Threepenny Opera chronology

	1728	Premiere in London of The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay and J.C. Pepusch–the work on which Threepenny is based.
	1920	Revival of adapted version of Beggar’s Opera in London runs 1,463 performances.
	March 1927	Bertolt Brecht writes the lyrics to “Pirate Jenny” and “Barbara-Song.”
	July 1927	Premiere of the first collaboration of Kurt Weill and Brecht, the Mahagonny Songspiel
	Fall 1927	Brecht’s assistant Elisabeth Hauptmann translates the libretto of Beggar’s Opera into German.
	Spring 1928	Berlin producer Ernst Josef Aufricht asks Brecht for a play to open his new theater in the fall, and they agree that it will be Des Bettlers Oper (Beggar’s Opera).  Brecht asks Weill to compose a new score.
	April 26, 1928	Weill and Brecht sign a contract with Felix Bloch Erben in Berlin to represent the stage rights.
	May-June 1928	Weill and Brecht travel to the French Riviera in order to work on the new show without distractions.
	August 10, 1928	Rehearsals begin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.
	August 23, 1928	Weill completes his orchestral score. It does not include "Mack the Knife," which has not been written yet. (It is created only a day or two before the premiere.)
	August 30, 1928	After a rehearsal period filled with conflict, defections of cast members, and endless cuts and changes, the dress rehearsal ends at 5:00 a.m. Most members of the cast and creative team believe the show will be a colossal failure.
	August 31, 1928	World premiere at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. After a slow start, the audience catches fire. Despite somewhat mixed reviews, the show takes off and several new productions in Germany are arranged within days.
	October 1928	Published copies of the libretto and vocal score, as well as several songs issued as sheet music, begin to be sold.
	1929	Threepenny sees over forty new productions in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Finland, and the Soviet Union.
	July-November 1930	Filming of G.W. Pabst's German and French versions takes place; Threepenny becomes one of the first musical films. Weill and Brecht file lawsuits against the production company over its handling of the script and music; both collect damages. The film is screened for the first time in February 1931.
	1931	Brecht publishes revised version of Threepenny script.
	1933	Weill and Brecht both flee Germany; the Nazi government bans further performances of Threepenny. By this time, Threepenny has been performed in well over 100 cities on three continents.
	April 1933	Threepenny opens on Broadway for the first time in a translation by Jerrold Krimsky and Gifford Cochran. The run lasts only twelve performances and draws fire from nearly all the critics.
	February 1935	The BBC broadcasts a complete performance of Threepenny; the performance is unanimously panned and Weill criticizes the performance strongly in a letter to the publisher of the music, Universal Edition.
	1936 or 1937	First performance in Africa, in Johannesburg.
	1937	Threepenny produced in Paris starring Raymond Rouleau, Yvette Guilbert, Suzy Solidor, and Renée St. Cyr.
	1938	Choreographer Antony Tudor creates his ballet, Judgment of Paris, with music from Threepenny.
	Spring 1938	The Nazis stop playing songs from Threepenny at their exhibition of “Degenerate Art” in Düsseldorf, because too many people are enjoying listening to them.
	Spring 1942	Brecht asks Weill to cooperate in a new adaptation of Threepenny to be performed by an all-black cast in California.  The parties are unable to agree to terms, and no performances take place.
	August 1945	Threepenny performed for the first time in Germany since 1933.
	January 1949	Brecht informs Weill that the script must be adapted because of post-war conditions in Germany.  A production in Munich reflects Brecht’s changes, to which Weill never consented.
	April 3, 1950	Weill dies in New York, shortly after Marc Blitzstein begins writing his English version of Threepenny.
	June 14, 1952	Tryout of Blitzstein’s version of Threepenny at Brandeis University, Boston.  Lotte Lenya and Jo Sullivan appear in the cast.
	March 10, 1954	Premiere of Blitzstein’s version at the Theater de Lys (now the Lucille Lortel Theatre) in Greenwich Village, New York City.  Lotte Lenya, Bea Arthur, Charlotte Rae, John Astin, Scott Merrill, and Jo Sullivan appear in the cast. After 96 performances, the show closes due to a scheduling conflict, but the original cast album has already been recorded and released, with remarkable sales.  Brooks Atkinson inaugurates the custom of ending his New York Times theater reviews with “Bring back the Threepenny Opera!”
	September 20, 1955	Threepenny reopens at the Theater de Lys and runs until December 1961, a total of 2,611 consecutive performances.  This production firmly establishes Threepenny as a regular on American stages, as it is already in Germany, and serves as a springboard for innumerable pop recordings of “Mack the Knife.”
	Spring 1956	Influential productions of Threepenny in London (directed by Sam Wanamaker) and Milan (directed by Giorgio Strehler).
	August 14, 1956	Brecht dies in Buckow, Germany.
	1957	First performance in South America, in Buenos Aires.
	January 1958	Lenya supervises and performs in a complete recording of Threepenny in German, released on Philips and Columbia. Wolfgang Neuss, Willy Trenk-Trebitsch, and Trude Hesterberg also appear in the cast.
	April 12, 1960	The first production by Brecht’s acting company, the Berliner Ensemble, is directed by Erich Engel, who also directed the world premiere.
	1961	Following performances in Sydney and Melbourne, Threepenny has been performed on every continent except Antarctica.
	1963	Film directed by Wolfgang Staudte is released in German and English versions.  Curt Jürgens, Hildegard Knef, Gert Fröbe, Sammy Davis, Jr., and June Ritchie appear in the cast.
	June 1976	A new English version by Ralph Manheim and John Willett debuts at the New York Shakespeare Festival, directed by Richard Foreman.  After a run at the Festival, the production moves to the Beaumont Theater until January 1977.  Raul Julia stars as Macheath.
	March 1986	Tim Curry stars as Macheath at the National Theatre in London, with a new English translation by Robert David MacDonald.
	October 1986	Giorgio Strehler directs another important production, this one in Paris.
	1989	Release of a film version of Threepenny called Mack the Knife, starring Raul Julia, Richard Harris, and Julia Migenes.
	November 1989	Opening of a Broadway production directed by John Dexter and conducted by Julius Rudel, with a new translation by Michael Feingold.  Despite the star power of Sting, Maureen McGovern, Alvin Epstein, and Kim Criswell, the problem-plagued production closes in less than two months.
	1994	Donmar Warehouse, London, hosts a production of Threepenny with new English lyrics by Jeremy Sams.  JAY Records issues a cast recording.
	1999	RCA/BMG issues complete recording of Threepenny (in German) with Max Raabe, Nina Hagen, Sona MacDonald, and the Ensemble Modern conducted by HK Gruber.  The recording adheres closely to the new critical edition of Threepenny (see below).
	2000	Publication of critical edition of the score and libretto of Threepenny as part of the Kurt Weill Edition, restoring the original 1928 version.  Edited by Stephen Hinton and Edward Harsh.
	March 2006	The latest Broadway revival of Threepenny opens at Studio 54, produced by the Roundabout Theatre.  The star-studded cast includes Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Jim Dale, Nellie McKay, and Ana Gasteyer.  A new English translation by Wallace Shawn; directed by Scott Elliott.

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