The Threepenny Opera (Eng. adaptation 1954)
Play with music.
Text by Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann,
after John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.
English adaptation by Marc Blitzstein.
Synopsis
Song List
Performance Information
Principal Productions
Recordings
Scott Merrill and Lotte Lenya
from the off-Broadway production in 1954.
Synopsis
Macheath (Mack the Knife), notorious bandit and womanizer, runs afoul of Jonathan Peachum when he marries Peachum's daughter Polly in a ceremony of doubtful legality. Peachum's resolve to have Mack sent to the gallows is complicated by the fact that Mack's old army buddy is the chief of police, Tiger Brown. Peachum and his wife commence a series of strategems to ensnare Mack: bribing prostitutes to turn him in, exercising their influence over the police, and ultimately threatening to ruin the coronation of Queen Victoria by having all the beggars in London (whom Peachum controls) line the parade route. Mack is imprisoned, escapes, and is imprisoned again. When his hour of execution arrives, however, a mounted messenger appears with the Queen's reprieve, which includes a baronetcy and an annual pension of 10,000 pounds.
Song list
Ballad of Mack the Knife
Morning Anthem
Instead Of Song
Wedding Song
Pirate Jenny
Army Song
Love Song
Ballad of Dependency
First Threepenny Finale - The World is Mean
Polly's Song
Tango Ballad
Ballad of the Easy Life
Barbara Song
Jealousy Duet
Second Threepenny Finale - How to Survive
Useless Song
Solomon Song
Call from the Grave
Death Message
Third Threepenny Finale -- Mounted Messenger
Performance Information
Cast: Singing roles -- Street Singer (tenor or high baritone), Macheath (high baritone), Mr. J.J. Peachum (bass baritone), Mrs. Peachum (contralto), Polly Peachum (soprano), Tiger Brown (baritone), Lucy Brown (mezzo), Jenny (mezzo), Smith, ensemble.
Speaking roles -- Filch, the Rev. Kimball, the gang of thieves, beggars, prostitutes, policemen.
Orchestra: Reed 1 (cl, alto sax), Reed 2 (cl, ten. sax); 2 tpt, tbn; banjo (gtr, Hawaiian gtr) timp & perc, piano (harmonium and celesta).
Duration: full evening, 55 minutes music
Published editions: vocal selections, Warner Bros. SF0137
Performance Rights and Rentals: USA, UK, BREV: RH
Guide to orchestration, territory abbreviations, and publishers' symbols.
Principal productions
- March 10, 1954, New York, Theater de Lys, Carmen Capalbo, dir., Samuel Matlowsky, cond.
- February 9, 1956, London, Royal Court Theatre, Sam Wanamaker, dir., Berthold Goldschmidt, cond.
- June 1983, Minneapolis, Guthrie Theater, Liviu Ciulei, dir., Dick Whitbeck, cond.
- May 15, 1996, Tokyo (in Japanese)
- May-November 2002, Stratford, Ontario, Stratford Festival, Stephen Ouimette, dir., Don Horsburgh, cond.
Recordings
| Decca Broadway CD 012 159 463-2 |
Lotte Lenya, Scott Merrill, Original Off-Broadway Cast, Samuel Matlowsky, cond. |
Also see Die Dreigroschenoper, for original version in German.