Sean Power - Reviews & Interviews

The Threepenny Epic Cabaret
2 May 1996 - The Toronto Star:
"THE THREEPENNY EPIC CABARET"

THE THREEPENNY EPIC CABARET

Scratch a saint for very long, and you will find a sinner. Bald Ego Theatre, has done just that with a lively production that offers an irreverent look at hallowed German playwright/director Bertolt Brecht and the making, in 1928, of his most famous work, The Threepenny Opera. The play, based partly on John Fuegi's 1994 biography, is written by Stan Rogal, with input from the rest of the company, and directed by Adam Nashman. It casts Brecht in the role of plagiarist, philanderer, charlatan and, finally, artist and genius. In a daringly anachronistic twist, the historical figures - Brecht (Sean Power), collaborators Kurt Weill (Bob Wiseman) and Elisabeh Hauptmann (Christine Brubaker) and various performers (Kristen Thomson and Rogal) - interact with three latter-day characters, an academic writing a thesis on Brecht (Lisa Ryder), a Brecht-Weill groupie (Selina Martin) and a photographer (Christopher Bauer). Obviously intended to mirror the reality of Toronto theatre today, it depicts the hectic three weeks leading up to the musical's premiere. Like the original, it has all the fell of something that's been madly thrown together. But works.