[musicalfan07]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone could tell me anything about this musical. All I know is that it is by Brecht (correct spelling I hope!) and starred Lottye Lenya. What is it about?
thanks loads.

[pish123c]

You should PM Salome; She's an expert on the show.

[musicalfan07]

Thanks for the head up. For anyone who is interested, visit www.threepennyopera.org , which has LOADS of info on the show. It sounds interesting.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

When the show came out, its "Brechtian" style of self-referential theatricality was disconcerting and revolutionary. Now, it's quite common.

[Elphaba22]

I love threepenny. I'm not an expert though in any stretch of the imagination. It's about serial killer Mack the Knife, and his fiance Polly, as well as his ex lovers Lucy Brown and Jenny Diver. Polly's parents run a beggar's place, like where beggars can get licensed to beg in certain areas of the city. Basically Mack the Knife gets captured and sentenced to execution, but is let free, even though he is guilty.
I don't know a lot about the male parts, except mack the knife, who's a tenor I believe.
Main Female parts:
Polly Peachum-soprano, young, beautiful
Mrs. Peachum- soprano, older woman, thinks she knows what's best
Jenny Diver- mezzo/belt, not as young as polly, but certainly beautiful
Lucy Brown- around Jenny's age, feisty, mezzo

[ChorusKidx3]

This show is wonderful. I forget where I saw it but the music is great and the characters are wonderfull.

[rcs]

I don't like the characters much (as I recall, it's sort of a Communist-influenced reworking of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay), but the music is wonderful (by Kurt Weill, by the way).

BTW, is Threepenny still playing on Broadway? I thought it had closed, but maybe not.

[Salome]

you sound like you have something against communists.


the show is brilliant its baout people trying to survive in the face of government and capitalist opression.

some of the most brilliantly drawne characters in theatre are from this show.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

Musically, it's brilliant. It used to be like nothing you've ever heard before. Now it's like Kander and Ebb meets Danny Elfman, because everyone looks up to Brecht.

[Salome]

but lets hope you are fmailiar with the Manheim/Willett translation its far superior to the watered down Blitzstien version.

[Monsieur D'Arque]

I'm fairly familiar with all of them. I even thought about doing my own translation/adaptation once, but only finished one song. Here's a sample, integrating the message behind Solomonsong's often-cut Brecht reference into the Futility Song.

"The Crock Song"

Remember Bertolt Brecht,
He must have been deranged,
To try and use the theater
As a means to social change.
Pssht!
What a crock of bullshit!
It's enough to make you cry-
When you get right down to it,
You might as well just die.