Scripts and Libretti
Scripts and Libretti (Series 20-26) includes Weill’s works and works by others in manuscript (mainly typescript) and published form. Some original materials are filed here, but most items are photocopies.
Highlights
Scripts and libretti of Weill’s stage works make up the bulk of this category, comprising both published and unpublished texts. In many cases, the collection includes examples from different phases of a particular work, from early drafts (sometimes under working titles) through printed books issued by publishers. Most works are represented by multiple drafts and revisions created before the world premiere and generally include post-premiere translations and adaptations, often for specific productions. More than ten English versions of Die Dreigroschenoper are found here, including versions of Blitzstein, Manheim & Willett, and Feingold. For each of Weill’s Broadway shows, the collection includes at least three pre-premiere scripts and later translations and adaptations. The category also holds scripts of non-Weill stage works, including Candle in the Wind (Lenya’s Broadway debut), a lightly annotated script of Brecht on Brecht, and a sequence of draft scripts by Alfred Uhry and Harold Prince for the Broadway musical LoveMusik. Other scripts include screenplays and teleplays, usually for later works related to Weill or Lenya, texts of concert works composed by Weill, and miscellaneous song lyrics, including Maxwell Anderson’s “extra refrain” of “September Song.”