The Weekend Theater Presents
Double Bill:
| Brundibar (Musical) |
Contact with the Enemy |
Music by Hans Krása
Libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister |
By Frank Gilroy |
May 2-18
Brundibar (Musical)
Performed by the children of the concentration camp Theresienstadt in occupied
Czechoslovakia, and adapted to suit the musical instruments available in the camp: flute,
clarinet, guitar, accordion, piano, percussion, four violins, a cello and a double bass,
this opera shares elements with fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel. Aninka and Pepícek
are fatherless sister and brother. Their mother is ill, and the doctor tells them she
needs milk to recover, but they have no money. They decide to sing in the marketplace, to
raise the needed money, but the evil organ grinder Brundibár chases them away. However,
with the help of a dog, a cat and a lark, and the children of the town, they are able to
chase Brundibar away in turn, and sing in the market square and earn the money they need
for milk to save their mother. The opera contains obvious symbolism in the triumph of the
helpless and needy children over the tyrannical organ-grinder, but no overt references to
the conditions under which it was written and performed. However, certain phrases were to
the audience clearly anti-Nazi, such as: He who loves justice and will abide by it, and
who is not afraid, is our friend and can play with us." Most of the participants in
the Theresienstadt production, including the composer Krása, were later exterminated in
Auschwitz.
Directed by Ralph Hyman, Music Direction by Lori Isner.
Contact with the Enemy
Set in 1993, this one-act drama portrays two veterans of World War II, a businessman and a
writer, who meet by chance in front of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. In short
order, they realize they knew each other once, having served in the same army
division—and had been among the soldiers to liberate one of the lesser-known camps,
Ohrduf-Nord. As they enter the museum, examine the exhibits, eventually find their
recollections solicited by the guide and recorded by the volunteer historian,
uncomfortable echoes of those events cause unexpected, long-suppressed revelations to rise
to the surface—one in particular quite devastating.
Directed by Alan Douglas.
Curtain Times
On Fridays and Saturdays, curtain times are at 7:30 p.m.
For special Sunday showings (Musicals only) curtain times are at 2:30 p.m.
