That Wacky Weill Estate

The Weill Estate is notoriously difficult to deal with, right? That's what I've always heard. Too much deviation from the source is met with much scrutiny, I hear.

I was captivated tonight by (of all things) an Applebee's commercial, in which two men sang the praises of the restaurant to the tune of "Mack the Knife." This, unsurprisingly, reminded me of the early 80s McDonald's campaign, "Mac Tonight."

It's interesting to me that they get all knotted up about how Threepenny is presented, but they're more than happy to whore out its most well-known tune.

Am I missing something here?

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Because of things I've read on here and because I've known people who have personally dealt with them. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that they are quite proprietary about Weill's music being used properly.

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Some TV show had a random Mac Tonight reference just recently. Was it The Simpsons?

they are actually quite happy with the show, as is the Brecht estate :)

Yeah, really. I'd love to get a new recording of the show.

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