Set in Victorian London, the German play focuses on Mac Heath, an amoral and charismatic criminal...
"Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, and he slows them pearly white... Just a jack knife has Mac Heath, dear, and he keeps it out of sight... Now, when that shark bites, with his teeth, dear, scarlet billows start to spread... Fancy gloves, oh, wears Mac Heath, dear, so there's never, ever a trace of red... On a sidewalk, Sunday morning, lies a body, oozing life... Someone sneaking around a corner, could that someone be Mack The Knife?"
Mac Heath ("Mackie," or "Mack the Knife") marries Polly Peachum. This displeases her father, who controls the beggars of London, and he endeavors to have Mac Heath hanged. His attempts are hindered by the fact that the Chief of Police, Tiger Brown, is Mac Heath's old army comrade. Still, Peachum exerts his influence and eventually gets Mac Heath arrested and sentenced to hang. Mac Heath escapes this fate moments before the execution when, in an unrestrained parody of a happy ending, a messenger from the Queen arrives to pardon Mac Heath and grant him the title of Baron. The details of the original 1928 text have often been substantially modified in later productions.
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 be able to watch, it is called the Threepenny Opera.
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