Berlin to Broadway Collection

Kurt Weill was born in Dessau, Germany on March 2nd, 1900. As the son of the chief cantor of the Dessau Synagogue, Weill was writing and playing music from a young age. In 1927, Weill became interested in the writings of Bertolt Brecht, and created a group of songs called the Mahagonny Songspiel, which would later be expanded into the Weill/Brecht opera entitled “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” The success of this production paved the way for Weill and Brecht’s most famous collaboration, “The Threepenny Opera,” which was a rewriting of the 18th century English ballad production, “The Beggars’ Opera.”

The works of Weill and Brecht brought the two composers into open collision with Naziism in pre-World War II Germany. In 1932, Weill, together with his actress-singer wife, Lotte Lenya, escaped to France and then to England, until eventually immigrating to the United States.

In New York, Weill collaborated with the American playwright, Maxwell Anderson, in two major musical theater productions, “Knickerbocker Holiday” and “Lost in the Stars.” Weill’s creative endeavors were cut short in 1950, when he died from a long-standing heart ailment.

In the early 1970s, producers Hank Kaufman and Gene Lerner persuaded Lotte Lenya to allow them to fashion a revival of Weill’s music and story, so that a new generation could be introduced to his genius. Lerner and Kaufman had a great deal of experience in show business having founded and run a successful international talent agency, Kaufman-Lerner Associates of Rome, Italy for twenty years. “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill” marks the professional return of Kaufman and Lerner following their disbandment of the agency in 1970.

The pair created the show “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill: A Musical Voyage” which premiered on October 1, 1972, at the Theater de Lys. The show follows Weill’s career in Germany through his escape from Naziism and immigration to the United States, where he became a success on Broadway. The production was revived multiple times in Miami, New York, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles with new adaptations.