Here's one for the libertarians: is too much regulation really holding back human happiness? Should people be free to do literally whatever they want?
That's the premise of satirical opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, written in German by Kurt Weill with a libretto by Bertolt Brecht. The 1930s opera is set in the American Wild West (in this production transplanted, sort of, to Australia), where three crims on the lam decide to found a town in order to fleece its new inhabitants and make their fortune. Four Alaskan lumberjacks, led by our hero Jimmy McIntyre, are drawn to the town's promise and decide to settle there. Jimmy becomes bored with the town's restrictions and eventually suggests a new way of living: total lawlessness. The prospect excites the town's inhabitants, who embrace a completely hedonistic ethos. The results, as you might expect, are not unmitigated bliss.
Melbourne Opera's production is sung in English, rather than the original German, and a projection screen at the back of the stage draws overt parallels between Weill and Brecht's original satire and our current world of fires, floods, MAGA hats and political indifference. For opera newbies, songs in English and a recognisable setting make this a good starting place for the genre. For old hands, there's plenty to like – and the opportunity to face some uncomfortable truths.
