Seven Deadly Sins & Mahagonny Songspiel
Performed at Mosman Art Gallery, February 2025
Seven Deadly Sins (1933)
Kurt Weill | Libretto by Bertolt Brecht
Synopsis
A bold fusion of cabaret, classical music, and biting satire, The Seven Deadly Sins is a darkly entertaining journey through the divided conscience of a woman navigating a world where morality and survival rarely align.
In this sharp and stylish work by composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht, we meet Anna; two aspects of the same woman. One is the calculating realist who keeps a clear eye on profit and self-preservation, while the other is the sensitive idealist who longs for integrity and emotional truth. Together, they set off on a seven-year journey through seven American cities, encountering each of the titular sins: Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, and Envy, as they work to raise money for their family.
As Anna performs and sacrifices, she finds that the virtues of dignity, love, and resistance are viewed by others as weaknesses. In a world driven by commerce and appearances, what is considered sin may in fact be her last hold on humanity.
Mahagonny Songspiel (1927)
Kurt Weill | Libretto by Bertolt Brecht
Synopsis
Welcome to Mahagonny, the city of pleasures, where everything is permitted and nothing comes without a cost.
Mahagonny Songspiel is a bold and brilliant early collaboration between composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht. Short in length but rich in ideas, this satirical song cycle lays the groundwork for the later full-length opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. In this original version, six characters arrive in the mythical city of Mahagonny in search of freedom, fun, and fulfillment.
What they find instead is a city built on illusion, where rules bend for profit and pleasure becomes empty. Through a series of striking songs, the work explores themes of excess, disillusionment, and the dark underside of the pursuit of happiness. Each character sings of desire and despair, revealing the emptiness at the heart of a society that prizes indulgence above all else.
Production Team
Conductor — Philip Eames
Director — Spark Sanders-Robinson
Producer — Katie Miller-Crispe
Pianist — Nathaniel Kong
Hair & Make Up — Rachel Dal Santo & Paula Santos
Production Photography — Rosa Doric
Cast
Seven Deadly Sins:
Anna I — Laura Scandizzo
Anna II — Mia Rashid
Father — Ben Oxley
Brother — Matt Gaskin
Mother — Gordon Costello
Brother — Matthew Avery
Mahagonny Songspiel:
Charlie — Ben Oxley
Billy — Matt Gaskin
Jimmy — Gordon Costello
Bobby — Matthew Avery
Jessie — Katie Miller-Crispe
Bessie — Laura Scandizzo
With Thanks To …
Rosa Doric, Rachel Dal Santo, Paula Santos
