The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. The piece satirises Italian Opera, which had become popular in London, by telling a story of beggars, highwaymen and "women of the town" rather than the classical or mythological figures of grand opera. The Airs in the opera were set to popular street ballads, hymns, folk songs of the time and some tunes from operas by Handel and others.
The Beggar's Opera ran for 62 performances, a record for any play in England in the 18th century. It was revived in 1920 and enjoyed further popularity leading to it being used by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill as the basis for their Die Dreigroschenoper.
(Summary by Alan Mapstone)
Cast List
Beggar: ToddHW
Player: Chuck Lavazzi
Mr Peacham: Beeswaxcandle
Mrs Peacham: Leanne Cvetan
Polly Peacham: valroth
MacHeath: Greg Giordano
Filch: Nigel Kerr
Lockit: Tomas Peter
Lucy Lockit: Sonia
Diana Trapes: Lynette Caulkins
MacHeath's Gang: Matt of the Mint: Chuck Lavazzi
Ben Budge: Chuck Williamson
Jemmy Twitcher: Ehsan Ahmed Mehedi
Crook Finger'd Jack: redrun
Wat Dreary: Alan Mapstone
Robin of Bagshot: Elijah Fisher
Harry Paddington: Larry Wilson
Nimming Ned: Alan Mapstone
Women of the Town: Mrs Coaxer: Jenn Broda
Dolly Trull: Inkell
Mrs Vixen: Agnes Robert Behr
Jenny Diver: Kelly S Taylor
Mrs Slammerkin: ToddHW
Suky Tawdry: Newgatenovelist
Molly Brazen: Cat Sadler
Drawer: Chuck Lavazzi
Servant: David Purdy
Jailer: Inkell
Stage Directions: Alan Mapstone
Chapters
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens archive.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).