RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY at WIENER STAATSOPER

The story of Mahagonny begins with three criminals on the run from the law. They decide to found a city where people can do anything as long as they have money. Anything goes in Mahagonny--drinking, gambling, sex--and the town is soon populated by various kinds of hedonists. Two characters, Jenny, a prostitute, and Jimmy, a lumberjack, become lovers and generally dominate the plot. Mahagonny survives a typhoon at the end of act 1, and act 2 depicts various scenes of debauchery, until Jimmy discovers that he cannot pay his bills. Then he is sentenced to death (in a court where murderers go free), and discontent destroys the city, which burns as the inhabitants march away carrying placards of protest, although they have nowhere to go.