Dirt Cheap Opera

Laurie and I were lucky to see a performance (actually two!) of Bread & Puppet's Dirt Cheap Opera this year in Vermont. This show originated in 1998 and a portion of that performance is preserved via Dee Dee Halleck's video "When" (2001).  From those brief excerpts the staging looks cluttered with many cast members, the pacing seems slow and the music not fully realized.  The show was revived in 2002 with the original cardboard puppets and paper cantastoria with a lean 4-person cast comprised of Clare Dolan, Maria Schumann, Jason Norris and Jig Gresser (review 1 (plus some small photos); review 2). Here's the 2002 poster:
We saw the 2009 revival with a 7-performer cast (Rose Friedman, Justin Lander, Lindsay McCaw, Sam Wilson, Maura Gahan, Jason Hicks, and Greg Corbino), still with the original cardboard puppets and ragged newsprint cantastoria. The show pushes Brecht's alienation effects to the wall, as not only is Polly Peachum played by (a) different players, but also (b) different gendered players, and (c) she's a puppet held in front of those actors, except (d) when the actor leans out from behind the puppet to sing or speak, and (e) lest the puppet ever become too real a character, Polly's cardboard arm falls off and (f) this puppet dismemberment is joked about in the show. Seemingly a mishap, we saw two performances and the arm fell off in each, revealing it as a deliberate choice. See also the 1-armed Polly in this photo from the 2009 Baltimore performance.

Evidently there were some rights issues during the January tour with this show, which seems extra ridiculous considering the fact that Brecht was a socialist!

I shot video. Interested collectors feel free to drop me email.  I'm happy to trade footage.

See Flickr photos by pavelkaphoto (Scranton, 41 pics), Comandante_Jose (Baltimore, 11 pics) and dietrich (NYC, 3 pics). 2009 poster:

Seeking:

• 1998 cast info
• more photos
  
• more reviews
  
• video (any year, any performance)