Threepenny Opera, The

Threepenny Opera, The (1928). A modern, markedly satiric redaction of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, it had a libretto by BertoltBrecht and music by Kurt Weill. The story centered on the outlaw Macheath, his wooing of Polly Peachum, his betrayal, near‐execution, and reprieve. Originally presented in Berlin in 1928 as Die Dreigroschenoper, an adaptation by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky failed on Broadway in 1933. A second adaptation, this time by Marc Blitzstein, was offered Off Broadway at the Theatre de Lys in 1954. When this acclaimed production closed after a limited engagement of 95 performances, the critical cry for its return was such that it was revived six months later at the same theatre and ran for 2,611 performances, an Off‐Broadway record at the time. The cast included Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife, as the prostitute Jenny, in a role she had created in the original German production; as well as Scott Merrill as Macheath; Jo Sullivan as Polly Peachum; and Beatrice Arthur as Lucy Brown. The action was transferred from the 18th century to Victorian times. This production helped rekindle an interest in the works of both Weill and Brecht. The play's best‐known song, “The Ballad of Mack the Knife,” remained popular for decades, Weill's curious, jazz‐influenced melodies and orchestrations prompting similar instrumentation in later musicals, most notably in Cabaret. A third translation, one by Ralph Manheim and John Willett, was offered by the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1976. A major 1990 revival, in yet another translation, was poorly received.