Weill emigrated from Germany to the US with the rise of Nazism. He was
known for his use of highly unusual subject matter in musicals. Few of
them were true hits. "The Threepenny Opera", written in cooperation
with
Bertolt Brecht, which premiered in Germany (1928), introduced the song
"The Ballad of Mack the Knife" and became a hit. In its first American
production on Broadway, it flopped in 1933, but became a smash
off-Broadway hit in
Marc Blitzstein's 1954 translation, running more than five
years. Weill's widow
Lotte Lenya received a Tony Award for Best Supporting
Actress in 1956 for playing "Jenny" in this version of the play.