The Threepenny Opera is a German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Directed by Thomas Ostermeier, "The Threepenny Opera" unfolds all its madness at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché.