They bet on technology in a version of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

In the city of Mahagonny, money is the supreme god and those who do not have it are excluded. That place of pleasure and excess, where everything is allowed, in the end becomes empty due to unbridled consumerism. There the opera takes place Rise and fall of the city of Mahagonnywith a libretto by Bertolt Brecht and music by Kurt Weill, to present a scathing critique of capitalism and modern society.

The staging, which premiered yesterday at the Palace of Fine Arts, is a mix of theater and opera presented as a great show television, a mirror of today’s society, where individualism, corruption and violence predominate.

Under the stage direction of the Argentine Marcelo Lombardero, the National Opera Company is betting on technology with this production. In the plot, screens are used not only to recreate an environment or setting, but also as a television where the audience follows the reality show of what happens in Mahagonny.

The story takes place in that city, created by three fugitives (Leokadja Begbick, Fatty the accountant and Moisés Trinidad) from justice. The story centers on an Alaskan lumberjack (Jimmy Mahoney) who goes through the entire process of losing his identity through consumerism, gambling, prostitution and drinking.

From the first to the third act the audience witnesses how Mahagonny and its inhabitants are transformed by the lack of capital.

Lombadero’s version becomes agile due to the performers’ dialogues, the choreography and because part of the cast mixes with the audience. There are even moments when tenor Gustavo López Manzitti approaches the seats and sings in front of the viewer.

To show why it is the city of gold where everything is allowed, there is a moment in which a professional pole dancer appears in the center of the stage and later a group of women comes out in topless with a mask and then enter some booths.

There are also comic scenes, such as the boxing match between Moisés Trinidad and Joe Lobo from Alaska.

Jimmy’s life of debauchery comes to an end when he is unable to pay his debts, leading to him being arrested and sentenced to death. In his last moments, he reflects sadly: “here I am, sitting, without having achieved anything. The joy I bought was not true joy and freedom for money was not freedom.”

The rise of the city of Maha-gonny comes from the hand of wealthy people and many excesses that end up turning it into chaos that, finally, leads to total decay.

For this proposal, Marcelo Lombardero was inspired by Brecht’s aesthetic-theatrical stance of epic theater and the result is a current opera that manages to attract new audiences.

The music was provided by the Palace of Fine Arts Orchestra, conducted by Srba Dinić. Composer Kurt Weill combined unusual rhythms and structures, such as ragtime, jazz, and classical music, in order to create a distinctive sound.

The production, which was already released and recognized with awards in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, was now presented in Mexico with a cast led by Rosa Muñoz as Leokadja Begbick, Evanivaldo Correa as Fatty the accountant, Hernán Iturralde as Moisés Trinidad, Hildelisa Hangis as Jenny, Gustavo López Manzitti as Jimmy Mahoney, Víctor Hernández as Jack, Alejandro Paz Lasso as Bill, David Echeverría as Joe – known as Joe Wolf of Alaska–, Luis Alberto Sánchez as Tobby Higgins and the pianist Andrés Sarre.

12 members of the female choir also participate: Edurne Goyarzu, Rosario Aguilar, Lucía Salas, Yutsil Romero, Diana Mata, Jazmín Quintero, Araceli Hernández, Sandra Olivas, Lourdes Beltrán, Belem Rodríguez, Guadalupe López and Mariana Sofía García, as well as four actors and 10 dancers.

Rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny It will also be presented tomorrow and on the 26th and 29th – Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm – in the main hall of the Palace of Fine Arts (Juárez Avenue and Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas). The approximate duration is 150 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission.