Street Scene by Kurt Weill is a groundbreaking synthesis of traditional opera and musical theatre. Weill received a Tony Award for Best Original Score for this work. The opera incorprates jazz and blues influences beside Puccini and Broadway style numbers, with text in English.  Set on the East Side of Manhattan in sweltering 1940’s New York, the plot centres around residents of tenement building over a 24 hour span. With neighbourly gossip and chit-chat, the story interweaves a romance between Rose and Sam alongside a torrid affair of Rose’s mother which when discovered raises tensions to a tragic end.