The Beggar's Opera

"Set in London's underworld, The Beggar's Opera is at once a devastating satire on moral and financial corruption and a ground-breaking piece of theatre. Combining spoken dialogue with popular songs, John Gay's play is in effect the first musical, and it was a theatrical sensation when it opened in London in 1728." "Witty and fast-moving, its characters have become household names. Through the eternal triangle of Polly Peachum, the innocent but feisty heroine, Lucy Lockit, her wronged rival, and Macheath, their unreliable, irrepressible highwayman lover, Gay explores the pleasures and dangers of romantic and social aspiration. And in the figure of Peachum, the double-dealing thief-taker, he embodies the ruthless self-interest of his age and the fine line between respectability and criminality." This is the only student edition to reprint the music as well as the words for the songs. The playtext, in modern spelling, is fully annotated. A detailed introduction sets the play in context, exploring its innovative combination of classical and popular genres, its satiric meanings, and its stage history.

Written in 1728, John Gay’s opera caricatures society, marriage and Italian operatic style in this comic satire which is considered revolutionary because it took on poverty and corruption as its subject as told by the thieves, prostitutes and villains of the slums and prisons of 18th century London. The lyrics were set to famous songs the day making it hugely popular with audiences and a radical departure from traditional opera. Bertolt Brech and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera is based on this work.

In the story Peachum is horrified to learn of their daughter’s secret marriage to a roguish, notorious highwayman Macheath and plot his downfall. Eventually Macheath is captured and destined to be hanged, but Gay’s plot defied conventional expectations by not ending with punishing its villains.

Oxford Magazine

THE BEGGAR'S OPERA...is obviously full of zest and fascination...There is so much life and vigour in the whole thing...It was absolutely spell-binding...

John Gay (1685 – 1732) was an English poet and dramatist.