The Beggar's Opera

• Director: Jonathan Miller
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Music
• Movie Type: Film-Opera
• Release Year: 1984
• Run Time: 138 minutes

Plot

Dr. Jonathan Miller, onetime Beyond the Fringe trouper, who was one of the leading lights of the PBS Shakespeare productions of 1978-83, serves as director of The Beggar's Opera. This adaptation of John Gay's lusty 18th-century "play with song" stars The Who's Roger Daltrey as robber captain MacHearh. Stratford Johns co-stars as Peachum, king of beggars, whose licentious daughter Polly falls in love with MacHeath, while Bob Hoskins is appropriately scrungy as an "on the take" constable. Originally taped for British television, The Beggar's Opera received American air play on public and cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Rosemary Ashe - Lucy Lockit; Peter Bayliss - Lockit; Roger Daltrey - Macheath; John Eliot Gardiner; Bob Hoskins - Beggar; Stratford Johns - Peachum; Patricia Routledge - Mrs. Peachum; Carol Hall - Polly Peachum

Credit

Sally Gilpin - Choreography, John Eliot Gardiner - Conductor, Alun Hughes - Costume Designer, Jonathan Miller - Director, Dennis Channon - Lighting, Johann Christoph Pepusch - Composer (Music Score), John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Arrangement, Jeremy Barlow - Musical Arrangement, Peter Stenning - Production Manager, John Gay - Libretto

Similar Movies

The Beggar's Opera; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny