History Theatre / TheRiseAndFallOfTheCityOfMahagonny

The concept was meant to parody the "state of freedom" (Heilstaat) that the Nazi party was trying to create when the play was written. In the first act, the characters aim to live a life of uncomplicated luxury within the dictatorship of the three criminal founders (a parody of Hitler's plans for Germany). When this is determined to be too "inhuman" (read: dull), the characters instead decide in the second act to live a life of violence, decadence and greed, taking whatever they can take in life (a commentary on what the Nazi ideology would inevitably become). Predictably, the Nazi party was ''not'' amused, shut down the performance in 1933, and Brecht and Weill fled Germany soon after.

''Mahagonny'' is full of StylisticSuck, has barely any plot or characterisation to speak of, and draws out the traditional slow parts of opera as agonizingly slowly as possible - [[IntendedAudienceReaction on purpose, of course]]. The main figures are intentionally derivative of Creator/BertoltBrecht's earlier characters, and the sets are made out of cardboard. The lyrics are stilted, the love scenes are trashy, the conflicts have no resolution, and the ending is pointless. In short: by riling up his audience so much that they left the theatre unsatisfied with ''everything'', Brecht hoped to get them equally angry at the rise of Nazism around them, for which the plot was a rather obvious analogy. But failing that, [[DistractedByTheSexy the play also has a whole lot of scantily clad girls]].

The play was ''probably'' inspired by Pilnyak's 1929 novel ''Mahogany'', though Brecht never cared enough about copyright to bother admitting to it.

''Mahagonny'' is full of StylisticSuck, has barely any plot or characterisation to speak of, and draws out the traditional slow parts of opera as agonizingly slowly as possible - on purpose, of course. The main figures are intentionally derivative of Creator/BertoltBrecht's earlier characters, and the sets are made out of cardboard. The lyrics are stilted, the love scenes are trashy, the conflicts have no resolution, and the ending is pointless. In short: by riling up his audience so much that they left the theatre unsatisfied with ''everything'', Brecht hoped to get them equally angry at the rise of Nazism around them, for which the plot was a rather obvious analogy. But failing that, [[DistractedByTheSexy the play also has a whole lot of scantily clad girls]].

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: the protagonist is called Jimmy Mahonney, pronounced MAH-Honee, so some American versions, to keep it along the music, rename him Jimmy [=MacIntyre=]. (The original Irish pronunciation is indeed MAH-honee, even though the usual American one is Ma-HOH-nee)

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Trinity Moses and Fatty The Bookkeeper.

** Nowadays, how surprising this is depends on the casting. It's not much of a shock that Audra [=McDonald=]'s Jenny (pictured above) presumably had an Afro-Cuban father.

''Mahagonny'' is referenced throughout Creator/LarsVonTrier's ''[[Film/{{Dogville}} Manderlay]]''. It's also one of Creator/DannyElfman's favourite musical scores. With ''Mahagonny'', Brecht and Weill ended up ''heavily'' influencing Creator/StephenSondheim's works, both in style and structure.

* BilingualBonus: The name ''Mahagonny'' means "mahogany", a valuable wood, in English.

[[caption-width-right:241:[[StylisticSuck Oh mooooooon of Alabaaaamaaaaa]], [[GratuitousEnglish we nooooow must say goodbyyyeeeee...]]]]

* TheMaleIngenueMustBeATenor: Jimmy is a tenor, and Fatty which seems to be the least evil of the three bad guys.

* {{Expy}}: Jenny from ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' would even be considered a straight-up transplant of Jenny of Havanna, if the stories took place in the same universe. Both parts were originated by Miss LotteLenya.

* SuddenlyEthnicity: "I am from Havana. My mother was a white woman." ("Ich bin aus Havana. Meine Mutter war eine Weisse.") The role was originally written without a specific actress in mind, but was given to Miss LotteLenya (an Austrian redhead) for the original performance.

A satirical, somewhat minimalist anti-Nazi opera by Creator/BertoltBrecht and Creator/KurtWeill (authors of ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera''). ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (''The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'') was first performed in 1930, though a concept version, ''Mahagonny-Songspiel'', had been presented three years earlier.

Rock fans may now it from the ''Alabama Song'' from Music/TheDoors' album ''[[Music/TheDoorsAlbum The Doors]]'', which is lyrically and melodically directly inspired by the work.

A satirical, somewhat minimalist anti-Nazi opera by Creator/BertoltBrecht and KurtWeill (authors of ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera''). ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (''The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'') was first performed in 1930, though a concept version, ''Mahagonny-Songspiel'', had been presented three years earlier.

''Mahagonny'' is referenced throughout Creator/LarsVonTrier's ''[[{{Dogville}} Manderlay]]''. It's also one of DannyElfman's favourite musical scores. With ''Mahagonny'', Brecht and Weill ended up ''heavily'' influencing StephenSondheim's works, both in style and structure.

[[caption-width-right:241:[[StylisticSuck Oh mooooooon of Alabaaaamaaaaa]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxvxwgQS500 we nooooow must say goodbyyyeeeee...]]]]

The play tells the story of the city of Mahagonny, founded by Leocadia Begbick, Fatty the Bookkeeper and Trinity Moses, bandits running away from the law. Because gold is "easier to take from men than from rivers", Mahagonny is a place where men coming from working in the gold mines can have peace and pleasure. The first act deals with the arrival of the prostitutes (including Jenny from Oklahoma), and Jimmy Mahoney (Paul in the first drafts, Jimmy [=McIntyre=] in the Los Angeles Opera's latest performance) and his friends: men seeking the heart of a heartless world. In the second act, ItGetsWorse, and the characters end up having to deal with the consequences of their decadence.

* DeusExMachina: Attempted in ''The God of Mahagonny'', ItGetsWorse.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It is implied to be set in the U.S., but it's anything but clear which part of the country Mahagonny is located. Brecht has stated that this was on purpose, to make the story universal.

''Mahagonny'' is referenced throughout LarsVonTrier's ''[[{{Dogville}} Manderlay]]''. It's also one of DannyElfman's favourite musical scores. With ''Mahagonny'', Brecht and Weill ended up ''heavily'' influencing StephenSondheim's works, both in style and structure.

A satirical, somewhat minimalist anti-Nazi opera by BertoltBrecht and KurtWeill (authors of ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera''). ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (''The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'') was first performed in 1930, though a concept version, ''Mahagonny-Songspiel'', had been presented three years earlier.

''Mahagonny'' is full of StylisticSuck, has barely any plot or characterisation to speak of, and draws out the traditional slow parts of opera as agonizingly slowly as possible - on purpose, of course. The main figures are intentionally derivative of BertoltBrecht's earlier characters, and the sets are made out of cardboard. The lyrics are stilted, the love scenes are trashy, the conflicts have no resolution, and the ending is pointless. In short: by riling up his audience so much that they left the theatre unsatisfied with ''everything'', Brecht hoped to get them equally angry at the rise of Nazism around them, for which the plot was a rather obvious analogy. But failing that, [[DistractedByTheSexy the play also has a whole lot of scantily clad girls]].

A satirical, somewhat minimalist anti-Nazi opera by BertoltBrecht and KurtWeill (authors of ''TheThreepennyOpera''). ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (''The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'') was first performed in 1930, though a concept version, ''Mahagonny-Songspiel'', had been presented three years earlier.

* {{Expy}}: Jenny from ''TheThreepennyOpera'' would even be considered a straight-up transplant of Jenny of Havanna, if the stories took place in the same universe. Both parts were originated by Miss LotteLenya.