Threepenny Opera, The (Bentley/Vesey)
by Kurt Weill, Eric Bentley, Bertolt Brecht, Desmond Vesey

The Threepenny Opera proclaims itself "an opera for beggars," and it was in fact an attempt both to satirize traditional opera and operetta and to create a new kind of musical theater based on the theories of two young German artists, composer Kurt Weill and poet-playwright Bert Brecht.

The show opens with a mock-Baroque overture, a nod to Threepenny's source, The Beggar's Opera .

In a brief prologue following the overture, a shabby figure comes onstage with a barrel organ and launches into a song chronicling the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, "Mack the Knife," who marries the innocent and virginal Polly Peachum.

This displeases her father, who controls the beggars of London, and so he endeavours to have Macheath hanged!

His attempts are hindered by the fact that the Chief of Police, Tiger Brown, is Macheath's old army comrade.

Still, Peachum exerts his influence and eventually gets Macheath arrested and sentenced to hang.

Macheath escapes this fate via a deus ex machina moments before the execution when, in an unrestrained parody of a happy ending, a messenger from the Queen arrives to pardon Macheath and grant him the title of Baron.

Please note that we recommend using the Threepenny Opera Vocal Score for performance use.

Licensees should use the lyrics by Eric Bentley contained in the Bentley/Vesey libretto.