The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny – graphic design and illustrations

Bertolt Brecht’s political-satirical opera became the starting point for the development of my own production. Each page of this book is a stage where I set lighting, stage design and actors. The illustrations follow Brecht’s narrative and Kurt Weil’s music, reproducing the characteristic 4/4 metre of the infinite drunken march accompanying the rise and bloom of opera Las Vegas. Means typical of opera language – poignant solos, choir or dance parts – have been translated into visual language. Black and white scenes filled with dramatic lighting in harmony with the original idea show the city as full of contrasts. The book mixes the ideas of the avant-garde, quotes from high art together with the image of moral fall. Here a pimp may be the judge, the friendship can be bought for a few dollars and the truth about the love can be learned in a brothel. I invite you to Mahagonny to Alabama Song.