

Somehow, the German revival of Love Life in Freiburg pays tribute to Kurt Weill's father, Albert, who was from nearby Kippenheim. He became Kantor of the Dessau Jewish community before returning to Baden, where he served at Eichstetten near the Kaiserstuhl. Undoubtedly, Kurt inherited his musical talent from his father.

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