The Threepenny Opera has a legacy at Brandeis University. It was first staged on campus by Leonard Bernstein in 1952 before it moved to the stage in New York. Saturday, it returned, cutting through the fourth wall and exposing the audience to a seedy world of beggars, whores and gangsters. Fifty-five years ago, Brandeis students were only allowed to assist backstage and in the crew, but for this season's production, Bertolt Brecht's musical included a plethora of undergraduate students, two graduate students and a Brandeis professor in the cast. The cast faced the challenge of bringing the show beyond the normal relationship between actor and audience, and in following Brecht's vision, they broke this divide and literally danced in the aisles, spoke to the audience and begged them for money. Justin Becker '09 engaged the audience as Flitch, a beggar boy and street singer. "It goes with the territory of Brecht, so it's a necessary concept-the central theme: Take it to their faces," Becker said. Since the Laurie Theater is a thrust-style space, with the audience wrapped around the stage, the actors we able to face in all directions and use the stairs as a playing space. Toward the end of the second act, Mr. Peachum, played by Joshua Mervis '08, climbed the stage-left stairs and acted as conductor to the finale taking place below. Said Mervis, "[Director] Eric Hill told us to get into the audience's faces, to make it as intense as possible."

The audience was forced to interact with the actors not only during the performance, but during the intermission as well. First-time BTC actor Ross Brown '10, in the role of Reverend Kimball, was unleashed into the house during the second intermission. I witnessed audience members trying to converse with Brown, only to find they were speaking to Reverend Kimball, Cockney accent and all. Said Brown of this unusual theatrical role, "It's really interesting to go out and to talk to the audience members because I had to come up with a back story. When someone asked me where I went to college, I told them Oxford."

In addition to the merger of stage and audience, the show featured a great deal of Brandeis' talented theater community. Olivia Mell '09, as Polly Peachum, seduced a pack of gangsters, as well as the crowd, with her sultry voice in the song "Pirate Jenny." Later, Mell engaged in a witty lyrical battle with Lucy Brown (Lora Lorand '09) in the "Jealous Ballad," creating a dual portrait of old London society. Another noteworthy performance was given by Joshua Davis (GRAD) as the legendary Macheath the Knife. He turned Macheath into a loveable dirty villain, and during the "Ballad of the Easy Life," he whipped the audience into a frenzy of laughter with clever choreography and engaging antics. The cast captivated the audience visually as well with '80s punk costumes, complete with bright colors and animal prints.

While the cast of gangsters held the audience's attention with its jovial, if somewhat devious and creepy, mannerisms, Prof. Elizebeth Terry (THA) as Mrs. Peachum connected with the audience in a more maternal fashion during her solo number, "Ballad of Dependency." Her performance as the drunken mother of Polly and wife of Mr. Peachum adds to the humor in the production, but then strikes the audience with a backhand when she laments the capture of Macheath. Although the vocals were superb all around, there was too great a separation between the musicians and the singers, and at times the voices overpowered the music.

Visually, The Threepenny Opera invited its audience into a hot-box cabaret house atmosphere. The walls of the theater were lined with naked, glittery mannequins in showcases and wig stands in red and black boxes. The most exciting part of the set had to be the shimmering silver curtain that hung from the back of the theatre and served as an entrance, as well as an easy way for set pieces to move on and off the set.

The sold-out Saturday night performance, despite competition with the Regina Spektor concert, was still very well-received. Although the older crowd that filled the theater both during the Saturday matinee and the evening performance might not have been the most rowdy of groups, the show came to life into the audience and onstage.

There are twists and turns, partial nudity and nothing more jarring then a happy ending. Unfortunately it doesn't cost just three pennies (tickets are $20), but it is still a BTC must see. The Threepenny Opera will continue to run from Wednesday until Sunday.