United Kingdom Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014 (1) – Berlin to Broadway: The Songs of Kurt Weill: Bremner Duthie (baritone), David Patrick (piano), Outhouse, Edinburgh. (SRT)
Bremner Duthie is a self-confessed Weill fanatic and he pulls off the conviction very well. He has constructed this evening as a set of Weill’s songs from all the major aspects of his oeuvre, and he intersperses them with a personable chronological history of Weill’s life.
He brings personalities like Lotte Lenya and Bertolt Brecht to life, and the thing I took most from the show was the biographical overview that made much of Weill’s piecemeal life fit together.
The songs themselves were, ultimately, sung with more passion and intensity that vocal distinction, but that’s not to do down his commitment. He was at his best in the more sardonic numbers, such as the Ballad of Sexual Dependency and The Solider’s Wife. David Patrick’s accompaniment was sometimes jarringly dissonant but always masterfully played.
Berlin to Broadway: The Songs of Kurt Weill continues until 14th August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe continues until 25th August at a range of venues across the city. For full details click here.
Simon Thompson