The Threepenny Opera

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 show more “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. show less

Brecht's complex critique of capitalism. Not unlike the Sopranos or The Wire, Brecht offers us a view of disenfranchised members of society who use the tools of capitalism to further their personal success (on the black market). The farce of it (or the tragedy?) is that capitalism is prima facie morally bankrupt, and that corporate entities are nothing but a conglomeration of Mack the Knives. Knaves all of them; exploiting one another to preserve their personal security.

Or is it only those who have the money who can enter the land of milk and honey?

There were stirrings when I read in David Simon's Homicide about the West Baltimore murders which didn't merit a line in the newspaper. Homo Sacer, Agamben

Perhaps a phrase in the Sebald poem offered a subtle nudge to this reluctant reader. Perhaps it was an image of Ho Chi Minh in Fredrik Logevall's seminal Embers of War-- the thin, proud leader speaking to a congress of the French Communist Party, all of them white, bloated and indifferent?

All those flickering images from Pabst's film--it is a shock that I didn't reach for this play before. The 18C play of John Gray is drenched in Brecht's mordant wit adapted, embellished and reborn with grim musings on show more sexuality and patriotism, emerging strident and timeless. show less

A must-read -- and I think a definite performance piece. The message is still scarily relevant. If you think Brecht is dated, I dare you read this play for its portrayal of poverty, crime, manipulation, abuse and all sorts of other themes that look rather familiar right now. Not to mention the great songs by Weill.

At times, Bertolt Brecht could be such a smarmy boor. And a little of that comes through Threepenny. Still, the music is wonderful. The words, in German, delightful and playful. Just too bad that it comes from a man who made a ritual of posing as the fake working man's hero.

Threepenny Opera is Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's great diatribe against capitalism and the morality of the petit bourgeoisie, based loosely on an earlier English play, The Begger's Opera by John Gay. Brecht and Weill can make me angry about the plight of ordinary, even unlikeable, humans in a way that no one else can.

For the non-German-reading English speaker, the biggest problem with this play is the translation. Marc Blitzstein did the translation that was produced on Broadway. Unfortunately, he had to cut material that wasn't deemed appropriate at the time in order to get it produced. Eric Bentley's academic translation is much more accurate but reads like a plodding ox-cart. I heard that an unexpurgated version of the Blitzstein show more is available, but I haven't been able to find it yet. I recommend looking for that one if you can find it. show less

I didn't realize when I started reading this that the play would be funny, but I found myself laughing frequently. Satire the drama is supposed to be, and satire Brecht does well. Admittedly, I didn't catch that he was satirizing specifically bourgeois society until almost the end (and I found Brecht's notes much more confusing than helpful), but that didn't subtract from my enjoyability of the book. I had expected it to be a much harder read, quick only for its short length, but found it overall very accessible and entertaining. It also helped remind me of the basic plot of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which I read a few years ago and also enjoyed. I only wish I knew what the music was like.