Johnny Johnson
by Kurt Weill, Paul Green

What happens when a peace-loving American has to go to war?

Kurt Weill's first American work, written in 1936 with Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Green and developed with the Group Theatre, is a comic-tragic fable that presents a humorous and poignant critique of World War I and its aftermath.

Johnny Johnson is an idealistic Everyman who tackles patriotic fever at home and the military juggernaut abroad in search of a just peace.

Through a series of adventures, some hilarious and some sobering, Johnny uses his head, his heart, and even a tank of laughing gas to try to end the war.

His pacifist efforts land him in an insane asylum, and when he is finally released many years later, the country is mobilizing for the next world war.

(For a more detailed synopsis, please visit www.kwf.org .) Johnny Johnson draws on styles ranging from vaudeville, farce, and silent film comedy to realism, melodrama, and expressionism.

The breadth, humor, theatricality, and musical variety of Johnny's saga offer abundant opportunities for creative staging.

Listen to song excerpts by following the links below: Over in Europe Democracy's Call Up Chickamauga Hill Johnny's Song (one verse only) Aggie's Song Oh, Heart of Love Farewell, Goodbye The Sergeant's Chant Captain Valentine's Song Song of the Goddess Song of the Wounded Frenchmen The Tea Song Oh, the Rio Grande Song of the Guns Music of the Stricken Redeemer Mon Ami, My Friend The Allied High Command The Laughing Generals In Times of War and Tumult The Psychiatry Song Asylum Chorus Hymn to Peace Johnny's Song