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By Matthew Westphal
16 Dec 2007

What happens in Mahagonny will not stay in Mahagonny, it seems ...

A telecast of Los Angeles Opera's 2007 revival of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, the Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht opera of the proverbial town without pity, will air on PBS stations across the United States beginning Monday, Dec. 17.

The production stars two members of Broadway royalty, both of whom were making their L.A. Opera debuts: Audra McDonald as Jenny, the enterprising whore who makes her way to the boomtown, and Patti LuPone as Leocadia Begbick, madam extraordinaire and Mahagonny's presiding spirit. Joining them are Anthony Dean Griffey as Jimmy McIntyre, Robert Wörle as Fatty the Bookkeeper, John Easterlin as Jack O'Brien, Mel Ulrich as Bank Account Bill, Donnie Ray Albert as Trinity Moses, Derek Taylor as Toby Higgins and Steven Humes as Alaska Wolf Joe.

L.A. Opera music director James Conlon conducts, with stage direction by John Doyle, whose searing staging of Sweeney Todd won a Tony Award in 2006 and whose Broadway production of Sondheim's Company received plenty of acclaim, several Tony nominations and one Tony Award (for Best Revival of a Musical) earlier this year.

The L.A. Mahagonny airs on WNET-TV in New York on Monday, Dec. 17 at 9:00 p.m. and again at 12:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21, while KCET-TV in Los Angeles presents the opera on Saturday, Dec. 22. Check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area.

That same week, the production becomes available to home viewers in a new high-definition DVD release from EuroArts Music International. Online retailers such as Amazon.com are taking pre-orders for the holidays; the official release date is Tuesday, Dec. 18.

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