STAGE WIRE : Reviewers Stick Sting With Critical Barbs

Rocker Sting took it on the chin in Washington, where he’s playing Mack the Knife in a revival of “Threepenny Opera” that is going to Broadway on Nov. 5.

Washington critics weren’t impressed with his opening-night performance at the National Theatre, where the show is warming up.

The Post’s David Richards thought that Sting looked sufficiently lean and mean but that his acting “has little resonance and his singing voice is surprisingly thin.”

The Times’ Hap Ernstein said that those who were thinking about seeing Sting had better “prepare to be stung.”

President and Mrs. Bush enjoyed the performance, however, and so did Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin. He told the Associated Press that “Threepenny Opera” is often performed in the Soviet Union. “It’s the truth about life,” he said.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Actress Pat Carroll (in Jordan Young’s new book, “Acting Solo”): “If we can’t transmit deep concern, deep joy, elation, deep hatred, what the hell are we doing? And I’ve been in all the junk in the world, so I know.”