Weill: Love Live

As a concept musical, “Love Life” was a true trailblazer, inspiring musical theater favorites of the 1960s, 70s, and beyond, from “Cabaret” and “Chicago” (originally subtitled “A Musical Vaudeville”) to Sondheim’s “Company” (told through a series of sketches). It is “one of Weill’s finest scores” (conductor Jim Holmes), a masterpiece of blending different musical styles, “a compendium of American musical idioms, skillfully chosen to suit the dramatic material.” Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner teamed up in 1947, both riding high on the success of “Street Scene” for Weill and “Brigadoon” for Lerner, and looking for new projects. When “Love Life” premiered on Broadway in 1948, Weill described it as “a wholly new form of theater.” Stephen Sondheim called it “a useful influence on my own work.” The musical tells the story of a married couple who remain the same age from 1791 to 1948 and grapple with marital problems arising from the differing social norms of each era.