By Tammy Neely Bates, Staff writer
Last Friday, Feb. 18, I attended the production of Three Penny Opera performed by Theatre at Southeastern. I absolutely loved it. Even though it was a three act, almost three hour production, each scene left you wanting more.
The opera was set in Old England. The story revolves around the life of a high society man, Mr. Peachum, his daughter Polly, and his possibly alcoholic wife. Peachum owns the streets by forcing peddlers to pay him 30 percent of their earnings in order to be allowed to beg.
Complication arises when Polly falls in love with a handsome and well known crook known as MacHeath. They hold a wedding, or at least they think they do; the minister never performed the actual wedding. When Mr. Peachum finds out, he is furious and bribes the police to arrest and hang MacHeath.
Mrs. Peachum helps out by bribing the local whores to trick MacHeath into staying so the cops can catch him. While MacHeath is in jail, Polly finds out he has another wife who is pregnant, or so it seems at the time.
All of this is going on while the coronation of the Queen of England is taking place, with a parade and other celebrations occurring. While MacHeath is in jail, he tries to bribe the cops into letting him out, which doesn’t go so well. However, when his time has finally run out and he is about to be hanged, the Queen announces that she does not want any hangings on the day of her parade and pardons MacHeath.
I was shocked with the ending. I actually found myself wondering if there was going to be a hanging on stage and pondering how they would pull it off. However, I was immensely pleased with the plot twist. I naturally love happy endings. Although, I was confused when the possibly pregnant other wife came on stage with no belly and no baby. Was she pretending? I still wonder.
The costumes designed by Kathleen Hardgrove were exquisite and really set the sparkle of the old England era of the play. Scenic director Aaron Adair helped in capturing the tone and theme of the opera. Watching the performance caused you to slip back into that era and imagine if the characters were real; if those things really happened.
One of my favorite scenes was in Act Two when Polly, played by Rebecca Sparks, gets “married” to her charming crook, MacHeath, played by Logan Russell. It was a peddler’s wedding. MacHeath’s goons bring gifts for him and his bride, one of which was an old table with no chairs, which they had stolen. MacHeath promptly asks, “How could you bring me a table and no chairs?” It left me laughing and wondering how legitimate the wedding itself actually was. There was no actual ceremony, even though the priest showed up. It left me wanting more.
The vocalist of “Solomon Song,” Jenny Diver, played by Jocelyn Batts, was amazing. Her voice was tremendous and beautiful, and she had an awesome range. Her performance was refreshing. Her dance and demeanor were provocative, and a real shocker, but I loved the performance. It was intense.
The narrator, known as a Ballad Singer and played by Rowdy Peacock, enticed your emotions and had you wanting more of him each time he appeared.
If you missed the production, you missed out on a wonderful and life changing performance. The members of Theatre at Southeastern are seriously talented, overcoming a whole week of missed rehearsals due to the inclement weather. They had to have rehearsed amazingly in the three weeks they were given. I gave a roaring standing ovation.