Happy End

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. In 1977 it premiered on Broadway, where it ran for 75 performances. Production history After the success of Weill and Brecht's previous collaboration, The Threepenny Opera, the duo devised this musical, written by Hauptmann under the pseudonym of Dorothy Lane. Hauptmann's sources included, among others, Major Barbara. The première took place in Berlin on 2 September 1929. The story is reminiscent of, but not the source of, the better-known musical Guys and Dolls, which is based on Damon Runyon's short story, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown". Brecht tried to take credit for the whole work but Hauptmann ensured that the truth was known. The original production was not well received. There were reports that cast member Helene Weigel (Brecht's wife) read from a Communist pamphlet on stage, and the production was panned by the German press and closed two days later. Nevertheless, the musical was subsequently produced in Europe, the first time in Munich in 1956. Successive productions included Hamburg in 1957, London in 1965 at the Royal Court Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre (US) in 1972, Oxford and the West End's Lyric Theatre in 1975 and Frankfurt in 1983, along with a 1977 German film version. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on May 7, 1977, and closed on July 10, 1977, after 75 performances. Directed by Robert Kalfin and Patricia Birch and staged by Birch, the production starred Christopher Lloyd, Grayson Hall and Meryl Streep.