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The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper [diː dʁaɪˈɡʁɔʃn̩ˌʔoːpɐ]) is a German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill.
The Threepenny Opera, musical drama in three acts written by Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill, produced in German as Die Dreigroschenoper in 1928 and published the following year.
A short summary of Bertolt Bretcht's The Threepenny Opera. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of The Threepenny Opera.
Set in the impoverished back alleys of Victorian London, The Threepenny Opera follows underworld antihero Mackie Messer (a.k.a. Mack the Knife) as he tries to woo Polly Peachum and elude the authorities.
The Threepenny Opera, written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill, is a play that provides a biting critique of capitalism and the bourgeoisie. The show, which premiered in Berlin in 1928, is a reimagining of John Gay’s 18th-century ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera.
In a brief prologue, a ballad singer entertains a bustling crowd in the London neighborhood of Soho with a moritat, or murder ballad, about the exploits of the city’s slickest, most notorious gangster Macheath, or Mackie the Knife. At the end of the song, a well-dressed man in white gloves and spats slips away from the crowd.
Synopsis. Prologue. After the overture, the Street Singer comes onstage with a barrel organ and sings of the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, Mack the Knife (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”). The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria’s coronation.
