Gay/Britten: The Beggar's Opera

Overview

A huge success at its first performance in 1728 John Gay's The Beggar's Opera satirized the conventions of Italian opera, using popular tunes to tell the story of rogues and criminals. With his distinctive musical arrangements at its heart, Britten's 1948 adaptation was a significant revision, amounting to a new twentieth-century opera. The BBC film, originally broadcast in 1963, feature a superb cast of English singers..

Cast

Roger Jerome

The Beggar

David Hartley

The Manager of the Company/Mat of the Mint

Brian Handley

The Stage Manager/Slippery Sam

David Kelly

Peachum

Bernard Dickerson

Filch/Wat Dreary

Anna Pollak

Mrs. Peachum

Janet Baker

Polly Peachum

Kenneth McKellar

Captain Macheath

Bryan Drake

Lockit

Heather Harper

Lucy Lockit