The Three Penny Opera

The Three Penny Opera, Studio 54, 2006

Cast: Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Ana Gasteyer, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Christopher Innvar, Carlos Leon, Brian Charles Rooney, Adam Alexi-Malle, Terry Burrell, Brian Butterick, David Cale, Romain Fruge, John Herrera, Nehal Joshi, Christopher Kenney, Deborah Law, Valisia Lekae Little, Maureen Moore, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Kevin Rennard, Lucas Steele.

Writers: Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill

Director: Scott Elliott

The first professional theatre production I ever saw outside the UK (and since then there's only been two others). I didn't go because of a love of Brecht & Weill but because at the time it was the only way of getting into Studio 54. Having gone through a phase of being obsessed with Andy Warhol it was a New York must-see, although I don't think I went in search of the buildings that were his studios. Apart from the name on the door I think it was unmemorable - it just looked like a building that had been turned into a theatre space.

Look at the cast! Not only had I forgotten that I'd seen Cyndi Lauper but also Jim Dale. I'd like to see Alan Cumming in more stuff but he lives in America now and does a lot of TV. Another interesting name is Carlos Leon, who is the father of Madonna's daughter Lourdes. I seem to remember the cast wore orange boiler suits. I don't think I feel the need to see any Brecht & Weill in future.

And of course it was my first introduction to Playbill - a programme you don't have to buy and which people routinely left behind in the theatre afterwards, like you would a free paper. I wonder why they do this in America while here we sell programmes as an extra. Surely knowing who is in the cast is a fairly minimum requirement so you'd think a free cast list would be the obligatory.