Kurt Weill (1900–1950)

Brecht, Bertolt. The Threepenny Opera. 1928. Translated by Desmond I. Vesey and Eric Bentley. Foreword by Lotte Lenya. Grove Press, 1994.
Reviewers of The Threepenny Opera often mention its indictment of capitalism. Certainly, Brecht’s notes and “Tips” to actors suggest that is part of what he was after. He also says that he wanted to distance the audience from the action and characters to encourage it to respond intellectually to what it was seeing. Certainly, one could stage the play as an anti-capitalist rant, but the play offers so many levels of satire and parody, that to do so undersells. Its source, John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera, was a satire of Italian opera. Threepenny was billed not as an opera or a musical but as a “play with music.” The hero, Macheath, is aware that he is a pop star, and comes out singing his own pop anthem, “Mack the Knife.” Jenny, originally played by composer Kurt Weill’s wife, Lotte Lenya, appears as a character in “Mack the Knife” and is the heroine of her own fantasy in the play’s other pop hit, “Pirate Jenny,” a.k.a. “The Black Freighter.” Besides the aesthetic parody, gender roles get attention, just as they did in the Gay original. Characters seem aware that they are playing to the audience, showing off their skillfulness at greed, crime, and seduction. We can enjoy it all, without ever thinking of capitalism. 4 stars.… (more)