ENTERTAINMENT : Sting’s ‘Threepenny Opera’: a ‘Dud’

WASHINGTON — Rock star Sting suffered the slings and arrows of outraged theater critics today for his stage debut in “The Threepenny Opera,” but he was a smash hit with Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin and Yulia Sukhanova, the Soviet Union’s first beauty queen.

With President and Mrs. Bush watching from box seats above the National Theater stage Thursday night, Sting made the best of a daunting, three-hour performance as Mack the Knife in the pre-Broadway premiere of Bertolt Brecht’s biting musical satire.

The critics, however, agreed that Sting’s best wasn’t good enough.

“Slow and turgid stuff,” complained the Washington Post’s David Richards, who said Sting’s “acting has little resonance and his singing voice is surprisingly thin.”

“If you’re going to see Sting, prepare to be stung,” said Hap Erstein of The Washington Times, who said this “Threepenny Opera” proved “to not be worth 2 cents.”