The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera broke box-office records in its original Berlin run, 1928-1933, and it broke them again when it ran for a half-dozen years, 1954-1961, in New York.
There have been several English adaptations. The present "book" of Desmond Vesey's renders every word of the German, including Bertold Brecht's notes. Eric Bentley's lyrics are also faithful to the German, though they are, of course, written to be sung to the famous Kurt Weill music.
Kurt Weill's widow, the great actress and chanteuse Lotte Lenya, has written the introduction, telling the story of how The Threepenny Opera came into being.