Home Arts & Entertainment Bebe Neuwirth's Jenny finds love in San Francisco

Bebe Neuwirth's Jenny finds love in San Francisco

Written by Bruce Bellingham

Tuesday, 31 May 2005

The month of May brought mixed blessings for Bebe Neuwirth, the Broadway and network television star, who is currently starring in the hit musical “Here Lies Jenny” -- a tribute to the music of Kurt Weill -- at the Post Street Theatre. Ms. Neuwirth found out the show will be extended through June 26. Then she was informed that her critically-acclaimed “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” had been canceled by NBC. Starring in a network TV show is certainly lucrative and garners a lot of attention but it’s clear where Neuwirth’s heart lies: it’s with Jenny. "Yes, the (“Law & Order”) show was not renewed but good reviews and good rating don not guarantee a thing,” she said. “I was surprised but not surprised. This only means I’ll have more time for ‘Jenny,’ When it comes to show business, I’ve always had a ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ attitude. I only believe a show is going to Broadway when I see the closing notice.” The battered, world-weary Jenny is just as resilient and philosophical as she wanders into a cheap barroom that seems familiar territory to her. It seems she used to be the torch-singer-in-residence there. The show is chock full of German melancholy; a desultory song-and-dance journey with a woman’s broken heart for a traveling partner. Her great, versatile supporting cast, Angelo Fraboni, Dennis Stowe, and Martin Vidnovic illustrate Jenny’s role in a savage world. The pianist is San Francisco’s terrific Diane Hidy, familiar to radio fans when she was the house pianist on KALW’s “West Coast Live” program, often broadcast from Ft. Mason. The men in the saloon waste no time in abusing Jenny, robbing her of her pathetically few belongings, mocking her -- but in the next moment she’ll seduce a hapless brute with her wicked smile. She’s a Joan of Arc who cadges drinks. For Jenny, some memories are too painful to retrieve: “I can’t remember the words,” she laments in “Bilbao Song” is she Jenny Diver from the Weill/Brecht masterpiece “The Threepenny Opera”? Does this Jenny lie in a graveyard in our imagination or does she lie because to tell the truth would only put her in more danger? “It’s really up the audience to decide who Jenny is,” Neuwirth mused. “I’m not sure who she is. Sometimes I’m not even sure if there is a Jenny. I do know that the more truthful the five of us are on stage, the freer the audience is to find their own.” Neuwirth is delighted with the San Francisco audience. “Each show leaves me with a satisfying and energized feeling,” she observed. “I can feel the sophistication and openness from the house. The show is not in any standard form. It requires something beyond the intellectual. It’s emotional. It’s a willingness to feel. You have to bring an open heart. This is what we had hoped from San Francisco.” Neuwirth herself has an earthy, sexy sophistication. Born in Princeton, New Jersey to a mathematician father and a mother who was an artist, Neuwirth insinuated herself into show business when she was knee-high to Mickey Rooney. She began dance lessons at five; later studying dance at the Julliard. She was famous for playing Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane, Frasier’s caustic, condescending ex-wife on “Cheers” and assistant district attorney Tracey Kibre -- the brilliant prosecutor with compassion --on “Law & Order: Trial by Jury.” "Here Lies Jenny” hangs on 70-minutes of songs by Kurt Weill and a few steamy dances that would bring life to the mannikins down the street in the Saks windows. “Everything happens because of the songs,” she added. “All of the Kurt Weill songs were selected for the integrity of the piece. People ask, ‘Where is My Ship ?’ or ‘Where is Mack the Knife?’ Well, they aren’t there because they don’t fit.” One of the other surprises is the remarkable collection of lyricists who worked with Weill, who escaped from Nazi Germany in 1933 but died in 1950, at only fifty years of age. “Weill hit Paris and the very best of talent found him right away,” said Neuwirth, “like Jean Cocteau.” More talent soon trundled themselves into the Weill vineyard. Neuwirth and her music director Leslie Stifelman selected songs by poets such as Bertolt Brecht, Ira Gershwin, Maurice Magre, Ogden Nash, Alan Jay Lerner, Franz Werfel, and Langston Hughes. Nearly every review I have seen mentions that Bebe Neuwirth has great legs. You know what? Bebe Neuwirth has great legs. Yes, really great legs. Bruce Bellingham is the author of Bellingham by the Bay (Council Oak Books). You can reach him by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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