Synopsis

In 1928, 200 years after the London premiere of John Gay's "Beggar's Opera", Bertolt Brecht edited a new translation for the opening of the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin and, at Lion Feuchtwanger's suggestion, gave the play the title The Threepenny Opera. Kurt Weill's music contains elements of jazz and light music, of church and opera melodies - the audience at the premiere reacts icily at first, then enthusiastically: the evening becomes a triumph, the greatest theatrical success of the 1920s and is only taken off the schedule in 1933 - under pressure Joseph Goebbels' Nazi Propaganda Ministry.