The Threepenny Opera

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Die Dreigroschenoper, original German poster from Berlin, 1928.

Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) is a revolutionary piece of musical theatre (not in fact an opera), adapted from an 18th century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann. Premiering on August 31, 1928, at Berlin's Schiffbauerdamm Theatre, Die Dreigroschenoper offers a socialist critique of the capitalist world.

1 Overview
2 Musical numbers
3 Productions
- 3.1 Broadway (New York)
- 3.2 West End (London)
4 Discography
5 Film
- 5.1 See also
6 External links

[edit] Overview

Set in Victorian London, the play focuses on the stories of the working class, rather than those attending Handel's upper-crust operas, fashionable at the time of The Beggar's Opera. The protagonist, in the original opera as well as the Brecht/Weill adaptation, is Macheath, an elegant highwayman for Gay and a vicious anti-heroic criminal for Brecht/Weill. In a nod to the earlier work, Weill sets his opening number, Morgenchoral des Peachum, to the music used by composer Pepusch in Gay's original.

Macheath (Mackie Messer, or Mack the Knife) marries Polly Peachum. This displeases her father, who controls the beggars of London, and he endeavours to have Macheath hanged. But his moves are hindered by the fact that the chief of police, Tiger Brown, is Macheath's childhood friend. Still, Peachum exerts his influence and eventually gets Macheath arrested and sentenced to hang. Moments before the execution, in an unrestrained parody of a happy ending, Brecht sends in a hard-riding messenger from the "Queen" (the chronology is deliberately muddied) to pardon Macheath and grant him a baronetcy.

The play directly challenges the audience by breaching the "fourth wall" with what Brecht called Verfremdungseffekt, or the "alienation effect." For example, slogans are projected on the back wall and the characters sometimes carry picket signs, or stand at times with their backs to the audience. The play challenges conventional notions of property as well as theater. It asks the central rhetorical question, "Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?"

Die Dreigroschenoper is an early example of the modern musical comedy genre. Its score is deeply influenced by jazz and mandates a fifteen-piece jazz combo. Its opening and closing lament, "Die Moritat vom Mackie Messer," was written just before the Berlin premiere, when actor Harald Paulsen (Macheath) threatened to quit if his character did not receive an introduction; this creative emergency resulted in what would become the work's most popular song, later translated into English by Marc Blitzstein as "Mack the Knife" and now a standard which has been covered by Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and countless others.

[edit] Musical numbers

Vorspiel (Prelude)

Nr 1 Ouverture

2 Moritat vom Mackie Messer ("Mack the Knife" - Ausrufer - Street singer)

Erster Akt (First Act)

Nr.3 Morgenchoral des Peachum (Peachum's Morning Anthem - Peachum)

4 Anstatt dass-Song (Instead of Song - Peachum, Frau Peachum)

5 Hochzeits-Lied (Wedding Song) (The Gang)

6 Seeräuberjenny (Pirate Jenny) (Polly)*

7 Kanonen-Song (Cannon Song) (Macheath, Brown)

8 Liebeslied (Love Song) (Polly, Macheath)

9 Barbarasong (Barbara Song) (Polly)†

10 I. Dreigroschenfinale (First Threepenny Finale) (Polly, Peachum, Frau Peachum)

Zweiter Akt (Second Act)

Nr.11 Melodram (Melodrama - Macheath)

11a Polly's Lied (Polly's Song - Polly)

12 Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit (Ballad of Sexual Dependency - Frau Peachum)

13 Zuhälterballade (Tango Ballad - Jenny, Macheath)

14 Ballade vom angenehmen Leben (Ballad of the Pleasant Life - Macheath)

15 Eifersuchtsduett (Jealousy Duet - Lucy, Polly)

16 II. Dreigroschenfinale (Second Threepenny Finale - Macheath, Frau Peachum, Chorus)

Dritter Akt (Third Act)

Nr.17 Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens (Useless Song - Peachum)

17a Reminiszenz (Reminiscence)

18 Salomonsong (Salomon Song - Jenny)

19 Ruf aus der Gruft (Call From the Grave - Macheath)

20 Grabschrift (Grave Song - Macheath)

20a Gang zum Galgen

21 III. Dreigroschenfinale (Third Threepenny Finale - Brown, Frau Peachum, Peachum, Macheath, Polly, Chorus)

* In many productions, "Seeräuberjenny" ("Pirate Jenny") is sung by the character of Jenny. In the original, it is sung by Polly during the wedding scene, but is sometimes moved to the Second Act and given to Jenny. In the 1956 off-Broadway production starring Lotte Lenya, Polly sang a version of the "Bilbao Song" from Brecht and Weill's "Happy End" in the first act wedding scene.

† In the Marc Blitztein adaptation, this song was moved to the second act and sung by the character of Lucy.

[edit] Productions

The original German version was a huge success, performed more than 10,000 times and translated into 18 languages. The work was translated into French as L'Opéra de quat'sous; Pabst's French version of his film also used this title. Die Dreigroschenoper has been translated into English several times. One was published by Blitzstein in the 1950s and first staged under Leonard Bernstein's baton at Brandeis University in 1952. It was later used on Broadway. Other translations include those by Ralph Mannheim and John Willett (1979), by noted Irish playwright and translator Frank McGuinness (1992), and by Jeremy Sams for a production at London's Donmar Warehouse in 1994.

[edit] Broadway (New York)

At least seven productions have been mounted in New York, on and off Broadway.

The first, adapted into English by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky and staged by Francesco Von Mendelssohn, featured Robert Chisholm as Macheath. It opened on April 13, 1933, and closed after twelve performances. The brevity of the run has been attributed to the stylistic gap between the Weill-Brecht work and the typical Broadway musical during a busy and vintage period in Broadway history.

In 1954 Lotte Lenya won a Tony Award for her role as Jenny in a somewhat softened version of The Threepenny Opera by Marc Blitzstein, which played Off-Broadway at the Theater de Lys in Greenwich Village for several years. Blitzstein had translated the work into English; Lenya, Weill's wife since the 1920s, had sung both Jenny and Polly earlier in Germany. Jenny's (originally Polly's) ballad, dreaming of quitting her work as a barmaid to lead a pirate assault on the city, is well known: And the ship with eight sails, and with 50 cannons, will fire on the city (Und das Schiff mit acht Segeln und mit fünfzig Kanonen wird beschießen die Stadt).

A nine-month run in 1976 at the New York Shakespeare Festival with Raúl Juliá as Macheath, Blair Brown as Lucy, and Ellen Greene as Jenny. The soundtrack from this production was available as a vinyl, but never in compact disc format.

A 1989 Broadway production, billed as 3 Penny Opera, featured Sting as Macheath. Its cast also boasted Georgia Brown as Mrs. Peachum, Maureen McGovern as Polly, Kim Criswell as Lucy, and Ethyl Eichelberger as the Street Singer. Sting famously grew a thin moustache for the role, and when it closed after 65 performances he shaved it off onstage with a straight razor.

Liberally adapted by playwright Wallace Shawn, the work was brought back to Broadway [1] by the Roundabout Theatre Company in March 2006 with Alan Cumming playing Macheath, Nellie McKay as Polly, Cyndi Lauper as Jenny, Jim Dale as Mr. Peachum, Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Peachum, Carlos Leon as Filch, and Brian Charles Rooney as a male Lucy. Included in the cast were New York drag performers Hattie Hathaway (Brian Butterick), Edie (Christopher Kenney), Flotilla DeBarge (Kevin Rennard), and performance artist David Cale. The director was Scott Elliott, the choreographer Aszure Barton, and, while not adored by the critics, the production was nominated for the "Best Musical Revival" Tony award. Jim Dale was also Tony-nominated, for Best Supporting Actor. The run ended on June 25, 2006.

A 2006 NY International Fringe Festival adaptation utilized stylistic and character elements of The Threepenny Opera under the title "Imminent Indeed (or, if you prefer, Polly Peachum's Peculiar Penchant for Plosives)." It was written and directed by Bryn Manion in association with Aisling Arts [2] and performed by: Christiane Amorosia (Polly), Mike Amato (Mr. Peachum), Berto Colon (Desmond Ditchdigger), Kate Geller (Doll), Karen Grenke (Doll), Heather Helton (Doll), Natalie Pero (Doll), Liza Pross (Doll), Heather Rogers (Snitch), Maria Rusolo (Lucy), Kevin Schwab (Macheath), Sarah Stephens (Jenny), Christopher T. VanDijk (Matthias), and Catherine Wronowski (Snatch).

[edit] West End (London)

Donmar Warehouse, 1994.
Nick Dear adaptation for the Royal National Theatre in a play called The Villains' Opera, 2002.
The BRIT School for Performing Arts, 2007.

[edit] Discography

Die Dreigroschenoper, 1930, on Telefunken. Incomplete. Lotte Lenya (as Polly), Bahn? (as Jenny), Valetti-R? (as Frau Peachum), Trenk-Trebitsch (as Macheath), Gerron? (as the Moritatensänger), and Ponto (as Herr Peachum). Conducted by Mackeben.
The Threepenny Opera, 1954, on Decca Broadway 012-159-463-2. In English. Lyrics by Marc Blitzstein. The 1950s Broadway cast, starring Jo Sullivan (as Polly), Lotte Lenya (as Jenny), Charlotte Rae (Frau Peachum), Scott Merrill (Macheath), Gerald Price (Street Singer), and Martin Wolfson (Peachum). Beatrice Arthur sings Lucy, normally a small role, here assigned an extra number. Complete recording of the score, without spoken dialogues. Conducted by Matlowsky.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1955, on Vanguard, with Liane, Felbermayer, Fassler, Roswaenge, Jerger, and Preger, conducted by Adler.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1958, on CBS MK 42637. In German. Lotte Lenya, who also supervised the production, Kóczián, Hesterburg, Schellow, Neuss, and Trenk-Trebitsch, Arndt Chorus, Sender Freies Berlin Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg. Complete recording of the score, without spoken dialogues.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1966, conducted by Rennert on Philips. With Huebner, Teichmann, Mey, Korte, Brammer, and Kutschera.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1968, on Polydor 00289 4428349 (2 CDs). In German. Conducted by James Last. The only recording up to the present, that contains the complete spoken dialogues.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1990, on Decca 289 430 075-2. Ute Lemper, Milva, Dernesch, René Kollo, Boysen, Adorf. RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta, John Mauceri.
The Threepenny Opera, 1994, on CDJAY 1244. Donmar Warehouse (London) production. Translated by Robert David Macdonald (lyrics translated by Jeremy Sams). Conducted by Yershon. With Small, Hugo, Hall?, Hollander, Walter?, and Mannion-T.
Die Dreigroschenoper, 1994, on Capriccio. Conducted by Latham-König, with Steinsky, Ramm, Henschel, Raffeiner, Wollrad?, and Kante.

Also note:

Mackeben?/Neher/Lenya/Gert/Forster/Busch/Rasp, cast of German version of 1931 Pabst movie.
Mackeben?/Florelle/Lion/de Matha/Préjean/Artaud/Modot, cast of French version of Pabst movie.
Symonette/Myszak/Shoumanova/Herrmann-A/Jung/Kmentt/Becht, 1980s?, on Koch.
Gruber-HK/MacDonald-S/Brauer/Hagen-N/Raabe/Holtz?/Gruber-HK, 1999, on RCA.

[edit] Film

There have been at least four film versions. German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst made German- and French-language versions simultaneously (a common practice in the early days of sound films) in 1931. Another version was directed by Wolfgang Staudte in West Germany in 1962. Scenes with Sammy Davis, Jr. were added for its American release. In 1990 an American version (renamed Mack the Knife) was released, directed by Menahem Golan, with Raúl Julia as Macheath and Roger Daltrey as the Street Singer.