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John HarrisonUniversity of Northern Colorado
Lyon Opera film, 1993; Kultur DVD d2904; 47 min; $29.95
This short, brilliant film updates Kurt Weill's Die sieben Todsünden (1933, Paris), his first work in exile from Nazi Germany. Another collaboration with Bertolt Brecht, it satirized capitalism as much as their earlier works in Berlin like The Three-Penny Opera or Mahagonny. It differed, however, as a short sung ballet to appeal to Parisian audiences used to Diaghilev's famous new ballets to scores by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Debussy and Ravel. George Balanchine choreographed the Parisian premiere of The Seven Deadly Sins, but it received an indifferent reception. This sarcastic Lyon production on DVD downplays the dancing and emphasizes the satire and family exploitation of the two daughters.
The Anna I of Teresa Stratas dominates in director Peter Sellars' ensemble. She gives touching vulnerability to her Anna among a finely honed group from earlier operatic productions of Sellars. Anna II (Nora Kimball) hardly dances and has no more mobile a body than Stratas. The ballet appears abandoned, but montage and crosscuts...