Kurt Weill cabaret gets under the skin of his creations

Newbury Spring Festival: O Moon of Alabama

at the Corn Exchange, Newbury

on Saturday, May 24

Review by STEPHEN OTTNER

WITH the title O Moon of Alabama one might expect an evening of Blue Grass or maybe Cajun music but, no, the music on offer was something very different.

Turns out, O Moon of Alabama refers to a whisky bar in a song written by Bertolt Brecht and set to music by Kurt Weil in 1927.

The genesis of the show, and it is very much a ‘show’ rather than a concert, goes way back to 1980 when actor/singer Walter Van Dyk saw a performance of Kurt Weil’s songs. It took another 10 years before Van Dyk decided to put together a show of a compilation of Kurt Weil songs.

It was clear from the outset that the evening would not follow the expected format of a Newbury Spring Festival event at the Corn Exchange.

The audience took their seats with Michael Haslam sat at the piano playing away. James Crabb (accordion) wandered on to the stage and joined in as did Anthony Marwood (violin).

Haslam left the stage, and John Myerscough came on with cello in its case, Mary Carewe (actor/singer) arrived at one of the two tables with newspaper and hip flash and proceeded to pour drinks for two of the musicians.

As the house lights dimmed all four musicians were in place and Van Dyk made a dramatic entrance and launched into, probably Weil’s best-known song, Mack The Knife, sung in German while Carewe sat reading a newspaper. Carewe abandoned her newspaper to perform Barbara Song (also from Threepenny Opera).

A succession of bittersweet songs were sung and performed exquisitely with the acting adding an extra dimension to the songs. The accompaniment from the quartet was of an equal standard with arrangements that that made the most of the combination of instruments.

This evening of musical theatre was a fine end to the Spring Festival that we are so fortunate to have on our doorstep.