The University of Iowa Opera Theater will perform Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8 and 9, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, in The Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City.

Bill Theisen, associate professor and director of opera in the UI School of Music, will direct. William LaRue Jones, professor and director of orchestra studies, will conduct.

Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill is a remarkable musical journey through the career of one of the most extraordinary artists of the 20th century. Weill created some of the most popular and daring musical theatre pieces of his day, collaborating with a dazzling array of literary giants including Bertolt Brecht, Langston Hughes, Alan Jay Lerner, and Ira Gershwin. Berlin to Broadway presents a seamless series of songs including “Pirate Jenny,” “September Song,” “Speak Low,” “Lonely House,” and the legendary “Mack the Knife.”

The New York Times declared, “Berlin to Broadway is overflowing with some of the greatest theater music ever written.”

Theisen made his professional theatre debut at the Skylight Opera Theatre in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. in 1981. He has directed more than 100 productions for theatre and opera companies from coast to coast. Recent directing credits include The Pirates of Penzance for Santa Fe Opera, Showboat with Gateway Playhouse, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Barber of Seville, and The Mikado at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Sweeney Todd with Cleveland Opera, The Fourth Wall at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, The Magic Flute for Virginia Opera, A Little Night Music with Seaside Music Theater, The Mikado with Opera Carolina, Seussical at First Stage Children’ Theatre, and Into the Woods at the Capitol Center for the Performing Arts.

Theisen works frequently on the university level as a guest director and lecturer. He served as the interim director of opera at the UI in 1998 and has continued that relationship for the past 15 years, culminating in his return to the university as the full-time director of opera in the fall of 2013.

Tickets for Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill are $20 ($15 for senior citizens, $10 for youth, and $5 for UI students with a valid UI ID) and are on sale at the Englert Theatre box office, which is open noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 319-688-2653. Tickets may be purchased on The Englert Theatre website.

The School of Music is part of the Division of Performing Arts in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the School of Music in advance at 319-335-1603.

For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the Arts Iowa website.