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Happy End (2006 ACT Cast) | 
 enlarge | Artist: Bertolt Brecht
Creators: Kurt Weill, Linda Mugleston, Charlotte Cohn, Peter Macon, Jack Willis
Label: Ghostlight
Category: Music
List Price: $18.97
Buy New: $13.13
You Save: $5.84 (31%)
New (12) Used (5) from $11.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 119682
Format: Cast Recording
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 84418
UPC: 791558441826
EAN: 0791558441826
ASIN: B000M06KFM
Release Date: February 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Prologue | | • | The Bilbao Song | | • | Lieutenants of the Lord | | • | March Ahead | | • | Time in a Shot Glass | | • | The Sailor's Tango | | • | Entr'Acte | | • | The Sailor's Tango (Reprise) | | • | Brother, Give Yourself a Shave | | • | Song of the Big Shot | | • | Don't Be Afraid | | • | In Our Childhood's Bright Endeavor | | • | The Liquor Dealer's Dream | | • | The Mandalay Song | | • | Goddam It | | • | Surabaya Johnny | | • | The Heist | | • | Ballad of the Lily of Hell | | • | Song of the Big shot (Reprise) | | • | In Our Childhood's Bright Endeavor | | • | Epilogue | | • | The Bilbao Song (Reprise) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Happy End follows the struggle of the passionate Salvation Army lieutenant Lillian Holiday to save the soul of down-and-out mobster Bill Cracker, whose gang is led by the mysterious Lady in Grey (AKA The Fly). Soon the gangster and and "Hallelujah Lil" fall in love as chaos erupts in both their groups and builds to a dramatic showdown on Christmas Eve.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Review of the A.C.T. premiere July 4, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Fourpenny Opera
By Janos Gereben [2006]
Following the great success of their "Threepenny Opera" in Berlin, Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht were forced to put up with each other again, and in 1929, "Happy End" was born... a stepchild-to-be, suppressed by the ascending Nazis, ignored by audiences.
In this country, decades later, Michael Feingold managed to resuscitate this vehicle for the magic "Bilbao Song," "The Sailors' Tango," "The Mandalay Song," and the guaranteed showstopper "Surabaya Johnny." In San Francisco, Carey Perloff's American Conservatory Theater followed up an excellent production of "Threepenny Opera" in 2000 with a stylish, fun premiere of "Happy End" in the Geary Theater tonight.
This "Melodrama with Songs" has a paper-thin story, of Chicago gangsters and Salvation Army molls, a faint echo of Shaw's 1905 "Major Barbara," but the music is something else, well described by Perloff as "sexy, dangerous, surprising, inventive, and filled with sudden bursts of jazz, tango, foxtrot..."
Perloff, with her special touch for music drama (from musicals to opera), pulled together a cast of mostly "straight actors," who somehow manage to sing and dance up a storm (aided by amplification, alas), under the care of music director Constantine Kitsopoulos and choreographer John Carrafa.
Just as Perloff belongs in an opera house, Walt Spangler's spectacular multi-functional unit set should make a major opera company proud. With huge, gleaming metal trusses and a full-length staircase, the play's two settings (Bill's Beer Hall and the Salvation Army Mission) inhabit the same space as the staircase is moved from one location to another - similar to the Bayreuth "Flying Dutchman" where the same structure served, convincingly, as the harbor and the inside of Senta's home.
It's fortunate that the male lead doesn't have a big musical number because Peter Macon - scary-good that he is in the role of Bill Cracker - is not much of a crooner. His love interest (so to speak), Lieutenant Lillian of the Salvation Army, has all the singin'. Charlotte Cohn, the Musetta from the "Broadway Boheme," put her all into "The Sailors' Tango" and "Surabaya Johnny." Outstanding singing - different in its professional, perhaps excessively singerly quality - came from Linda Mugleston, in the role of The Fly, the mysterious Lady in Grey, running the gang. Extra material, in form of "The Ballad of the Pirates," from Weill's 1928 "Die Muschel von Margate," was interpolated into the show to give Mugleston her "entrance aria," and she made the most of it.
The large ensemble cast features some of the top A.C.T. regulars, including Rene Augesen, Steven Anthony Jones, Charles Dean, and Dan Hiatt. It was a special pleasure to see Jack Willis, back for the first time since his star turn in "The Black Rider," as Sam Wurlitzer, the "Mammy" of the gang, in an appropriate, very large frock. Human turbine Justin Leath, from the A.C.T. master of fine arts program, class of 2007, paired up beautifully with Willis as "Baby Face."
Perloff's direction is functional and effective, as usual - especially appealing in not calling attention to the Director and the act of Directing - but opening night didn't go as smoothly as this production is likely to appear in the future. Cohesion and fluidity were not always present; there were many tiny pauses in the text and movement, not enough to create a problem, but it was noticeable nevertheless.
The big-show finale made the audience forget whatever misgivings there might have been before. Perfectly manic or, rather, maniacally perfect, this was a memorable Broadway moment, everybody in motion, as the "Hosannah" chorus rings out:
"Praise to the Fords and Rockefellers - Hosannah!
The buyers and the sellers - Hosannah!
All power to the great - Hosannah!
Give them to the city and the state - Hosannah!"
 Excellent recording November 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this recording. The performances are fine and the overall sound quality good.
Best Cast recording EVER! June 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Finally an English-language version of this classic Brecht-Weill work and A.C.T.'s production delivers the goods, particularly the stunning and beautiful soprano of Charlotte Cohn as "Halellujah Lil" who gets to tackle the show's most famous numbers. Cohn's 'Sailor's Tango' is gorgeous and haunting and her rendition of 'Surabaya Johnny' soars: dynamic and beautiful. Definitely an album worth owning!
Happy with "Happy End" April 5, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Excellent recording and cast - from California, of course! A must for Becht - Weill fans...
Buy this recording! February 18, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you are reading this review stop now and click the buy button immediately. This is the best Weill "show" recording to come out in a long time. Happy End, which has been always described as that "difficult" sequel to The ThreePenny Opera is shown here to be a vital and vibrant piece of Musical Theater. This CD should be in every Weill enthusiasts collection. In fact everyone interested in the Musical theater should buy it now. I liked it. Can you tell?
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