Threepenny Opera, The - Kurt Weill

Advantages: Masterpiece of musical theatre
Disadvantages: Ending is little too "all lived happily ever after"

The Threepenny Opera transforms opera to the musical theatre. Originally adapted from John Gay’s The Beggar’s opera in 1928, to Die Dreigroschenoper, by German composer Kurt Weill and lyricist Bertolt Brecht, the score weaves together elements of grand opera with cabaret and jazz. The English translation and adaptation was then completed by Marc Blitzstein in 1954. Brecht met Weill in 1927, when the two men discussed using the genre of opera to ...
...A CD of the Threepenny Opera can be purchased for £12.99 from most good music stores. It was released on the Decca label on 14th February 2000. The opera tells the story of the murderering gangster, MacHeath aka Mac the Knife. Set in London's criminal underworld in the 1930s. It opens in Jonathan Peachum’s shop. Peachum runs a business clothing beggars and providing them with a location to beg in for a share in the profits. “A man who sees another ... Read review