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

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Roger Jerome

The Beggar

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David Hartley

The Manager of the Company/Mat of the Mint

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Brian Handley

The Stage Manager/Slippery Sam

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David Kelly

Peachum

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Bernard Dickerson

Filch/Wat Dreary

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Anna Pollak

Mrs. Peachum

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Janet Baker

Polly Peachum

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Kenneth McKellar

Captain Macheath

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Bryan Drake

Lockit

Heather Harper

Lucy Lockit

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Edith Coates

Mrs. Trapes

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Joan Edwards

Jenny Diver