Classical Monday--Lulu live at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

I just love British 60s pop icon Lulu and her ubiquitous song "Shout."

This, however was Alban Berg's 1937 opera, repleat with three very challenging, thickly scored acts and a vocal line akin to a Richter scale reading during the Big One. That said, I couldn't take my eyes or ears off the four-hour production of Lulu which I saw last week at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The main reason for my rapt attention was the performance of 40-year old German soprano Marlis Petersen, who imbued her characterization with so much life (even in death) that you actually didn't mind that she killed so many of her husbands before being stabbed herself. Fraulein Petersen somehow managed what no other singer in the production could--how to communicate to the other characters on stage (and thereby to the audience) while still staying connected with conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

I suppose it is forgivable given the difficulties of this score, but this is not a "park and bark" opera where singers can get away with standing and showing off their lovely lyric voices. This opera demands singing actors, and Petersen met every one of the criteria, while still zinging out high Bs, Cs and Ds when called for.

While certainly not Broadway fare, this opera does have one notable connection to a current Broadway hit: Lulu is based on a couple of plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening was adapted by Duncan Sheik and Steven Slater. So let's hear it for the enfant terrible of German expressionism and his 21st Century interpreter, Marlis Petersen. Wedekind is in good hands.

Lulu
Music by Alban Berg
Libretto by the composer

Presented at Lyric Opera of Chicago (sorry, it closed yesterday)

Directed by Paul Curran
Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis
Cast: Marlis Petersen, William Burden, Wolfgang Schone, Jill Grove