Now that's progress! Nearly 80 years after its Broadway premiere in 1948, Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner's Love Life is finally getting its first full recording. The Kurt Weill Foundation has revealed that Opera North of Leeds' upcoming concert performance will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and subsequently released on CD via Capriccio. Plans have also been announced to film the production for potential release.

Generally considered an early example of a concept musical, Love Life follows an ageless couple, Sam and Susan Cooper, through centuries of American history, interspersed with vaudeville acts. An American Federation of Musicians recording ban in 1948 prevented a recording from being made at the time of the premiere, and after its initial Broadway run, the musical went unrecorded, unpublished, and unperformed until a production by the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Program in 1987, following which it continued to be produced infrequently and sporadically. A critical edition of the score was published in 2023, and it is that edition that will be performed by Opera North in three concert performances running January 16-18.

James Holmes conducts the concerts, which star Quirijn de Lang and Stephanie Corley as the Coopers. The cast also includes Justin Hopkins, Themba Mvula, Will Hopkins, Joshua Da Costa, Andrew Randall, Masimba Ushe, Holly Saw, Max Westwell, Tilly Baker, Louie Stow, Felicity Moore, Amber Midgley, and Lottie Gray. The production is directed by Matthew Eberhardt, with scenic and costume design by Zahra Mansouri, lighting design by Howard Hudson, choreography by Will Tuckett, and illusions by Will Houston.

The Opera North concerts come just ahead of the upcoming City Center Encores! presentation of Love Life, directed by Victoria Clark. That production, originally set for the 2019-2020 season but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will star Kate Baldwin and Nicholas Christopher.

For more information about the Opera North production, visit OperaNorth.co.uk.