Street scene

"The work, curiously for a Broadway show (let alone an opera) has no specifically designated chorus work, but the myriad of individual characters combine to provide a solid body of sound for the climaxes of the many ensemble passages. The two gossiping nursemaids who open the final scene come close to stealing the show. They are ably portrayed by Sarah-Marie Maxwell and Laurel Dougall. The former also participates in the big song-and-dance number with the lively Dominic Lamb, where the energetic choreography of Arthur Pita comes into its own. The conductor Tim Murray keeps the score moving. He allows the more dramatic passages full weight but at the same time relishes the more light-hearted sections - and the committed orchestral playing rivals that of the bands on the audio recordings directed by Carl Davis (TER) and John Mauceri (Decca)".

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"Eine Rarität auf unsere Bühnen ... John Fulljames inszeniert sie virtuos als stimmungsträchtig naturalistisches Musiktheater, zeigt einen Tag im Leben einer New Yorker Hausgemeinschaft, an dem ein Kind geboren, ein Doppelmord begangen, eine Mutter mit Kindern aus der Wohnung geworfen ... [Die Sängern] mit vokalem Glanz und starker Charakterisierungskunst ... Das Orchester begeistert unter Tim Murray ... in dieses aufwendigen, aber lohnenden Werkes. Das man ruhig viel öfter spielen könnte".

"Conducted by Tim Murray, the Madrid players treat all of it elegantly. There are Puccini-esque duets, bluesy monologues and ... the sort of sentimental ballad you could easily imagine Doris Day singing in a spangly MGM movie. But the bittersweet tant of the Berlin-era Kurt Weill remains ... When it comes to the singers, a lot is being asked of the Madrid cast ... delivered in a variety of different accents and registers, not all of them relating to whichever ethnicity or class they are supposed to be channelling ... But Lucy Schaufer is excellent as the beaky, shrewish Mrs Jones, Eric Green is a warm janitor".