Gay/Britten: The Beggar's Opera (1963)
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..
- Released
- 1963-02-28
- Genres
- Music
- Runtime
- 94 min
- Status
- Released
- Directed / written by
- Charles R. Rogers
Cast
- Roger Jerome as The Beggar
- David Hartley as The Manager of the Company/Mat of the Mint
- Brian Handley as The Stage Manager/Slippery Sam
- David Kelly as Peachum
- Bernard Dickerson as Filch/Wat Dreary
- Anna Pollak as Mrs. Peachum
- Janet Baker as Polly Peachum
- Kenneth McKellar as Captain Macheath
- Bryan Drake as Lockit
- Heather Harper as Lucy Lockit
- Edith Coates as Mrs. Trapes
- Joan Edwards as Jenny Diver