Obscure ‘Happy End’ is given a fresh start

“SURABAYA Johnny” may be a smoky chanteuse standard, but its source, the 1929 Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht musical, “Happy End,” is relatively obscure, with English-language recordings of this edgy, sexy sequel to the collaborators’ landmark work, “The Threepenny Opera,” scarce to nonexistent. Until now.

American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, one of the country’s leading regional theaters, has recorded its critically acclaimed 2006 production of “Happy End” on a just-released cast album CD from theater music preservationists Ghostlight Records and Grammy-winning producer David Frost.

“It’s a score of enormous richness,” notes Carey Perloff, ACT artistic director. And in today’s climate of “jukebox musicals and pastiche shows of the past,” she says, “this kind of music should be out there as an inspiration for the American musical theater.”

-- Lynne Heffley