About the work
Kurt Weill wrote the music for Franz Werfel’s biblical stage work in 1935/36 in American exile, for a large-scale production initiated by Meyer Weisgal and directed by Max Reinhardt, with sets and costumes by Norman Bel Geddes. The English-language version, “The Eternal Road”, premiered on 7 January 1937 at the Manhattan Opera House in New York.
Plot
Facing a looming pogrom, a Jewish community takes refuge in a synagogue; to give themselves courage through the fearful night, the Rabbi reads from the Torah, and on a second, elevated stage the figures of biblical history appear, from Abraham through Moses to David. By the end of the night the community is forced to emigrate and sets out together into an uncertain future, strengthened by the memory of the promise.
Cultural significance
With 1,772 costumes, 757 stage lights and more than 300 people involved, the production was the most elaborate and expensive of its time on Broadway; despite 153 well-attended performances through May 1937, it ran up a deficit of around $500,000. The work did not receive its German-language premiere until 1999, in Chemnitz.