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Article: Toronto Operetta Theatre.
- Article from:
- Opera Canada
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Opera Canada Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Lady in the Dark, composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by Moss Hart, is a risky oddball in its mix of speech and song. Hugely popular when it was first staged on Broadway in 1941, the piece follows the life and loves of a dysfunctional fashion editor, Liza Elliott, who submits to psychoanalysis to figure out what's wrong. Her sessions on the couch, presented as dream sequences, are sung through and include such wonderful numbers as "The Saga of Jenny," "This is New" and "One Life to Live." The connecting bits are spoken dialogue, which means you need accomplished actor-singers to carry the show off. Toronto Operetta Theatre (Feb. 19) largely ...