September 2004
Gustav Klimt gave her her first kiss, and another
Gustav--Mahler--was the first of her three husbands. From Vienna to Los
Angeles, Alma Mahler-Werfel (nee Schindler) had a knack for being at the right
place at the right time, and on the right man's arm--from Walter Gropius,
founder of the Bauhaus and her second husband, to expressionist painter Oscar
Kokoschka, with whom she had a torrid affair.
A present-day Alma would certainly be on the guest list for a
splashy gala opening in Los Angeles this fall. That's where Viennese
director/producer Paulus Manker will mount a "polydrama" designed to
recount the many chapters of Alma's transatlantic journey in Alma: Widow of
the 4 Arts, which plays at the Los Angeles Theatre Sept. 30-Dec. 5.
"I think it's mad to do something like this," said
Manker, a balding imp with a wild
glint in his eye. "It's like Hannibal and the elephants." Elaborate
props and decorÑrugs, paintings, chandeliersÑhave been imported from Vienna,
where Alma was first staged in an historic sanitorium in 1996. Six
performers from Vienna will reprise their roles, with the remaining nine actors
from L.A.
The mad part isn't so much the show's size as its form. As in its
previous incarnations: Alma will feature various scenes in separate rooms,
running simultaneously, with audiences free to roam, sit up close to the
action, even come back repeatedly to see scenes they've missed. The premise is
not unlike L.A.'s site-specific mid-1980s hit Tamara, from which Manker took
inspiration. "Normally, with film and TV, they feed you like
animals," Manker said. "Everything is clear. Here you have to go look
for the story."
The show is proving to be peripatetic itself, following Alma's own
itinerary: Los Angeles was her first U.S. stop, where, with her third husband,
author Franz Werfel, she was at the center of a lively expatriate community.
Manker admits that the interest of his Austrian funders has been
piqued by California's current governor. Will Arnold himself turn up for a tour
of Alma?
"We hope so," Manker said. "And we hope this is a
demonstration as wellÑto show certain political circles that they should invest
more in culture."
--Rob Kendt
"Alma: Widow of
the 4 Arts" plays at the Los Angeles Theatre in Downtown L.A., Sept.
30-Dec. 5. (323) 252-7112.