Austria in the news:

Just last week, there was the good Gov.  Schwarzenegger, telling the GOP
convention that after he left "Socialist Austria," he was attracted to
the party by discovering (in translation) the "fresh voice" of Richard
Nixon.  And now, there is the play "Alma," coming to LA and NYC, with
the music of Gustav Mahler, "a sumptuous buffet-dinner during the interval
with Austrian specialities, sweets and a special `Alma'-wine from Spain,
which is part of the performance, and included in the ticket price" of
$125.

Alma Schindler Gropius Werfel (Kokoschka Klimt Zemlinsky) Mahler, subject
of a not-so-hot movie recently, has inspired Israeli author Joshua Sobol
eight years ago to write a "polydrama, with various plot elements running
in parallel." After seven years of touring in Europe, it's time for the
New World.

The announcement for the play's opening in the Los Angeles Theater on
Sept.  23 says it is "more than a theater play, it is an act of watching
lives being lived, the life of enchantress and devourer of genius.  It's
theater that smells of life itself." (The last sentence almost certainly
the result of translation from the German.)

That "sumptuous Austrian buffet" is actually a funeral banquet, marking
the death of Mahler, who dies in the play just before intermission.
I haven't quite figured this out, so here's the description from the
producers: "When Mahler dies at half-time, his funeral banquet can be
followed interactively to his music, and the spectators are subsequently
invited to the buffet." Interactive food with Mahler's music?  This I've
got to see!

Last year, the press release says, "Alma" was performed in Lisbon, "Alma's
last station in Europe after her escape from Nazi Germany in 1940.  The
more than 50 scenes of Alma's life were shown in a 17th century monastery,
including a church and a beautiful palm garden.  Again the success was
enormous.  A real Alma-audience had developed, one fanatical fan set a
record of attending 73 Alma-performances and followed his heroine over
the Austrian border." Just like Arnold, although he must have been
motivated by other factors.

An important aspect of all this is the reopening of the Los Angeles
Theater, a 1931 edifice, with  "a Baroque auditorium teeming with golden
angels, cherubs, and flowery swags...  It has a rich restaurant space...
glass-ceiling ballroom...  marble-lined ladies room...  circus-motif
playroom..." Take a look:

   http://www.alma-mahler.at/engl/info_hollywood/spielort.html

Janos Gereben
www.sfcv.org
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