Mr. Capaldo was still in his 20s when he heard a concert version of the score, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. He was so struck by the music, he decided to stage the show, using the new adaptation by Marc Blizstein that Bernstein had used, and managed to draft Brecht's widow, Lotte Lenya, to play Jenny, the role she had created in 1929. The musical opened at the Theater de Lys (now the Lucille Lortel) on March 10, 1954. Reviews were great, but it closed in three months, yielding to another show. New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson then made the unusual move of campaigning for the production's return — and it did.