Regional

The Threepenny Opera

 (The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum; 350 seats; $ 15 top)

By JULIO MARTINEZ

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum presents a musical play in three acts with book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill, directed by Heidi Helen Davis. Producer, Ellen Geer. Music director-pianist, Greg Hilfman.
 
Cast: Patrick O'Connell (Macheath), Ellen Geer (Jenny) , Melora Marshall (Polly), Aled Davies (Mr. Peachum), Barbara Tarbuck (Mrs. Peachum), Allan Hendrick (Mr. Brown), Leslie Hicks (Lucy), Garrett House (Street Singer), Herta Ware (Street Singer Companion), Gina Honda (Filch), John Jabaley (Matt), Jack Newalu (Jake), Nicholas Guilak (Bob), Amir Prouchani (Walt), Mary Anne Glazebrook (Molly), Holly Ricci (Dolly), Diana Michelle Skolnik (Betty), Jane McAllister (Coaxer); Elizabeth George, Richard Abraham, Sarah Teasdale, Iain Jones, Robert Bresnik, David Chielens, Ector Kailani, Danielle O'Terry, Teryn Jackson, Phillip Jeanmarie, Marshall McDaniel, Adam Reich, Charles Dylan Pasternak, Sash Pasternak, Kellen McDaniel, Bob Baskin.
 

Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill created their 1928 adaptation of John Gay's 18th-century "Beggar's Opera" as an anti-capitalistic statement against the European culture that existed between the two world wars. Unfortunately, the bucolic, open-air environment of Topanga Canyon's sprawling Theatricum Botanicum is the wrong atmosphere for this grimy, amoral tale of the London sewers and their inhabitants.

Despite her adroit manipulation of the enthusiastic 30-plus ensemble, director Heidi Helen Davis fails to capture the claustrophobic life-and-death urgency to survive that was the constant motivation for master street criminal Macheath (Patrick O'Connell) and his company of petty thieves, cheap whores and beggars.

With Peter Parkin's stage settings spread out around the Theatricum's vast area, the play's pacing and energy get dissipated in the actors' efforts to merely get from one place to another.

The outdoor acoustics also prove a disservice to Weill's music hall-tinged score. Greg Hilfman's solo acoustic piano accompaniment, though competent, is simply not strong enough to bring tolife Weill's sardonic melodies. Debra De Liso's minimalist choreography makes no impression at all.

O'Connell is a dapper enough Macheath, but he is more comical than dangerous. Ellen Geer does a marvelous turn as Macheath's hard-edged but vulnerable former love Jenny.

As Macheath's two wives, Melora Marshall (Polly Peachum) and Leslie Hicks (Lucy Brown) are wonderfully passionate foils to his slippery charms.

Aled Davies turns in the most rewarding performance of the production as the arch opportunist Mr. Peachum. He combines the charm and grace of a vaudeville song-and-dance man with the ravenous greed of a latter-day Fagin.

Also lending solid support are Barbara Tarbuck as Peachum's wife, John Jabaley as Macheath's main flunky and Allan Hendrick as Macheath's former army buddy-turned-police-inspector.

Choreography, Debra De Liso; sets, lighting, Peter Parkin; costumes, Susan Doepner-Senac. Opened, reviewed July 6, 1996; runs through Sept. 14. Running time: 2 hours, 40 min.