Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, ENO

★★★★

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, first staged in 1930, was born out of Weimar Berlin’s political unrest and artistic daring. Part opera, part cabaret, it skewers greed, pleasure and the brutal rules of capitalism with biting irony. Jamie Manton’s new production for English National Opera embraces that sharp edge, delivering a staging that feels bold, self-aware and theatrically alive.

The story is simple and savage: three opportunists build a pleasure city to exploit gold miners, offering drink, sex and spectacle. The only unforgivable sin is running out of money. Manton places the action on an exposed Coliseum stage, with brickwork, lighting rigs and fly towers visible. A giant shipping container becomes the founders’ command centre. The look is scrappy and deliberate, echoing Brecht’s alienation techniques. Rather than lush illusion, we get stripped-back spectacle with attitude.

What impresses most is the scale. The full width of the stage is used, giving the sense of a society sprawling and unstable. Clever touches keep the evening vivid: a human 'megaphone' announcing scenes like a walking placard; a brilliantly choreographed tap-dancing hurricane that injects surreal menace; treadmill sequences that show characters trudging towards their own downfall. These ideas are playful but pointed, underlining the opera’s message without heavy-handed modern parallels.

Musically, the production is on formidable ground. André de Ridder keeps the orchestra lean, punchy and rhythmically alert, drawing out Weill’s acidic harmonies and smoky dance rhythms. The chorus is exceptional, disciplined, fearless and dramatically engaged throughout. They anchor the opera’s moral weight and give it real theatrical muscle.

Danielle de Niese brings glamour and steel to Jenny, delivering 'Alabama Song' with magnetic presence. Simon O’Neill’s Jimmy sings with heroic force, charting his character’s moral collapse convincingly. Rosie Aldridge commands the stage as Widow Begbick, while Jeremy Sams’s crisp English translation ensures the satire lands cleanly.

This Mahagonny balances wit with substance. It doesn’t smooth over the opera’s rough edges; instead, it uses them. Inventive, musically assured and theatrically confident, it makes Brecht and Weill feel urgent again.

Image credit: Tristram Kenton