Sting makes a foray onto the Broadway stage in 3 Penny Opera (1989), playing the charming Victorian-era London criminal Macheath (Mack the Knife), in the classic 1928 German musical work by Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Perhaps best summed up by the lyric, "First the feeding, then the moral code," 3 Penny Opera is an anticapitalist statement by the Marxist lyricist Brecht, which asserts (often with biting, ironic humor) that it is impossible to expect a disenfranchised underclass to abide by societal mores when the short end of capitalist competition leaves them without food or shelter.
As a songwriter, Sting has a history—like Brecht—of using pop music as a vehicle for information, sometimes political, and—like Weill—of creating seductive songs that hide dark messages beneath their romantic melodies. Sting has long been an admirer of Brecht and Weill. In 1985, he recorded "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" for a Weill tribute album titled Lost in the Stars, and in 1987 he performed several songs (in their original German) with the Hamburg State Orchestra under conductor Eberhard Schoener. Thus it seemed like a perfect match when Hollywood film producer Jerome Hellman (Midnight Cowboy) signed Sting to play Macheath, and then paired him with Tony Award-winning director John Dexter (M. Butterfly, Equus).
During a four-week pre-Broadway run at the National Theater in Washington, 3 Penny Opera was attended by then-President George Bush and his wife—an ironic audience, considering that the play’s message has at least a note of resonance in contemporary American life, if not as much as it did in 1928 Berlin, where it originally premiered. From the nation’s capitol, 3 Penny Opera went on to Broadway. Although Clive Barnes of the New York Post offered a glowing review, the play was quickly sideswiped by influential New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, whose sour review proved to be a decisive blow in sending 3 Penny Opera to its New Year’s Eve demise.
National Theater, Washington (September 14 - October 8 1989)
Lunt-Fontanne Theater, New York (November 5 -December 31 1989)
Produced by: Jerome Hellman
In association with Haruki Kadokawa and
James M. Nederlander
Book and lyrics by: Bertolt Brecht
Music by: Kurt Weill
Translated by: Michael Feingold
Directed by: John Dexter
Cast:
| Ballad Singer | Ethyl Eichelberger |
| Jenny Diver | Suzzanne Douglas |
| Peachum | Alvin Epstein |
| Filch | Jeff Blumenkrantz |
| Mrs. Peachum | Georgia Brown |
| Polly Peachum | Maureen McGovern |
| Macheath | Sting |
| Matt of the Mint | Josh Mostel |
| Crook-Finger Jack | Mitchell Greenberg |
| Sawtooth Bob | David Schechter |
| Ed | Phillip Carroll |
| Walter | Tom Robbins |
| Jimmy | Alex Santoriello |
| Tiger Brown | Larry Marshall |
| Smith | David Pursley |
| Lucy | Kim Criswell |
Also:
| Musical Staging | Peter Gennaro |
| Music Director | Julius Rudel |