April 4, 2001

Ramapo College Theater Program To Present The Three-Penny Opera

(Mahwah) – The Three-Penny Opera, Bertolt Brecht's highly-acclaimed collaboration with Kurt Weill, will be presented at Ramapo College of New Jersey beginning Thursday, April 26 and running through May 5 in the Adler Theater. Maria Vail Guevara, an associate professor of theater at Ramapo College, is the director.

Set in Victorian England, the musical pokes fun at the Victorian middle class, depicting a world where morality is turned on its head. Beggars, thieves and prostitutes belt out their philosophy on everything from marriage, money and war in this totally original, comic and high-energy production. Even the audience is implicated in the hypocrisy in this musical that served as a vehicle for Brecht's Marxist philosophies. Weill composed The Ballad of Mac the Knife for The Three Penny Opera. Due to adult content and language, this production is rated R.

Performances are at 8 p.m. on April 26, 27 and 28 and May 3, 4 and 5; a matinee is scheduled Wednesday, May 2 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. For information, call (201) 684-7844. The Adler Theater is located in the Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts.