Larky Gangsters

By T.E. Kalem

HAPPY END

Book and Lyrics by BERTOLT BRECHT

Music by KURT WEILL

Bertolt Brecht sought refuge in the U.S. in 1941 and went to Hollywood "to join the market where lies are bought."

Happy End, a musical currently revived by New Haven's Yale Repertory Theater, is really a larky 1929 gangster movie. The setting is Chicago in Bill Cracker's gin mill. Bill (Charles Levin) is very tough but no match for the Lady in Gray, otherwise known as "the Fly" (Elizabeth Parrish).

She masterminds a gang of bank-robbing thugs with monikers like "the Professor," "the Reverend" and "Mammy" (Jeremy Geidt), who are all kept in line by Dr. Nakamura. Made up to look like Dr. Fu Manchu and with an accent to match, Alvin Epstein plays this role with hysterical finesse. Enter a Salvation Army lassie, "Hallelujah Lil" (Stephanie Cotsirilos). She falls for Bill, and redeeming social values ensue.

The Yale troupe invests the silly plot with style, wit and perfect timing. The score is something more--a Kurt Weill marvel. Not only were the famous Bilbao Song and Surabaya Johnny written for this musical, but also half a dozen other numbers of rare distinction. They range from Song of the Big Shot ("Just don't get soft, baby/ For god's sake never get soft, baby/ No ifs or buts/ Go on and kick him in the guts/ Go on and kick him in the guts. ") to Throw Out the Lifeline--Soul Overboard. By turns, the music is astringent, lyrical, opulently erotic and as jazzily smoky as a 1920s saxophone.

Inevitably, this show will eventually find itself some off-Broadway niche--one hopes with this director (Michael Posnick) and this cast. qedT.E. Kalem

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