The Threepenny Opera [475773] Released: 1995-01-01 Revenue: $0 Budget: $0 Profit: $0 Runtime: 163 mins Popularity: 0.1709 Vote Average: 0 Vote Count: 0 Overview: 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, a brilliantly successful parody of Handel's operas written by John Gay in 1728. 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." The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria's coronation. In this production, Weill champion HK Gruber led the Ensemble Modern in a performance of Weill's complete original score, the first time it had been heard in Germany in many years. This production was broadcast on German television (3sat). Cast [15] Friedrich Karl PraetoriusMacheath, genann Jürgen HoltzJonathan Jeremia Ingeborg EngelmannCelia Peachum, s Katherina LangePolly Peachum, s Axel BöhmertBrown, Polizeich Dorothee HartingerLucy, seine Toch Carola RegnierDie Spelunken-Je Wilfried ElstePastor Kimball Stephan GrossmannFilch / Trauerwe Michael LuckeEin Moritatensä Jörg PoseMakenfinger-Jako Waldemar KobusSäge-Robert Eva-Maria StrienAlte Hure Corinna SchnabelVixen Renate WickeDolly Trailers