Happy End

Guys and Dolls meets Chicago in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s landmark musical Happy End, a colorful escapist romp about gangsters and Salvation Army workers in 1920s Chicago. Based on Damon Runyon’s flavorful short stories, Happy End possesses some of Weill’s best known songs, including “The Bilbao Song,” “Surabaya Johnny,” and “The Sailor’s Tango.” The show combines social satire and music-hall moxie to create a world that shimmers with comic delight. Carey Perloff directs this translation by Michael Feingold.