The Threepenny Opera: Cyndi Lauper to play Jenny

The Roundabout Theatre Company have announced that Cyndi Lauper will make her Broadway debut as Jenny in their production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill�s The Threepenny Opera, directed by Scott Elliott at Studio 54.

The role of Jenny was originally to be played by Edie Falco, but she recently vacated the show.

The Threepenny Opera will open on the 20 Apr 2006 following previews from the 24 Mar. This is a limited engagement through 11 Jun 2006.

Cyndi Lauper will be joining Alan Cumming (Macheath), Jim Dale (Mr. Peachum), Ana Gasteyer (Mrs. Peachum) and Nellie McKay as (Polly).

Grammy and Emmy Award-winning Cyndi Lauper most recently performed at Roundabout Theatre Company�s 2005 Spring Gala honoring Stephen Sondheim with a special performance of 'Anyone One Whistle.' Her 25-year recording career includes four top five singles from her debut album She�s So Unusual and a #1 single of the title track True Colors.

Additional cast members will be announced shortly.

The design team for The Threepenny Opera includes Derek McLane (sets), Isaac Mizrahi (costumes) and Jason Lyons (lights). Kevin Stites is the music director.

The Threepenny Opera serves up a dark satire of �respectable� society, with dashing thieves, saucy prostitutes, and lingering melodies. Based on Elizabeth Hauptmann�s German translation of John Gay�s eighteenth-century The Beggar�s Opera , The Threepenny Opera thrusts the audience into the seedy underworld of Mack the Knife, a dapper criminal and his wry love affair with Polly Peachum.

Roundabout Theatre Company has commissioned Wallace Shawn to translate and adapt the original German book and lyrics for the production.

Scott Elliott is an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company. For the Roundabout Theatre Company, he has directed Chekhov�s Three Sisters and Clare Boothe Luce�s The Women.

The Threepenny Opera premiered on Broadway at the Empire Theatre on April 13, 1933. The last Broadway revival began at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 5th, 1989.