‘Lulu’ to be screened in Learning Center
LW OPERA CLUB
Everyone is invited to attend a showing of composer Alban Berg’s contemporary opera “Lulu” on Tuesday, May 21, at 1:30 p.m. in the Learning Center of Clubhouse 3.
The atonal (dissonant) music is based on the story of the German novelist Frank Wedekind, who explored the subjects of unrestrained mayhem including sexuality, murder and death in Vienna during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a time of hedonistic obsessions depicted by Kurt Weill in Berlin after the Great War. It extended to worldly unrest, with the Norwegian painter Edward Munch producing “The Scream.”
It was also the time of psychological investigations by Alfred Adler, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It was a time of looking at moral hypocrisy in society along with a never ending search for tidy moral conclusions.
Knowledgeable Opera Club member Cynthia Stone will elaborate on this 100-year-old dilemma in her introduction to this musical tale that is regarded by critics as a leading 20th century opera.
Act 1 introduces Lulu, a person of unrestrained attraction to both men and women, posing for a painter who is trying to seduce her under the watchful eye of her lover, Dr. Schoen.
When Lulu’s real-life husband opens the door into the room, he sees, and collapses of a fatal heart attack. The painter then significantly asks Lulu if she loves anything or anybody and she answers by simply saying she does not know, yet he marries her because of his strong attraction. Later, when the painter learns of Lulu’s past from Dr. Schoen, he kills himself. Lulu announces she next intends to marry Schoen, who then cancels his engagement to another woman because of his underlying attraction for Lulu and he proceeds to marry her too.
In Act 2, Lulu speaks of being pursued by a Marquis and at least three others, notably Schoen’s adult son Alwa and a Countess, who are each heavily beguiled by her. Schoen then confronts Lulu and gives her a pistol advising she use it on herself, but she instead fires five shots into Schoen, killing him and escaping the police by fleeing to Paris with his son, Alwa.
Act 3 depicts Lulu in Paris, celebrating her birthday in the face of an African Marquis’ threat to force her into a brothel. She ends up losing her money then finds herself in London, where Lulu is a prostitute and Alwa is a syphilitic who gets killed by one of Lulu’s clients. The next client is Jack the Ripper who concludes the tale by stabbing to death both Lulu and the Countess.
The production is in German with English subtitles. People are encouraged to wear masks indoors, if desired. No dues or fees are collected. For more information, contact Margaret Gillon at MargaretGi@yahoo.com or 562-370-3844.
Marlis Petersen plays Lulu in the opera.
