Street Scene

Street Scene
(1946)

Opera in two acts.
Book by Elmer Rice, based on his play of the same name.
Lyrics by Langston Hughes.

Synopsis
Song List
Performance Information
Principal Productions
Recordings

Production photo

Ensemble scene, with Sam (Brian Sullivan) and Rose (Ann Jeffreys)
at center, from Broadway production, 1947.

Synopsis

One day in the life of a New York apartment building. The story focuses on Anna Maurrant and her family. She is frustrated by her husband and worried about her teenage daughter Rose. She is also having an affair with the milkman. Rose is frustrated by her parents' unhappiness and aspires to better things. Frank Maurrant murders Anna when he learns of her affair. Rose then leaves the tenement, and her boyfriend Sam Kaplan, behind to make a new, independent life for herself.

Song list

Ain't it Awful, the Heat?
I Got a Marble and a Star
Get a Load of That
When a Woman has a Baby
Somehow I Never Could Believe
Ice Cream Sextet
Let Things Be Like They Always Was
Wrapped in a Ribbon and Tied in a Bow
Lonely House
Wouldn't You Like to Be on Broadway?
What Good Would the Moon Be?
Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed
Remember That I Care
Catch Me if You Can
There'll be Trouble
A Boy Like You
We'll Go Away Together
The Woman Who Lived Up There
Lullaby
I Loved Her Too
Don't Forget the Lilac Bush

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

Adelphi Theatre, January 9, 1947 (148 perf.)
Director: Charles Friedman
Musical Director: Maurice Abravanel

Principals:
Abraham Kaplan- Irving Kaufman- Tenor
Mrs. Fiorentino- Helen Arden- High Soprano
Mr. Olsen- Wilson Smith- Bass
Emma Jones- Hope Emerson- Mezzo
Olga Olsen- Ellen Repp- Contralto
Henry- Creighton Thompson- High Baritone
Willie Maurrant- Peter Griffith- Boy Soprano
Anna Maurrant- Polyna Stoska- Dramatic Soprano
Sam Kaplan- Brian Sullivan- Tenor
Frank Maurrant- Norman Cordon- Bass/Baritone
George Jones- David E. Thomas- Baritone
Lippo Fiorentino- Sydney Rainer- Tenor
Harry Easter- Don Saxon- Baritone
Daniel Buchanan- Remo Lota- Tenor
Steve Sankey- Lauren Gilbert- VTNE
Rose Maurrant- Anne Jeffreys- Soprano
Chorus and Smaller Roles: 11M/8F, 2M/2F Children

Performance Information

Cast: Singing roles -- Anna Maurrant (dramatic soprano), Frank Maurrant, (bass-baritone), Willie Maurrant (boy soprano), Rose Maurrant (lyric soprano), Sam Kaplan (tenor), Abraham Kaplan (tenor buffo), Harry Easter (high baritone), Henry Davis, (baritone), Lippo Fiorentino (tenor), George Jones (baritone), Carl Olsen (bass), Mrs. Fiorentino (coloratura soprano), Mrs. Jones (mezzo-soprano), Mrs. Olsen (alto), Daniel Buchanan (buffo tenor), Jenny Hildebrand (soprano), 2nd graduate (soprano), 3rd graduate (mezzo-soprano), Mrs. Hildebrand (mezzo-soprano), Nursemaids (soprano, mezzo-soprano), three children, Dick McGann (singer-dancer), Mae Jones (singer-dancer).

Speaking roles -- Mrs. Jones, Steve Sankey, Shirley Kaplan, Vincent Jones, Dr. Wilson, Officer Murphy, city marshall, Fred Cullen, milkman, policeman, old clothes man, intern, ambulance driver, married couple, passerby, neighbors, children.
Orchestra: 1 (picc).1.3 (bass cl).1; 2.2.2.0; piano (celesta), harp, timp & perc; strings.
Duration: full evening

Principal productions

January 9, 1947, New York, Adelphi Theater, Charles Friedman, dir., Maurice Abravanel, cond.
November 26, 1955, Düsseldorf, Städtische Bühne, Friedrich Schramm, dir., Eugen Szenkar, cond. (in German)
April 2, 1959, New York City Opera, Herbert Machiz, dir., Julius Rudel, cond.
October 12, 1989, London, English National Opera, David Pountney, dir., Carl Davis, cond.
January 15, 1995, Berlin, Theater des Westens, Houston Grand Opera, Francesca Zambello, dir., James Holmes, cond.

Recordings

Columbia COL4139 CBS MK 44668 Bag of Rags 004		Original cast [excerpts] Anne Jeffreys, David Thomas, Helen Arden, Ellen Carleen, Norman Cordon, Hope Emerson, Peter Griffith, Beverly Janis, Irving Kaufman, Remo Lota, Sydney Rainer, Ellen Repp, Don Saxon, Wilson Smith, Polyna Stoska, Bryan Sullivan, Creighton Thompson, Peggy Turnley Maurice Abravanel, cond.
CD TER2 1185 CD JAY2 1232 Musical Heritage Society MHS 523330M		English National Opera cast Richard Van Allan, Bonaventura Bottone, Meriel Dickinson, Janis Kelly, Philip Day Terry Jenkins, Catherine Zeta Jones, John Kitchiner, Simon Masterton-Smith Harry Nicoll, Peter Bronder, Susan Bullock, Kristine Ciesinski, Claire Daniels, Fiammetta Doria, Judith Douglas, Angela Hickey, Daniel Ison, Arwel Huw Morgan Neil Patterson Carl Davis, cond.
Decca 433 371-2		Josephine Barstow, Samuel Ramey, Angelina Réaux, Jerry Hadley, John Mauceri, cond.
Naxos 8.120885		Hollywood Bowl Performance, 1949 Sarnoff, Dorothy, Atkins, Norman, Stoska, Polyna, Sullivan, Brian, Hilt, Ferdinand, Ortiz, Chris, Martino, Maria, Lee, Alice, Helgenberg, Catherine, Timmerman, Henry Studio chorus, Choir Studio orchestra, Orchestra Izler Solomon, Conductor

Street Scenes
Concert suite from Street Scene
devised by Lys Symonette and Kim Kowalke
for lyric soprano, dramatic soprano, lyric tenor, Broadway baritone, bass-baritone, (optional mixed chorus), and orchestra.

Song List

I: A summer evening

Introduction
Blues ("Marble and a Star")
Scene and Aria ("Somehow I Never Could Believe")
Arioso ("Lonely House")
Scene and Song ("Wouldn't You Like to Be on Broadway?")
Cavatina and Scene ("What Good Would the Moon Be?")
Aria ("Let Things Be Like They Always Was")
Duet ("Remember that I Care")
Finaletto

II. The next day

Introduction
Trio ("There'll Be Trouble")
Lament ("Now Love and Death")
Finale ("I Loved Her, Too")

Performance Information

Orchestra: 1 (picc).1.3 (bcl).1; 2.2.2.0; harp, piano (celesta), timpani & percussion, strings.
Duration: 55 minutes
First performances: March 9, 2000, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Slatkin, cond.
March 12, 2000, Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Lawrence Foster, cond.