Threepenny opera revival, musical, operetta, broadway opened in new york city may 1, 1976 and played through jan 23, 1977. A landmark of twentiethcentury musical theatre, the threepenny opera comes to the national theatre in a bold new production. Cyndi lauper and alan cummings performance of the ballad of the pimp at the tony awards 2006 cast recording petition. Brecht and weills the threepenny operahere selfconsciously dubbed the 3 penny operais blessed with one of the great scores of modern musical theatre. The threepenny opera was first performed at the theater am schiffbauerdamm in 1928 on a set designed by caspar neher. The premiere of the threepenny opera in 1928 was wildly successful throughout germany, especially among the middle class, and the.
The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success the threepenny opera by bertolt brecht and kurt weill. The merits of the threepenny opera as a film have, in the past, been much overshadowed by the political and legal controversy surrounding the project. Pabst pandoras box in this classic adaptation of the weimarera theatrical sensation. The threepenny opera lemper, mauceri, rias berlin sinfonietta, kurt weill. Director rufus norris and playwright simon stephens have gone for broke with a staging and adaptation that convey the pieces complexitiesa larger than life parable of amoral. A snarling, sexy beast of a show rory kinnear quips and charms his way through the role of macheath alice saville. The threepenny opera 1954 offbroadway revival cast. The play with music by that grand duo, bertold brecht and kurt weill, was a new.
Leave it to brecht and weill to make it so humorous and quite frightening. Production, rehearsal and publicityposter images for all national theatre productions are available to download from the national theatre dropbox, password pressdownload. Review the threepenny opera, national theatre a west. The role was written for the dapper harald paulsen, a seasoned operetta tenor with excellent acting skills p olly. Europe in 1947 after having to appear before the huac for his communist associations. Marc blitzsteins english adaptation of the threepenny opera established the work in america, more than a quartercentury after it had premiered in europe, spending years in an offbroadway theater and even spawning a pop hit in mack the knife. The threepenny opera a new production of bertolt brecht and kurt weills famous 1928 play with music, chronicling the consequences of peachums discovery that his daughter polly has secretly married londons most notorious gangster macheath mack the knife.
Based on john gays eighteenthcentury beggars opera, the play is set in victorian englands soho but satirizes the bourgeois society of the weimar republic through its wry love story of polly peachum and mack the knife macheath. The beggars opera the threepenny opera brecht adapted. This article was most recently revised and updated by kathleen kuiper, senior editor. Herbert blau, san francisco actors workshop, mp3 download of manley singing here. The threepenny opera shows how violence permeates our everyday life, beyond the horrors of murder or arson. The threepenny opera 1976 broadway revival cast allmusic. Perhaps the most refreshing thing weve seen in a long time was rufus norris production of the threepenny opera, playing until october at the national theatres olivier theatre. The threepenny opera is earthy, cynical and quite nasty in its way. A heady cocktail of dickensian london squalor and jazzage berlin decadence, bertolt brecht and kurt weills 1928 musical drama the threepenny opera has proved endlessly adaptable in. The threepenny operas central theme is that people cant be heroic, cant even be humane, inside the inhumane, broken economic system of capitalism. Scott elliotts perverse new staging of the threepenny opera has all the ingredients that have made the show a roaring success since its 1928 premiere, but to appreciate them you have to work pretty hard, the production doesnt have an idea in its head beyond parading a kicky mixture of broadway veterans alan cumming, jim dale and pop culture stars cyndi lauper, nellie mckay, tvs ana.
This is the first edited volume of the collected edition series, the kurt weill edition kwe. I especially like the happy ending bit for the finale, which makes light fun of. The threepenny opera the current the criterion collection. A complete guide to the threepenny opera, with background information, history, synopsis, audio files, and more. It was produced by seymour nebenzals nerofilm for tonbildsyndikat ag, berlin and warner bros. But the show, with its decadent portrait of the underworld, was less appealing to americans when it appeared as the threepenny opera on broadway in 1933 and became a quick flop. But in the uptight 1950s, blitzstein was restricted from translating bertolt brechts caustic lyrics accurately, and the cast album was even more. Its hard to believe, but this brechtweill adaptation of john gays beggars opera failed miserably in its first new york production in 1933. Westminster abbeys bells would have been ringing to celebrate queen victorias coronation it could be that brecht chose to end the play with this sound because it will remind the audience of the power behind all of the greed, hypocrisy, and general banditry presented in the play.
Like threepenny opera, show boat was a musical comedy in its form that forced its audience to confront intensely serious social issues. In this vivid and darkly comic new adaptation by awardwinning playwright simon stephens port, the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime brechts book and lyrics meets kurt weills extraordinary score. There are so many levels within the story to consider, but the presentation makes in. Because of her husbands sudden death she had to be replaced at the premiere, but she joined the cast some months later and also played the part in the 1931 film version. Threepenny opera revival, musical, operetta, offbroadway opened in new york city sep 20, 1955 and played through dec 17, 1961. Even before the films release, playwright bertolt brecht, who participated in the adaptation of his hugely successful theater production to the screen, sued the german production company the actual financing for the film came from warner.
Germany in 1933, arrived in america in 1941 and returned to. For the threepenny opera images, follow this link and enter the details below. The threepenny opera musical drama by brecht britannica. Raul julia nysf threepenny opera for download message board. Pabsts version of the threepenny opera features several members of the original berlin castincluding lotte lenya as pirate jenny and ernst busch as the street singeras well as valeska gert in the role of heroine polly peachums mother. In 1954 marc blitzstein took the home of pirate jenny, tiger brown, and mack the knife and put it in a downtown theater, whereupon it took off and kickstarted the offbroadway trend. Kurt weill threepenny opera opera cambridge university press. Loosely based on the 1928 brechtweill musical, itself adapted from john gays 18thcentury the beggars opera, g.
The threepenny opera was brechts first and greatest commercial success, and it remains one of his bestloved and mostperformed plays. As hard as it may be to swallow, his actions are not his own fault. The impression remains to this day that the broadway shows were unworthy of the composer of the threepenny opera which, ironically, became weills biggest american hit a few years after his death. Discussion of themes and motifs in bertolt brechts the threepenny opera. In london at the turn of the century, the bandit mack the knife marries polly without the knowledge of her father, peachum, the king of the beggars. The play was adapted by elisabeth hauptmann from john gays the beggars opera 1728 antihero gangster macheath mackie marries polly peachum, daughter of a leader of a ring of. Extensive information, photos, and audio excerpts for the threepenny opera. We must also keep in mind that the threepenny opera was written in a germany that, soon after, would see the rise of nazism. Threepenny opera broadway musical 1955 revival ibdb.
In 1933, when hitler assumed power, brecht fled nazi germany for denmark and spent the subsequent years moving throughout scandinavia as. In a survey of the stage history, hinton pays particular attention to pioneering productions in germany and great britain. Bertolt brecht sings mack the knife from the threepenny. The threepenny opera study guide from litcharts the creators of.
The sly melodies of composer kurt weill and the daring of dramatist bertolt brecht come together onscreen under the direction of german auteur g. The volume is coedited by stephen hinton stanford university, one of the preeminent weill scholars active in the world today, and edward harsh, the. Set in the impoverished back alleys of victorian london, the threepenny opera follows underworld antihero mackie messer a. The threepenny opera lemper, mauceri, rias berlin sinfonietta. Fifty years were strong enough to portrait and describe with such realism the ambiance of germany during the twenties and thirties, where the sadness was. No study of germanys weimar republic is complete without reading this book. Hypocrisy is bertolt brechts bread and butter and thats some alliteration for you.
Ahead of its time, the political and social themes in this iconic piece of musical theater get at. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, hauptmann might have contributed to the text, brecht is usually listed as sole. The work is the story of mack the knife a nefarious criminal who is love with polly peacham. The musical comedy is a retelling of john gay s the beggars opera first performed in 1728. The bells of westminster are heard ringing for the third time 3. Bertolt brecht wasnt much of a singer, but he could really roll his rs.
He is recued from the gallows in the last scene of the play. Set in london in the 1800s, the threepenny opera is a musical satire dont be fooled by the word opera about a notorious bandit who marries a girl much to the chagrin of her father, forcing the peeved patriarch to do everything in his power to imprison his soninlaw. It is a bit odd not having the song as the opening, but the placement of. Jenna simeonov aug 17, 2016 this is an opera for a city that has gone beyond morality. Students to present musical the threepenny opera jessica potila, sjvt fhf staff writer april 21, 2017 rehearsal is well under way for the musical the threepenny opera which features student actors from valley rivers middle school, fort kent community high school and the university of maine at fort kent. Threepenny opera broadway musical 1976 revival ibdb. As was usual in the early sound film era, pabst also. The threepenny opera 1931 the criterion collection. The substantial soprano part was conceived for berlins shooting star, 27yearold carola neher.