Bad Behavior

Composed in the dangerous days of interwar Germany, this stage work was a modernized version of an old-fashioned social satire. The composer went on to write both for the concert hall and the Broadway stage. The controversial librettist and playwright, on the other hand, may have had unacknowledged help when it came to his contribution. Intended as a flagrant assault on middle-class morals, the work backfired and turned into a pop culture hit with the very same audience it was attempting to ridicule! But while the rich get richer, the poor get violent…