Lost Kurt Weill Song Reborn at the Branch

Opening at Islington’s Rosemary Branch Theatre on 7 July,
Here I’ll Stay tells the story of the Jewish composer’s
journey from Nazi Germany to Broadway through 26 of his finest songs, including
the forgotten ‘As Long as I Love’.

The ballad was one of six songs added to A Kingdom
for a Cow, which Weill adapted from his unperformed German piece, Die
Kuhhandel , during a brief London
stay before he left Europe for America. The
theatre impresario CB Cochran had insisted the show – a morality tale
about arms dealing in the Caribbean – be made more palatable to English audiences.

How it came into the hands of production company Homos
Promos is another matter. As Peter Scott-Presland, director of Here I’ll Stay,
explains: “A friend of mine knew my passion for Weill and came across the sheet
music and an original theatre programme at a car boot sale. It’s a
fascinating piece because it shows Weill’s talent for being a musical chameleon. Hearing
it, you think of Ivor Novello, or Vivian Ellis, but it still somehow retains
Weill’s fingerprints.”

Unfortunately for Kurt Weill (and the aforementioned Mr
Cochran), the original production of A Kingdom for a Cow closed
after just a fortnight, in part due to the anti-Semitism of reviews. The Times
critic even suggested that Weill’s music was a good reason for Hitler to have
thrown him out of Germany.

However, England’s loss was America’s gain, with Weill
going on to become one of Broadway and Hollywood’s most valued composers and his
song ‘Mack the Knife’ an industry
standard. Die Kuhhandel was revived in an English
translation by Opera North in 2006, but the English version has all but
vanished, making Here I’ll Stay a must-see for Weill
admirers everywhere.