Kurt Weill had high hopes for his "Street Scene" ushering in a revitalized American opera that might achieve the kind of artistic and commercial success over here that his collaborations with Bertolt Brecht had found in Germany before he was forced to flee the Nazi onslaught. It did not quite turn out that way, although his operatic version of Elmer Rice's play, with lyrics by Langston Hughes, had a run of 148 performances following its 1947 Broadway opening—not bad for a new opera.

One of Weill's best and most eclectic stage pieces, "Street Scene" requires the resources of a major opera house to bring its diverse elements to life. That diversity, mirrors, in a way, the multiracial tenement in 1940s New York where the tuneful tragedy of love, death and shattered dreams takes place.

What's remarkable about the terrific production of "Street Scene" Lyric Opera presented for the first time Tuesday at the Civic Opera House is how sturdily Weill's depiction of melting-pot America in its time—the 1920s in Rice's play, the 1940s in his—has held up. Urban malaise hasn't changed much in 54 years, even if the stakes have gotten higher and deadlier.

The opera's central characters—the lonely, disillusioned Anna Maurrant (Catherine Malfitano), trapped in a terrible marriage to a bullying lout, and her daughter Rose (Lori Ann Fuller)—represent two generations of quiet desperation. The older woman hopes against hope there will be a brighter day tomorrow. The younger woman finally realizes that the only way to find a better life is to run away from her depressing surroundings and give up Sam Kaplan (Gregory Turay), the shy young man who adores her.

The apparent paradox of "Street Scene," of course, is that surrounding this thin slice of American verismo are elements—ballad, swing, jitterbug and blues—borrowed from American popular music of the '40s. Perhaps only Weill, an imigri composer who straddled two musical worlds, could have blended high and low art in a way that doesn't feel forced.

Director David Pountney, restaging his acclaimed production from the English National and Scottish operas, fused the show's arias, duets, dance numbers and dialogues into a seamless whole. To move nearly 70 singers and actors, a pack of cute kids and one adorable dog around the stage so naturally was no small feat. Gritty naturalism and snazzy theatricality coexisted happily. Discreet amplification was used; even at that, not all of the spoken words emerged clearly.

At least designer David Fielding's brownstone tenement and period-perfect costumes looked believably lived-in, its inhabitants sketched in telling dramatic strokes. In a nifty postmodern touch, lighting designer Paul Pyant threw chill yellow light on frozen figures in a ruined next-door building during Sam's wistful aria, "Lonely Town."

Richard Buckley conducted with a buoyant regard for the opera's showbiz roots as well as its bittersweet romanticism, although he tended to let the rhythm sag a bit here and there. Choreographer Nicola Bowie stopped the show with such lively song-and-dance numbers as the "Ice Cream Sextet" and "Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed," sensationally danced by Stephanie Ann Sheppard and Kirby Ward against a dazzling Manhattan nightscape.

The sensitive Anna Maurrant is worlds removed from the cynical floozy Malfitano played in Lyric's 1998 "Mahagonny," but it is a wisely chosen role for her at this stage of her career, and she made the audience feel intense sympathy for the unhappy housewife who only wanted to be loved. Fuller, making her Lyric debut as Rose Maurrant, has a clear, sweet soprano and she made "What Good Would the Moon Be?" a touching study in the ingenue's conflicting emotions.

Turay brought a sympathetic manner to the bookish Sam, but too often his tenor strained at vocal lines that lay beyond the most effective part of his voice. Dean Peterson did what he could with the brutish Frank Maurrant. Also notable were Timothy Nolen as the suavely lecherous Harry Easter and Judith Christin as the tenement's main busybody and gossip, Emma Jones. David Cangelosi as Daniel Buchanan, Dorothy Byrne as Olga Olsen, Anthony Mee as Lippo Fiorentino and Philip Kraus as Abraham Kaplan likewise turned in memorable cameos.

"Street Scene" plays through Nov. 3. Phone 312-332-2244.