The Partnership

Readable, engaging and fair-minded. . . . Vividly re-creates not just these remarkable men but also the women who contributed so mightily to their reputations. --Los Angeles Times Katz restores the women to their proper place in the story, with levity, strong characterization, and beguiling descriptions of an interwar German milieu crackling with politics, art, and a sense of possibility. --The New Yorker [Katz's] work as a novelist and screenwriter helps her keep the pacing swift and the prose dynamic--the chapters on the creation of The Threepenny Opera are almost unbearably suspenseful. . . . She offers a real and empathetic sense of how Brecht and Weill walked and spoke and dressed. --The New York Times Katz richly conjures the domestic, class, social, and political environs in which Brecht and Weill developed. . . . Through Katz's insightful and penetrating prose, they all blaze and dazzle as they did in life. --Booklist Katz is extremely good at capturing the centrality of Lenya, Hauptmann, and Weigel in the creation of Brecht and Weill's collaborations. . . . Katz's group biography . . . may make it possible to love and fear Brecht anew. --Bookforum [Katz] clearly identifies the stakes of Brecht and Weill's joint project, connecting it to the historical tumults unfolding around them. --San Francisco Chronicle The culture of Weimar Germany is at its most provocative and profound in this scintillating portrait of its leading theatrical luminaries.... Katz gives an uproarious view of the ferment of interwar Berlin's theatrical avant-garde, with Brecht's tantrums, power plays, preening demands, and ideological conceits. But she also takes seriously the artistic and political ideas that drove Brecht and Weill to their innovations (and eventually estranged them). The result is a thoughtful, entertaining recreation of a watershed moment in 20th-century theater. --Publishers Weekly Deft, incisive cultural history... With a novelist's eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. --Kirkus Reviews Readable, engaging and fair-minded. . . . Vividly re-creates not just these remarkable men but also the women who contributed so mightily to their reputations. Los Angeles Times Katz restores the women to their proper place in the story, with levity, strong characterization, and beguiling descriptions of an interwar German milieu crackling with politics, art, and a sense of possibility. The New Yorker [Katz s] work as a novelist and screenwriter helps her keep the pacing swift and the prose dynamic the chapters on the creation of The Threepenny Opera are almost unbearably suspenseful. . . . She offers a real and empathetic sense of how Brecht and Weill walked and spoke and dressed. The New York Times Katz richly conjures the domestic, class, social, and political environs in which Brecht and Weill developed. . . . Through Katz s insightful and penetrating prose, they all blaze and dazzle as they did in life. Booklist Katz is extremely good at capturing the centrality of Lenya, Hauptmann, and Weigel in the creation of Brecht and Weill s collaborations. . . . Katz s group biography . . . may make it possible to love and fear Brecht anew. Bookforum [Katz] clearly identifies the stakes of Brecht and Weill s joint project, connecting it to the historical tumults unfolding around them. San Francisco Chronicle The culture of Weimar Germany is at its most provocative and profound in this scintillating portrait of its leading theatrical luminaries.... Katz gives an uproarious view of the ferment of interwar Berlin s theatrical avant-garde, with Brecht s tantrums, power plays, preening demands, and ideological conceits. But she also takes seriously the artistic and political ideas that drove Brecht and Weill to their innovations (and eventually estranged them). The result is a thoughtful, entertaining recreation of a watershed moment in 20th-century theater. Publishers Weekly Deft, incisive cultural history...With a novelist s eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. Kirkus Reviews Vividly re-creates not just these remarkable men but also the women who contributed so mightily to their reputations. -- Los Angeles Times Katz restores the women to their proper place in the story, with levity, strong characterization, and beguiling descriptions of an interwar German milieu crackling with politics, art, and a sense of possibility. -- The New Yorker [Katz's] work as a novelist and screenwriter helps her keep the pacing swift and the prose dynamic--the chapters on the creation of The Threepenny Opera are almost unbearably suspenseful. . . . She offers a real and empathetic sense of how Brecht and Weill walked and spoke and dressed. -- The New York Times The culture of Weimar Germany is at its most provocative and profound in this scintillating portrait of its leading theatrical luminaries.... Katz gives an uproarious view of the ferment of interwar Berlin's theatrical avant-garde, with Brecht's tantrums, power plays, preening demands, and ideological conceits. But she also takes seriously the artistic and political ideas that drove Brecht and Weill to their innovations (and eventually estranged them). The result is a thoughtful, entertaining recreation of a watershed moment in 20th-century theater. --Publishers Weekly Deft, incisive cultural history... With a novelist's eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. -- Kirkus Reviews Praise for The Partnership Katz's account is readable, engaging and fair-minded... The strength of The Partnership resides in how vividly it re-creates not just these remarkable men but also the women who contributed so mightily to their reputations. --Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times Bright, brisk... [Katz's] work as a novelist and screenwriter helps her keep the pacing swift and the prose dynamic--the chapters on the creation of 'The Threepenny Opera' are almost unbearably suspenseful... she offers a real and empathetic sense of how Brecht and Weill walked and spoke and dressed. --Alexis Soloski, The New York Times The culture of Weimar Germany is at its most provocative and profound in this scintillating portrait of its leading theatrical luminaries.... Katz gives an uproarious view of the ferment of interwar Berlin's theatrical avant-garde, with Brecht's tantrums, power plays, preening demands, and ideological conceits. But she also takes seriously the artistic and political ideas that drove Brecht and Weill to their innovations (and eventually estranged them). The result is a thoughtful, entertaining recreation of a watershed moment in 20th-century theater. --Publishers Weekly .. .Deft, incisive cultural history... With a novelist's eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. -- Kirkus Reviews The Partnership is a remarkable and thrilling account of two artists making history, and being made by history. It follows in intimate detail one of the most fruitful collaborations of twentieth-century performance, that of Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill. It is also a thrilling perspective on the explosive last years of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi rise to power. Pamela Katz writes with extraordinary insight into the women who made these men possible; she restores them to the position they earned in life: neither victims nor objects, but fiercely talented creators and individuals. She is an artist, and she writes with an artist's grace and human insight. Her evocation of the titanic struggles of two brilliant theatrical figures, each with enormous self-assurance, is captivating. --Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater Praise for The Partnership The culture of Weimar Germany is at its most provocative and profound in this scintillating portrait of its leading theatrical luminaries.... Katz gives an uproarious view of the ferment of interwar Berlin's theatrical avant-garde, with Brecht's tantrums, power plays, preening demands, and ideological conceits. But she also takes seriously the artistic and political ideas that drove Brecht and Weill to their innovations (and eventually estranged them). The result is a thoughtful, entertaining recreation of a watershed moment in 20th-century theater. --Publishers Weekly .. .Deft, incisive cultural history... With a novelist's eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. -- Kirkus Reviews The Partnership is a remarkable and thrilling account of two artists making history, and being made by history. It follows in intimate detail one of the most fruitful collaborations of twentieth-century performance, that of Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill. It is also a thrilling perspective on the explosive last years of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi rise to power. Pamela Katz writes with extraordinary insight into the women who made these men possible; she restores them to the position they earned in life: neither victims nor objects, but fiercely talented creators and individuals. She is an artist, and she writes with an artist's grace and human insight. Her evocation of the titanic struggles of two brilliant theatrical figures, each with enormous self-assurance, is captivating. --Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater Praise for The Partnership .. .Deft, incisive cultural history... With a novelist's eye for telling details, Katz offers a colorful, perceptive and riveting portrait of a remarkable artistic partnership. --Kirkus Reviews