The Threepenny Opera [1954]

"The Threepenny Opera" was the second production of Die Dreigroschenoper in English. The English adaptation of book and lyrics was by Marc Blitzstein. The opening night cast included Beatrice Arthur (Lucy), Lotte Lenya (Jenny), Scott Merrill (Mack), Gerald Price (Streetsinger), Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Peachum), and Jo Sullivan (Polly). It opened off-Braodway at the Theater de Lys on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village (NY) and played for 96 performances. Another show had already been booked into the theater, forcing the run to end. A year and four months after it closed in 1954 pressure from the press and public caused the Theater de Lys to bring it back. It reopened on September 20, 1955 with largely the same cast. The show did not close until December 17, 1961, at the time a record-setting run for a musical in New York. Over 750,000 spectators saw it and over 700 actors took part.