Three Penny Opera Question
Three Penny Opera Question
lovinlovett
Stand-by Joined: 7/18/05
#1Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/14/08 at 10:23pmEver since I saw Alan Cummings and Cyndi Lauper sing the tango number from Three Penny Opera on the Tonys I've been just fascinated with it. I've watched it many times and finally decided to hunt down a cast recording. I ordered the Donmar CD only to find that the lyrics are completely different. I've found several other videos online of various theater groups performing the same song...but each version has different lyrics! I realize that it was originally in German but why are there so many different translations? I really loved the lyrics from the Cummings/Lauper version. Are there any recordings of this?
#2re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/14/08 at 10:31pm
There are no recordings of the Wallace Shawn adaptation. Personally, I thought his translation was pitiful.
Go with the original off-Broadway cast with Bea Arthur and Lotte Lenya. It's the ultimate.
I also recommend checking out the film out on DVD from Criterion - it's in German and it's fascinating.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#3re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:04pm
The Marc Blitzstein 1950's version of the show is THE version to go off of. I happened to stumble upon the cast album 3 or 4 years ago, and have loved it ever since. The tango ballad is a beautiful song, with ANY translation, but *this version* in particular is perfection. Those lyrics go a little something like this...
MACHEATH:
There was a time
and now, it's all gone by
When we two lived together,
she and I.
The way we were
was just the way to be
I cared for her
and she took care of me
And that arrangement
seemed to work perfectly
The milkman rang the bell
I got out of bed
I opened up her purse
Gave him what he said
I had a glass of milk
back in bed I'd climb
You understand
she was out working all this time
And so we lived
me and my little mouse
In that snug two-by-four
where we played house.
...I'm suddenly drawing a blank on Jenny's verse.
I just remember the last part of the song, where both were singing, and it was like:
"We closed the door, and each began to roam.
Gooooooodbyyyye, sweet 2 - by - 4
that we caaalllled hooooome!"
and they had the 'da-da-duh-duh--da-duh-da-da-da-BUM!' from the orchestra and that was the song. My favorite song in the show - aside from the ballad that Macheath sings in jail. "O, hear me callin' to ya from the grave! Macheath who's fallen here, but not on grass..." Brilliant!
keen on kean
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/06
#4re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:19pmI am also a fan of Blitzstein's translations. They are tame compared to the recent revival, but more subtle than some critics believe. I love the Army song, too.
#6re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/14/08 at 11:54pm
I think it's actually:
it's true we made love only in the DAY
I don't remember the Roundabout revival so well but I remember enjoying it very much, from what I remember the translation was pretty okay, it was right up my alley and it's a shame it wasn't recorded because that cast was amazing: Cumming, Lauper, Dale, Gasteyer and McKay (as well as Brain Rooney and Brooke Moriber)? It's amazing that they didn't even think about trying a recording.
That being said I own the Donmar, I'm sorry but I need my threepenny mean, blunt and dirty, that's how it's supposed to be. I've never listened to the Blitzstein recording but those lyrics above tell me all I need to know.
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
#8re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/15/08 at 12:06am
Blitzstein doesn't include Jenny's pregnancy in the Tango which is my only quibble with it. Apart from that, I looooooooove his translation of the Tango Ballad and I adore Lenya singing it.
The Public version (don't know the translator) is also pretty great, and it features Raul Julia and Ellen Greene in a duet, doesn't get any better than that.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Perfectly Marvelous
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/06
#7re: Three Penny Opera Question
Posted: 3/15/08 at 9:32am
Ralph Manheim and John Willett did the English translation for the '76 production, if memory serves me correctly.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who
Updated On: 3/15/08 at 09:32 AM
"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables
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