The Beggar’s Opera

Summary

The Beggar’s Opera
By John Gay
In the urban underworld of thieves, con artists, and corrupt officials, the charming highwayman Macheath finds himself caught between the two women who love him and their fathers, who’d rather see him dead. Set to the street songs of the day, John Gay’s wickedly funny piece has entertained generations with razor-sharp wit and a cast of gloriously disreputable characters. The work that inspired Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, this subversive classic proves that the powerful and the criminal have always had more in common than either would like to admit.