A CONCORD THEATRICALS TITLE

LoveMusik

Full-Length Musical, Drama  /  4w, 6m

Book by Alfred Uhry
Music by Kurt Weill

Suggested by the letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya
Directed on Broadway by Harold Prince

An epic romance about two unlikely lovers: the intellectual composer Kurt Weill and the girl from the streets turned muse and star, Lotte Lenya.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period, Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for all audiences, Adult, Teen (Age 14 - 18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 2007 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations
    Nominee: 2007 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Musical
    Nominee: 2007 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Book of a Musical
    Nominee: 2007 Tony Award, Best Orchestrations
LoveMusik

Details

Summary
LoveMusik follows the lives of the unlikeliest of lovers - the brilliant, intellectual German composer Kurt Weill and a lusty girl from the streets of Vienna who became his muse and star, Lotte Lenya. With a book by Alfred Uhry (Pulitzer Prize winner, Driving Miss Daisy), LoveMusik is an epic romance, set in Berlin, Paris, Broadway and Hollywood, spanning 25 years in the lives of this complicated couple. From their courtship and early collaborations in Europe, through their journey to America and the debut of the landmark musical The Threepenny Opera, LoveMusik gets deep inside this fascinating partnership. The musical features some of Weill's best-loved songs, including "Speak Low," "Surabaya Johnny," "It Never Was You," "Mack the Knife," "September Song," and "Pirate Jenny."
History

WRITERS' NOTES

Alfred Uhry:

LoveMusik is the real-life story of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, and the love and music they shared. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship, passionate, uneven and eventful, sweeping across the second quarter of the 20th century from Berlin to New York to Hollywood. It tells the story of their collaboration with Bertold Brecht in such works as The Threepenny Opera and Mahogonny, their escape from Nazi Germany, and the later lives of all three in America. With the help of the Kurt Weill Estate, I was given access to material that was familiar ("Mac the Knife," "Moon of Alabama," "September Song," "Speak Low," etc.) and material that was not ("Buddy on the Night Shift," "Berlin in Light," "Shickelgruber," etc.). The Weill songs, with lyrics by Brecht, Alan Jay Lerner, Ogden Nash and, surprisingly, Oscar Hammerstein II, range from romance to cynicism to comedy. They underline and impassion the story of these two highly gifted theatre artists who adored and betrayed and upheld each other, all at the same time. I mean it to be presented in Weill/Brecht style, high key lighting, not much scenery, and a lot of theatrical imagination. It should be fierce and fun and, ultimately, heart breaking.

Hal Prince:

When I was in high school, I recall standing in a long line to purchase tickets in advance for the opening of Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus. Previously, my parents had taken me to Knickerbocker Holiday, Lady in the Dark and Love Life on Broadway, and I had seen the German film of Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera countless times. I was hooked.

In 1965, I went into rehearsal for the original production of Cabaret which starred, among others, Weill’s widow, Lotte Lenya. She epitomized the Weimar era in Germany and was among the last living performers from that golden period, which helped to give our production authenticity. The show was a huge success and we became good friends over its long run. I learned from her that the marriage to Weill was a stormy one, but that they always adored each other. What interested me was how much freedom he permitted her during their marriage in Germany and their subsequent remarriage when they came to the United States, fleeing from the Third Reich. Weill spent a good deal of time in Hollywood writing film scores and, during that time, as devoted as they were, their marriage was an open one. What fascinated me was that although Weill certainly didn’t relish his wife’s outside affairs, he actually wrote The Firebrand of Florence to feature one of her other lovers in the co-starring role. He accepted their arrangement, but ironically Lenya did not, so, when she discovered that he had a mistress in California for at least a decade, she was deeply hurt. I found that ironical and, of course, theatrical.

So, I asked Alfred Uhry if he’d be interested in writing a biographical musical that was ultimately a powerful love story and which featured both Weill’s European oeuvre and his extremely popular Broadway scores. He was hooked. The result was LoveMusik, which seemed to fascinate audiences and critics alike.

PRINCIPALS
3 Men
1 Woman

FEATURED
3 Men
3 Women

CAST OF CHARACTERS
Kurt Weill
Lotte Lenya
Bertolt Brecht
George Davis

ENSEMBLE CHARACTERS
(Played by 6 actors in the original Broadway production - 3 Men, 3 Women)
Woman on Stairs
Weill's Family
Lenya's Family
Magistrate
Court Secretary
Brecht's Wife
Brecht's Women (2)
Boxers (2)
Tango Dancers
Stage Manager
Auditioners:
Irene Pechner
Erik Geibel
Announcer/Emcee (Off Stage)
Four Stagehands
Wardrobe Mistress
Pit Singers
Interviewer
Members of the Orchestra
Partygoers/Guests
Otto
Stenographer
Judge
Allen Lake
Photographer
Drum Majorette
Announcer at Madison Square Garden
Stage Manager
Handyman
Bride's Mother
Madam Zuzu (a man in drag)
Father-in-law
Wardrobe Mistress
Hairdresser (male)
Streetsinger's Voice (Off Stage)
  • Time Period 1950s, 1940s / WWII, 1930s, 1920s
  • Setting Berlin, New York and Santa Monica, California. 1924-1954.
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)

Media

“An audacious work... and a beguiling reflection of the complexities of love.” – David Rooney, Variety
“A fascinating portrait that recalls Cabaret, LoveMusik bears the defining creative stamp of director Harold Prince, who has folded performance, design and music into a collage of stroking theatrecraft. It's an audacious work that never shies away from taking risks, and a beguiling reflection of the complexities of love.” – David Rooney, Variety

Videos

  • Manhattan Theatre Club LoveMusik Trailer youtube thumbnail

    Manhattan Theatre Club LoveMusik Trailer

Music

Music Samples

1. “Overture” – Orchestra
2. “Speak Low” – Kurt Weill and Lotte Leyna
3. “Nanna’s Lied” – Woman on Stairs
4. “Kiddush” – Weill’s Family
5. “A Divine Land (Song Of The Rhineland)” – Lenya’s Family
6. “Klops Lied (Meatball Song)” – Kurt Weill
7. “Berlin In Light (Berlin Im Licht)” – Lotte Lenya
8. “Wooden Wedding” – Kurt Weill
9. “Tango Ballad” – Bertolt Brecht and Brecht’s Women
10. “Alabama Song” – Auditioners and Lotte Lenya
11. “Girl of the Moment” – Ensemble
12. “Moritat” – Bertolt Brecht
13. “Schickelgruber” – Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht
14. “Come to Paris” – Ensemble
15. “I Don’t Love You” – Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya
16. “Wouldn’t You Like To Be On Broadway?” – Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya
17. “Alabama Song (Reprise)” – Lotte Lenya

18. “Entr’acte” – Orchestra
19. “Very” – Kurt Weill
20. “It’s Never Too Late To Mendelssohn” – Kurt Weill
21. “Surabaya Jonny” – Lotte Lenya
22. “Youkali” – Bertolt Brecht and Brecht’s Women
23. “Buddy On the Night Shift” – Allen Lake
24. “That’s Him” – Kurt Weill
25. “Hosannah Rockefeller” – Bertolt Brecht and Brecht’s Women
26. “I Don’t Love You (Reprise)” – Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill
27. “The Illusion Wedding Show” – George Davis and Ensemble
28. “It Never Was You” – Kurt Weill
29. “A Bird of Passage” – Ensemble
30. “September Song” – Lotte Lenya and George Davis
31. “Pirate Jenny” – Lotte Lenya

Full Orchestration
Piano 
Reed 1 (Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone)
Reed 2 (Clarinet, Bassoon, Tenor Saxophone)
Trumpet
Violin 1
Violin 2
Viola
Cello
Bass
Percussion (Drum Kit, Tom Toms, Triangle, Woodblock, Temple Blocks, Ratchet, Glockenspiel, Chime [G: 8ve+5th above middle C])

  • Musical Style Classic Broadway, Operetta
  • Dance Requirements Minimal
  • Vocal DemandsModerate
  • Orchestra Size Medium
  • Chorus Size Medium

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Music Rentals

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Full Setting:

LoveMusik takes place between 1924 and 1954 in Berlin, New York and Santa Monica, California. Author Alfred Uhry recommends LoveMusik "to be presented in Weill/Brecht style, high key lighting, not much scenery, and a lot of theatrical imagination."

Act 1
Lake Peetzsee, Near Berlin, 1924
Weill's Flat in Berlin
Weill's Apartment, Winter, 1925
Magistrate's Office, Berlin
Gymnasium, Berlin
A Stage
Theatre Am Shiffbauerdamm, Berlin
Interview Kleinmachnow, Berlin
Suburb Lenya's Dressing Room, Berlin
Weill in Paris; Lenya Touring Germany
The Bed
S.S. Majestic

Act 2
Hoboken, New Jersey, 1935
Municipal Court House, New York
Harper's Bazaar
Le Ruban Bleu Nightclub, New York, 1940
Brecht's Beach Cottage, Santa Monica
Madison Square Garden, New York
Weill House, New City, New York
Alvin Theatre, New York
Weill in Los Angeles, Lenya In New York
Weill House, New City, 1950
The Suitcase
The Weill House
Theatre De Lys, New York, 1954

12 Libretto
12 Piano-Conductor
1 Reed 1
1 Reed 2
1 Trumpet
1 Percussion
1 Violin 1
1 Violin 2
1 Viola
1 Cello
1 Bass
1 Logo Pack
12 Libretto
12 Piano-Conductor
1 Logo Pack

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Authors

Author

Alfred Uhry

Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill (1900-1950) was born on 2 March 1900 in Dessau, Germany. The son of a cantor, Weill displayed musical talent early on: by the time he was twelve, he was composing and mounting concerts and dramatic works in the hall above his family's quarters in the Gemeindehaus. ...

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Harold Prince

Harold Prince (1928-2019) directed the original productions of She Loves Me, It's a Bird... It's A Plane... It's Superman! Superman, Cabaret, Zorba, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, On the Twentieth Century, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Merrily We Roll Along ...

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