The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera proclaims itself "an opera for beggars," and it was in fact an attempt both to satirize traditional opera and operetta and to create a new kind of musical theater based on the theories of two young German artists, composer Kurt Weill and poet-playwright Bert Brecht. The show opens with a mock-Baroque overture, a nod to Threepenny's source, The Beggar's Opera, a brilliantly successful parody of Handel's operas written by John Gay in 1728. In a brief prologue following the overture, a shabby figure comes onstage with a barrel organ and launches into a song chronicling the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, "Mack the Knife." The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria's coronation. In this production, Weill champion HK Gruber led the Ensemble Modern in a performance of Weill's complete original score, the first time it had been heard in Germany in many years. This production was broadcast on German television (3sat).

Country:

Germany

Genre:

Music

Duration:

163 minutes

Year:

1995

Director:

Hans Hollmann

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Company:

3sat

Cast:

Macheath, genannt Mackie Messer

Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum

Celia Peachum, seine Frau

Polly Peachum, seine Tochter

Brown, Polizeichef von London

Crew:

Book

Book

Conductor

Music

Director