Boucher and Brecht

As a student in Arts Humanities, I was sent out to compare a couple of paintings, one by Boucher, at the Frick Collection. As I stood studying the work, in front of the ornately upholstered chair that was set in front to protect it, I feverishly took notes – so feverishly that my fountain pen added a drop or two to the pattern in the chair. Happily, no guardians of the collections noticed, but I came back a few years later and, sure enough, my palimpsest remained.

Later that year, I saw my first production of the Brecht-Weill Threepenny Opera, in Mark Blitzstein’s production. Between various cities, and the Pabst film, I’ve seen at least 5 other productions of Dreigroschen Oper, and I even, two decades later, had a singing role in a professional production by the Eugene [Oregon] Theatre Co. But that first exposure, at the Circle In The Square, set me for life as a theatre person, rather than an art decorator.

Richard Frankel