Gay/Britten:  The Beggar's Opera Backdrop Blur
Gay/Britten:  The Beggar's Opera Poster

Gay/Britten: The Beggar's Opera

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..

Top Cast

  • Roger Jerome

    Roger Jerome

    The Beggar

  • David Hartley

    David Hartley

    The Manager of the Company/Mat of the Mint

  • Brian Handley

    Brian Handley

    The Stage Manager/Slippery Sam

  • David Kelly

    David Kelly

    Peachum

  • Bernard Dickerson

    Bernard Dickerson

    Filch/Wat Dreary

  • Anna Pollak

    Anna Pollak

    Mrs. Peachum

  • Janet Baker

    Janet Baker

    Polly Peachum

  • Kenneth McKellar

    Kenneth McKellar

    Captain Macheath

  • Bryan Drake

    Bryan Drake

    Lockit

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..

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