I have an unrequited love for Kurt Weill in general and for The Threepenny Opera in specific. Why unrequited, do you ask? Well, what has it ever done for me? That's pretty cynical, but then so is this whole show.
I was in a college production of 3PO a looooong time ago. Listening to this cast album has reminded me of some people who were very dear to me at the time--as college theater people inevitably are to one another. And then we go off to other ends of the planet and do things like become lawyers.
This 1954 Broadway production was the first revival of the show. It ran until 1961 and did much to cement Kurt Weill's place in musical history. The cast is great and features Beatrice Arthur (with the huskiest voice ever), Jo Sullivan (who would later marry Frank Loesser) as Polly Peachum, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Peachum, and the widow Weill Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny. According to the Broadway database, the show has been revived five times since then.
I was in a college production of 3PO a looooong time ago. Listening to this cast album has reminded me of some people who were very dear to me at the time--as college theater people inevitably are to one another. And then we go off to other ends of the planet and do things like become lawyers.
This 1954 Broadway production was the first revival of the show. It ran until 1961 and did much to cement Kurt Weill's place in musical history. The cast is great and features Beatrice Arthur (with the huskiest voice ever), Jo Sullivan (who would later marry Frank Loesser) as Polly Peachum, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Peachum, and the widow Weill Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny. According to the Broadway database, the show has been revived five times since then.
Clearly, I am not the only one with a love of this material.
The Threepenny Opera
Music by Kurt Weill
German book and lyrics by Bertold Brecht
English adaptation of book and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Cast: Beatrice Arthur, Charlotte Rae, Jo Sullivan, Scott Merrill, Martin Wolfson, Lotte Lenya
The Threepenny Opera
Music by Kurt Weill
German book and lyrics by Bertold Brecht
English adaptation of book and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Cast: Beatrice Arthur, Charlotte Rae, Jo Sullivan, Scott Merrill, Martin Wolfson, Lotte Lenya
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