A Deluxe Treatment of Love and Intrigue at BAM

Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Danila Kozlovsky in Love and Intrigue. Photo: Viktor Vasiliev

By David Hsieh

Two young people, madly in love. Unfortunately unswayable disapproval from their parents would eventually lead to their tragic deaths. Is this the story of Romeo and Juliet? No. It is German playwright Friedrich Schiller’s 1787 play Kabale und Liebe (Love and Intrigue). The play is rarely seen in the United States (like almost all of Schiller’s work). But New York audiences will have the luck to see it twice this spring, although neither in its original format. St. Petersburg’s Maly Drama Theatre, which has been at BAM previously with four plays, will bring its Russian production to BAM from June 6—16. And before that, the Metropolitan Opera will mount Luisa Miller, an Italian opera by Verdi which was based on the same play. This production will be broadcast worldwide on April 14 and can be seen at BAM Rose Cinemas.

The doomed lovers in Schiller’s play are Ferdinand, son of the president of a small German duchy in the 18th century, and Luise Miller, daughter of a music teacher. For political reasons, President von Walter needs Ferdinand to marry Lady Milford, the ruling duke’s English mistress. Mr. Miller is also wary of this relationship because he does not believe a nobleman can love, let alone marry, a commoner and therefore is sympathetic to the pursuit by the president’s secretary, Wurm.

Selections from Free Ticket+ Thursdays: Wink and Swirl Me To Sleep

Leo Villareal, Stars. Photo: James Ewing

When BAM opened in 1861, its very first audience was treated to a performance of Mozart and Verdi. Once the concert had run its course, there was no turning back. They were now Brooklyn Academy of Music initiates, proudly divested of their cultural innocence and BAM virginity forever.

A few weeks ago for Free Ticket+ Thursdays, we asked you to get personal and share the story of your first BAM time. Responses were fantastic, but none more so than Lilah's:

"It was this spring, two months before I was to graduate college and move to New York. I had no job prospects, no homework to do, and $30, so I treated my then-boyfriend to a movie. He brought me to BAM. We sat on the steps out front just minutes before I let BAM Rose Cinemas go all the way, eating Not Ray's pizza and wiping the grease off our faces with our sweater sleeves, when I said, "This is where I want to live." I barely knew BAM. In fact, I barely knew Brooklyn. As luck would have it, eight months later I can see the steps from which I said those words from my bedroom window, and every night the lights on the building that took my culture virginity wink and swirl me to sleep."

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