‘Threepenny Opera’ makes the cut with ‘Mack the Knife’

What’s the going rate for opera tickets? I’m asking.

I’ve only attended one opera in my life and we had “comp” tickets for that one, thanks to my favorite youngest daughter’s employment at the time. We had great fun!

Prior to the curtain going up we were offered wine, hors d’oeuvres and other goodies. At halftime (third time) after the first act we had more of the above. And after the second act, we had sweets, etc.

It was a very nice outing, although it seemed as though there was a lot of singing, especially by a dying person. But, I digress.

I was leading into “The Threepenny Opera” so named because that production was an adaptation of John Gay’s 18th century English ballad opera, “The Beggars’ Opera.”

Gay used that title because he wanted his work to reflect the condition of the London poor (anyone should be able to afford to see it).

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht adapted their opera from a translation of Gay’s original by Elisabeth Hauptmann (she was a “close” friend of Brecht’s at the time).

Brecht tossed in four songs by the French poet Francois Villon for additional variety. Why would you know of any of this? Well, it depends on your vintage.

No current readers could have been at the premiere in Berlin in 1928. Some might recall an instrumental recording of “Moritat (Theme from ‘The Threepenny Opera’)” by the Dick Hyman Trio that went to No. 8 on the charts in 1956.

No hit yet? What about the most famous recording, Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife”?

The anti-hero of “The Threepenny Opera” and “The Beggards’ Opera” was “Macheath,” “Mack the Knife.”

A draft narration by Brecht for a concert performance begins: “You are about to hear an opera for beggars. Since this opera was intended to be as splendid as only beggars can imagine, and yet cheap enough for beggars to watch, it is called ’The Threepenny Opera.’”

The production begins with a prologue sung by a street singer titled “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer” (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”).

As the song concludes, a well-dressed man leaves the crowd and crosses the stage. He is Macheath, alias “Mack the Knife.”

Let’s clear up any doubts. Mack the Knife (Macheath) is not a nice guy. He is basically an amoral, antihero criminal.

He has a number of “lady” friends — professional women we might call them — Suky Tawdry, Lucy Brown and Jenny Diver. Mack is also sweet on Polly Peachum but Polly’s dad is the kingpin of London’s beggars.

Jonathan Peachum is not keen on having his daughter become Mrs. “the Knife” so he sets about to have Tiger Brown, the chief of police, arrest Mackie.

Oops, Tiger and Mackie served in England’s colonial wars and thus are veteran buddies.

Meanwhile, Polly tells her folks there is something about Mack that intrigues her and they can do the British version of “Go fly a kite.”

Naturally, since this is an opera, there’s a lot of singing.

Mack intends to marry Polly as soon as his gang steals enough food and furnishings for a nice service. They don’t exchange vows but Polly doesn’t seem to care so the festivities proceed.

Mack’s thugs are not musical so Polly sings “Pirate Jenny,” a revenge fantasy in which she is a scullery maid turned pirate queen to order the execution of her bosses and customers. And just when we were beginning to like her.

Well, there are a lot more complications, including Mack’s “lady” friends, and he escapes hanging twice (betrayed by old man Peachum).

The second time he is pardoned by the queen, granted a title, a castle and a pension — who says “crime doesn’t pay.”

The finale, sung by the cast, ends with a plea that wrongdoing not be punished too harshly as life is harsh enough.

I skipped over some of the songs of which there are a lot.

The most memorable is Bobby Darin’s recording which went to No. 1 for nine weeks in 1959.

If you’re familiar with the lyrics, you may remember Bobby’s role call of Mack’s girls: “Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Suky Tawdry / Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown / Oh, the line forms on the right, babe / Now that Mackie’s back in town.”

It swings but those lyrics took some liberties with Bertolt Brecht’s. BB wrote: “Suky T awdry, Jenny Diver / Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown / Oh the line forms on the right dears / Now that Mackie’s back in town”

Bobby’s version slips Lotte Lenya in for Polly Peachum.

There was a reason. Lotte Lenya married Kurt Weill and performed many of his songs. She won a Tony as Jenny Diver in an off-broadway production of “The Three Penny Opera.” So, Bobby and Louis Armstrong pulled Lotte into the lyrics and saluted her memory.

I’ve not attended a full performance of the production, but Bobby’s recording lives from the fall of my junior year in college as it was on the juke box in the student union coffee shop.

“The line forms on the right, babe, now that Mackie’s back in town.”