Given the turbulent political climate, producer Joseph Horowitz brings a multidimensional performance to UNC. The performance, subtitled, “Change the world, it needs it,” will feature music by three prominent cultural figures from the 1920s and 1930s. However, its highlights may be conversations on either side of the event.
Unlike a typical cabaret, the performance features music, dialogue, audio recording and film, depicting adaptations of original works by Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill. All three were politically left-leaning and radically bent, Horowitz said.
“The music and the video and the dialogues all intertwine so much that the evening really just steps up in its own way — it’s kind of its own category,” said Lisa Vroman, a performer for the event who worked on Broadway and in opera for 10 years. “This is one of those special events that I look forward to because of such high-end musicians and it’s really just an unusual project. I hope people take advantage of it, especially the student body.”
By melding the historical content with a current take, Horowitz hopes to read the story in a modern light.
“During the '20s and '30s, which was a time of political and economic upheaval, political theater was in a vibrant phase, both in Germany and the United States,” Horowitz said, likening those decades to the present political moment.
