The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)

1954 Off-Broadway Revival Cast, Bertolt Brecht - The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)

The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)
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Artist: 1954 Off-Broadway Revival Cast, Bertolt Brecht
Edition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording, Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2000-08-29
Music Label: Decca Broadway
Soundtracks:
  1. Prologue (spoken)
  2. Overture
  3. The Ballad of Mack the Knife
  4. Morning Anthem
  5. Instead-Of-Song
  6. Army Song
  7. Wedding Song
  8. Love Song
  9. Ballad of Dependency
  10. The World Is Mean
  11. Melodrama and Polly's Song
  12. Pirate Jenny
  13. Tango-Ballad
  14. Ballad of the Easy Life
  15. Barbara Song
  16. Jealousy Duet
  17. How to Survive
  18. Useless Song
  19. Solomon Song
  20. Call from the Grave
  21. Death Message
  22. Finale: The Mounted Messenger
  23. The Ballad of Mack the Knife (bonus track) -- Lotte Lenya (vocalist), Marc Blitzstein (piano)

Free Music Notes for The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)

Free Music Review: Set the stage for the entire VIetnam protest era!
Hit: 5 Stars

I happen to think this is a grand performance and the Blitzstein lyrics right on target, but forget all that for a moment and consider this:

This Theater de Lys program captivated a young and very hip New York City audience for three significant years---from 1954 to '57. There are two basic elements here that I find terribly important.

First, the essentially hostile attitude of the performers toward their public. When I saw it I recall the musicians coming out and actually thumbing their noses at the audience. Hey Mick Jagger, were you there by any chance? I assumed this was part of the atmosphere of the first production in Berlin back in the pre-Nazi Weimar days. But why was that relevant to New Yorkers in the "silent generation" 1950s?

Secondly, there is the basic concept around which the entire work is constructed---The poor, the hopeless, the great unwashed, taking to the streets in all their wretchedness to confront and seek to embarass and humiliate the establishment (read U.S. federal government instead of British Royalty). And of course the goal is to make it coincide with an important establishment politicaal event: Coronation Day.


Does anyone still remember the opening of the New York World's Fair in the mid-sixties? THe reverend Al Sharpton's threats of violence in the streets meant almost no one turned out to see or hear Lyndon Johnson's appearance at the World's Fair site.

Given the time frame, this version of the Threepenny Opera was more than prescient. It helpled create the methodology for the anti-war and pro-civil rights demos that followed just a few years later. Quite an achievement for an off broadway version of a 30 year old German musical comedy!

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