Just last night I was able to watch a very joyful performance of "The Threepenny Opera" (German "Die Dreigroschenoper") by Bertolt Brecht in the local theatre here. The play was set up as a real opera and therefore was performed in the large auditorium coming with all the bells and whistles of such a undertaking. There were many fabulous singers and a good portion of a regular orchestra was playing down in the pit. Also the stage was very well designed. In a very creative manner the background of the stage was moving round like a ferris wheel letting the actors perform in front of and interact with different settings of the same stage.

Honestly I was not so much familiar with plays like these. Sure I knew the title before but I had no deeper insights of what the play is all about or what Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill have done elsewhere. So I was rather unprepared and came with fresh eyes and fresh ears to this performance. And despite all my hidden concerns I really had a good time that evening.

The Threepenny Opera with music by Kurt Weill is a rather sharp critique of capitalist society in Victorian London. As a satirical musical drama it tells the story of Macheath ("Mack the Knife"), a charming but ruthless criminal.

Macheath navigates London's underworld with a lot of privileges. After marrying Polly, the daughter of beggar kingpin Peachum, Macheath becomes a target for arrest. But despite multiple betrayals and arrests, he is miraculously pardoned in the end.

Especially this ending was very well performed during that night I attended the opera. The timing was great, all the actors seemed to have fun and enjoyed themselves and also the audience was clapping and cheering in a very joyful and often surprising manner. I felt good in the end and was pretty uplifted.

Throughout the performance I was actually surprised how many songs I knew or at least have heard of before. Songs like "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (German "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer") and "Pirate Jenny" (German "Seeräuberjenny") obviously have already become deeply engrained into the musical memory of even my generation. If you start browsing Apple Music or Spotify you'll find various versions of these songs performed by many different artists and orchestras worldwide. Here's an example on YouTube from 1958 just to remind you of this variety style of music of the 1920s.

The play itself is based on another, older piece from John Gay called "The Beggar's Opera". This performance ran very successfully in the United Kingdom during the 1920s. It was then brought to Germany by Elisabeth Hauptmann who also translated it for further consideration by Berthold Brecht. The Threepenny Opera then had its premiere in 1928 in Berlin. From there it has been performed in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, Italy, and Hungary and became one of the most successul German plays worldwide. Later there were even versions for film and radio, the latest adaption happened in 2018 with the German-Belgian movie "Mackie Messer – Brechts Dreigroschenfilm". Berthold Brecht died in 1956 and left behind a huge legacy of plays, poems and dramas. Kurt Weill died in 1950 as a recognised international composer influencing classical, pop and jazz music of his era.