The Threepenny Opera at BAM

Описание: The Threepenny Opera
Apr 3—Apr 6, 2025

BAM and St. Ann's Warehouse
Present

The Threepenny Opera
Berliner Ensemble
Based on John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera
Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and Music by Kurt Weill
in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann
Music Direction by Adam Benzwi
Directed by Barrie Kosky

Part of Winter/Spring 2025

Murderous antihero Mackie Messer (a.k.a. Mack the Knife) slashes through Victorian London in The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht’s scandalous satire that electrified Weimar-era German audiences 400 times in just two years after its 1928 debut.

A century later, Brecht’s razor-sharp critique of unbridled capitalism still cuts deep—an eerily prophetic vision of a well-fed society teetering on the brink, propelled by Kurt Weill’s infectious, jazz-infused score.

Barrie Kosky’s Berliner Ensemble production is sly and perversely sexy, embracing seediness and cynicism with glitzy disillusion and more than a hint of danger. A master showman, Kosky manages to beguile us through the familiar rise and fall of Brecht’s sociopathic leading man, adding a knowing creepiness to his unrepentant antics.

As Mack the Knife’s indelible melody lingers, this sleek, elemental staging amplifies the play’s knife-edge allure, proving its savage indictment of greed remains as urgent and seductive as ever.

This production is recommended for audiences age 13 and older.