The Waldo Theatre in Waldoboro will kick off the 2014 season with The Threepenny Opera. Audition dates are Jan. 4 at 11 a.m., Jan. 5 at 4 p.m. and Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Waldo Theater.

The Threepenny Opera proclaims itself "an opera for beggars," and it was, in fact, an attempt both to satirize traditional opera and operetta and to create a new kind of musical theater based on the theories of two young German artists, composer Kurt Weill and poet-playwright Bert Brecht. The show opens with a mock-Baroque overture, a nod to Threepenny's source, The Beggar's Opera, a brilliantly successful parody of Handel's operas written by John Gay in 1728.

In a brief prologue following the overture, a shabby figure comes onstage with a barrel organ and launches into a song chronicling the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, “Mack the Knife.” The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria's coronation.

Threepenny is being directed by Roger Marcotte, an award winning director during his days at University of Southern Maine making his Waldo directorial debut. The vocals/orchestra will be directed by Marlene Hall and Barbara Hendricks.

Performances are slated for March 21 and 22, 27, 28 and 29 at 7:30 p.m.

For the audition: come prepared to sing something with either sheet music in the proper key, or pre-recorded music in the proper key. Auditions will not be accepted a capella. There will be sheet music available from the show. If you are singing something that is not from the show, please choose something that portrays your vocal ability as it pertains to Threepenny.

Be prepared to read from the script if necessary.

Forward questions to info@thewaldo.org.