The Threepenny Opera: v.2 (Modern Classics) - Softcover

Based on John Gay's eighteenth century Beggar's Opera, The Threepenny Opera, fir st staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, is a vicious sati re on the bourgeois capitalist society of the Weimar Republic, but set in a mock -Victorian Soho. It focuses on the feud between Macheaf - an amoral criminal - a nd his father in law, a racketeer who controls and exploits London's beggars and is intent on having Macheaf hanged. Despite the resistance by Macheaf's friend the Chief of Police, Macheaf is eventually condemned to hang until in a comic re versal the queen pardons him and grants him a title and land. With Kurt Weill 's unforgettable music - one of the earliest and most successful attempts to int roduce jazz to the theatre - it became a popular hit throughout the western worl d. Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series in a trusted translation by Ralph Manheim and John Willett, this edition features extensive notes and com mentary including an introduction to the play, Brecht's own notes on the play, a full appendix of textual variants, a note by composer Kurt Weill, a transcript of a discussion about the play between Brecht and a theatre director, plus edito rial notes on the genesis of the play.