Happy End (musical)
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Happy End is a three-act musical comedy by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Bertolt Brecht which first opened in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm on September 2, 1929. It closed after seven performances.
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[edit] History
After the success of Weill and Brecht's previous collaboration, The Threepenny Opera, the duo devised this musical, written by Elisabeth Hauptmann under the pseudonym of Dorothy Lane. Hauptmann's sources included, among others, Major Barbara - the story of a Salvation Army officer who falls in love with a gangster. The story is reminiscent of, but not the source of, the more well-known musical Guys and Dolls (which was based on Damon Runyon's short story, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown.")
The debut was plagued by problems. Hauptmann never finished the book of the musical, the play's opening debut saw cast member Helene Weigel reading from a Communist pamphlet on stage, and it was met with near-unanimous pans from the German press and deemed a total failure.
Nevertheless, the play saw several revivals, the first in Munich in 1956. Successive incarnations included a 1957 revival in Hamburg, a 1965 revival in London, and a 1983 revival in Frankfurt as well as a 1979 German film version.
An English adaptation by Michael Feingold also exists and has been performed in venues including New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
[edit] Plot
The musical is set in 1919 Chicago and focuses on Salvation Army worker Lilian Holiday's struggles to reform criminals such as gangster Bill Cracker and the Lady in Grey. Holiday is fired among fears she is getting too close to the gang, but eventually allowed back in.
Complications include a botched Christmas Eve robbery by the gang and Holiday and Cracker's growing relationship. The ending sees the gang uniting with the Salvation Army to open a downtown office.
[edit] Music
Despite the poor initial reception of the play, several musical numbers have seen continued popularity. These include "Surabaya Johnny", sung by soprano Holiday and baritone Cracker, and "Bilbao Song".
[edit] Quote
The phrase "robbing a bank's no crime compared to owning one" derives from this play.
[edit] References
- BBC article on Kurt Weill
- Green, Stanley. The Broadway Fake Book.
