IU Theatre and Dance presents ‘The Threepenny Opera’
By IU Theatre and Dance
October 25, 2021
Open gallery
IU Theater & Dance’s Season of Return to in-person theater continues with Bertolt Brecht’s classic “The Threepenny Opera.”
In 1928, after a yearlong study of Karl Marx, Brecht — working with longtime collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann — penned his first “play with music” about a gang of thieves and grifters who “can’t have ethics that they can’t afford.”
Based on John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera,” this darkly comic adaptation by playwright Simon Stephens pits lethal Macheath against both the entrepreneurial Peachums and the law itself. At odds with Macheath’s business and intimate endeavors, Peachum exerts considerable political influence to arrest and imprison the crime lord in a larger-than-life parable of amoral greed.
Set to the libretto by Hauptmann and Brecht, Kurt Weill’s music combines cynicism and hard truths with tuneful music including beloved standards such as “Pirate Jenny” and “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” to craft a biting satire of the post-war rise of European capitalism.
Helmed by third-year MFA directing candidate and IU musical theater alum Jamie Anderson, “The Threepenny Opera” features faculty members Terry LaBolt, music director; DJ Gray, choreographer; and Leraldo Anzaldua, fight director; with intimacy direction by Samantha Kaufman. Anderson is also joined by MFA candidates Valeriya Nedviga, scenic design; Brittany Staudacher, costume design; and Lee Anne Meeks, lighting design; as well as undergraduate Grace Leckey, sound design.
The cast includes Kevin Dolan as Macheath, Cynthia Kauffman as Polly Peachum, Robbie Russo as J.J. Peachum, Catherine Barker as Celia Peachum, Christopher Centinaro as Chief Inspector Tiger Brown, Casey Kwon as Jenny Diver, Tiana Williams as Lucy Brown, Shane Sholtz as Officer Smith, Devin McDuffy as Pastor Kimble, Noah Marcus as Charlie Filch and Michael Winner as the Balladeer. Ensemble members include Riley Frey, Kabir Gandhi, Kate Glaser, Jake Kline, Caroline Santiago Turner, Natalie Stahl, Luke Swaller, Malachi Watson and Hannah Zeldin.
What: IU Theatre and Dance presents “The Threepenny Opera,” by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann.
When: Oct. 28 to 30.
Where: The Ruth N Halls Theater at Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave. in Bloomington.
Tickets are available on the event website. For more information, email Madison Colquette at mcolquet@indiana.edu.