Somewhere between a theater piece and a radio-show reenactment, “Berlin 1938” played over the weekend with devastating force. It is destined to be a prize-winning venture as it relives a highly precarious time between escapism and the horrific persecutions on the eve of World War Two.

Even if yours was not among the families directly impacted back then, this musical show cum political theater unleashed grim edges both telling and terrifying. Daniel  Hope’s NCCO was converted into a stage band to play music of that era. Mixed in were Nazi propaganda broadcasts, Hitler speeches and other historical accounts played out bilingually on the Presidio Theatre stage.

Lest we forget, “Berlin 1938” had to be seen and heard, with the implicit reminder: Never let it happen again. It took shape as the most audacious program that the NCCO has ever played in its three-decade life locally.

This musical grab-bag reflecting both sides of the Atlantic provided a veneer of genteel sanity. With supertitles to help us along, actor-singers Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz delivered songs, speeches and vintage radio broadcasts in German and English with telling impact and impeccable accents. This was a time machine taking us back, expertly assembled, yet you only wanted to turn away despite all the effort and expense that had been poured into it.

This was also us, turning away in 1938 pacifism from Nazi terror tightening its sick noose around European citizen-victims, whose only sin was not being of pure “Aryan” background. The rest of the world looked away as Nazis burned down synagogues in Central Europe, as if your church or my temple wouldn’t be the next target in their crosshairs.

This was a daring venture, leaving its audience limp. As composers from Beethoven to Mahler have taught us, historical reality can make for an ill-digestible sandwich, even when much of it was familiar material. Standards like “Bay Mir Bistu Shein,” “Begin the Beguine” and “September Song” were rendered, along with the trenchant anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit” sung on a recording by the original (and fearless) Black jazz singer, Billie Holiday. On the other side were outpourings of irony and bitterness voiced by Merz in several German songs like the  (persecuted) “Novaks from Prague” and the “Barbed Wire Song,” some coming from the pen of song-writer Hanns Eisler.

Fans of the NCCO saw, alongside the usual strings under violinist/Music Director Hope, some jazz winds, a trap set, and piano played by Artistic Advisor Peter Grunberg. Plus Hampson and Merz doing most of the radio-broadcast simulations, with old-style microphones.

For those in the audience who had had family or friends over there, the theater piece made for a rough night to weather despite the expert musical fabric.

To interject a personal note: I could sense the bygone wartime tragedies on seeing firsthand bombed out European cities some 15 years after the fact. Our own family in Paris in 1940 by day had had to take shelter in subways during air raids and, by night, could hear bombings in the suburbs. My older brother aged 11 had the biggest challenge, hurriedly leaving his boarding school in Hungary upon receipt of a coded message that the Nazis were about to seal all national borders. His case of chickenpox was masked by cosmetics and he escaped by train, crossing three borders successfully to join us, shortly before getting a safe ship passage to (neutral) America. We were indeed the lucky ones, making our way south on French roads clogged with thousands of desperate refugees, only a few of whom got visas to emigrate from the battles and mass arrests plaguing Europe.

“Berlin 1938” placed its finger on the pulse of a world going mad. The relief today if any comes from viewing it all a safe distance away.

This production had been launched at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland three years ago.

New Century Chamber Orchestra, augmented, presenting “Berlin 1938” theater piece with actor-singers Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz, opening the 30^th NCCO season Sept. 16-17. Presidio Theatre, The Presidio, San Francisco. For NCCO info: (415) 357-1111 or go online: www.ncco.org.

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