Is the Threepenny Opera good?

[Attendthetale331]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 10:13am

hey I am deciding whether or not I want to see the threepenny opera, what is it about and is it good?

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 10:43am

Well, it is a good show in general, but this production has not even started yet, so, I cannot speak for it.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 10:47am

It's one of those shows that when its done right, it's absolutely brilliant, but when it's not - its an absolute train wreck. It will be interesting to see which camp the new revival falls into.

[whatacharacter]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 10:58am

I just read that Cyndi Lauper will not be singing Pirate Jenny...this definately knocks it down a notch for me!

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 11:14am

Well, in the show's defense, "Pirate Jenny" was originally Polly's song, so they're being true to the original.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 11:34am

This production features drag queens, quasi-modern costumes... it seems that since the CABARET and SWEENEY TODD revivals, everyone has to try to out-do everyone else with "hip", "edgy" weirdness.

[tomwing]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 6:50pm

Pirate Jenny is actually Jenny's Song. Polly sings only a verse of the song on her wedding day just to show her husband-to-be she is aware of his close relationship whith Jenny and her bordel.

However it's a pity Cindy won't perform the song. Her cover would have been awesome. Does anyone have any clue why? Pirate Jenny is the one song most actresses and singers all over the world would kill to have the chance to sing.
Updated On: 3/21/06 at 06:50 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 6:59pm

In any production that "Jenny" goes to Polly, she's sung the whole song, to the best of my knowledge.

[tomwing]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 7:11pm

Kringas it depends on who plays Polly:) The showstopers belong to Jenny, however the dramatic interest is on Polly's side. So it has to do with what the director or the stars of the show wants. In a very good production of Threepenny that runs here in Greece, Polly does not only sing Pirate Jenny but Alabama Song from Mahagony as well... I was just reffering to Brecht's original text

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 7:20pm

I thought in the original text Polly sang "Pirate Jenny" at the wedding. I don't have the script handy, but I thought she wants to perform at the wedding, she recounts a story of a scullery maid she once saw, even going so far as to have the wedding guests recite lines in which they refer to her as Jenny. I thought "Jenny" was given to Jenny so that Lenya would have more to do, she being Lenya after all.

My mind could be fuzzy, though, and though I've done a lot of research on the show (for myself, not for any greater goal), I've come up with conflicting information about various facts (or non-facts) surrounding the show.

At any rate, I thought that Polly originally had the entire "Pirate Jenny," but at some point the song was switched to Jenny so Lenya could sing it (as she does in the 1931 film and the 1954 recording). The 1994 Donmar production restored the whole song to Polly, and that's how I understand it will done in the revival as well. While Jenny does seem to get the song most of the time (such as in 1990's Mack the Knife and the 1976 Lincoln Center production), I thought that song actually belonged to Polly.

[cturtle]

Posted: 3/21/06 at 10:25pm

i appeared in a college production of this show and hated every minute, even though i got to sing MACK THE KNIFE. but the fact that the director was a deranged a$$ had a lot to do it.

[toomeytwopiece]

Posted: 3/22/06 at 12:52am

please check facts before making statements.

Having been involved with the Weill Estate, I know that in the original production in 1928 in Berlin, "Pirate Jenny" was sung by Polly. The revival is incredibly true to the structure of the original.

As for the comment about drag queens and quasi modern costumes taking the show down a notch: do you actually think Brecht and Weill would want the show set and designed in such a way that it allowed the audience to feel safe? In other words, if the sets and costumes are of a certain period, in this case Victorian England, it is easy for an audience to sit back and feel detached from what the show actually tries to do: confront humanity with its inherent violent and hedonistic tendencies.

By modernizing the environment of the show in a way, and/or taking the specifics of time and place away, the story itself, the themes and the characters become the focal points. That is important.

It will be an exciting production. Perhaps it will also be upsetting. I doubt that most people would find it easy to accept the obvious: that mankind may have it's heroic traits, but it has plenty of inherently evil ones too.

[tophertilson]

Posted: 3/22/06 at 7:21am

This is a completely new translation right? Book and lyrics both? I think that's the big question mark. I know some people don't like the Blitztein version, but I'm a big fan. It's suitably Brechtian and still entertaining in a more traditional musical theatre way.

TT

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/22/06 at 10:11am

I've seen several different productions of THREEPENNY, including the one at the Mineola Playhouuse that starred Chita Rivera as both the Streetsinger and Jenny. I've absolutely hated it each time. I can't put my finger on it, but the score totally alienates me. The book depresses the hell oout of me. It's just not "my show".

I have no intention of seeing the new production of it.

[tophertilson]

Posted: 3/22/06 at 10:38am

"...the score totally alienates me."

Brecht would consider that a job well done. :)

TT

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/22/06 at 10:40am

How was Chita?