yr11_weimar_musichall

=The Music Hall=

You find yourself outside the music hall. People are busy bringing in props for a rehearsal of the "Threepenny Opera" by Kurt Weill and Bertholt Brecht, which will have its first performance this evening.

** Opening Night: ** August 31, 1928 at am Schiffbauerdamm
 * Composer: **** Kurt Weill (1990-1950) **
 * Playwright: **** Bertholt Brecht (1898-1956) **

The Threepenny Opera was written and staged in 1928, soon became Brecht's first and greatest commercial success. The Threepenny Opera was written for a very specific purpose. Brecht chose not to alter the text as much as in other works and developed the plot into first a screenplay and then a novel. As such, the text remains tightly bound to the moment of Germanic history in which it was written. The late 1920s were part of a more stable period in the Weimar Republic, a period where the hyperinflation was reigned in and foreign (particularly American) capital flowed into the country. For the theater, this meant a significant re-working of the classics.

The Threepenny Opera had already been produced 130 times around the world by 1933, before the Nazis came to power and forced Weill to flee to Paris in March. The Nazis, of course, banned all Weill’s and Brecht’s work from Germany.

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Go backstage to meet Kurt Weill Go backstage to meet Bertholt Brecht Go nextdoor to the theatre