Word: beggar
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...would rather be a beggar and single, than a queen and married...
...Beggar's Gold...
John Gay's The Beggar's Opera closed in London. It opened just three years and seven months ago and had a run of 1,463 consecutive performances. This record has been eclipsed only twice, by Chu Chin Chow and Charley's Aunt. There were days, however, when The Beggar's Opera held the endurance record from all comers. When it originally opened in London in the 1700's it had the longest run that any play had had until that time-50 consecutive evenings, if memory serves. It was said at the time that...
Nevertheless, the London critics marvelled at the recent run of The Beggar's Opera. They said it did not contain the "charm and spirit" of Gilbert and Sullivan; that it is inferior "artistically and musically...
...spite of aspersions, The Beggar's Opera has its points. It was written as a parody on the Continental operas then being played in London and on the debauched court life of the period. A highwayman was made the hero instead of the usual sugary prince, and his morals were made somewhat better than those of the court. For music Gay took the popular ballads and wrote new lyrics-satirical, delightful, tart. The result has the vigor of all things born from the spirit of the people as opposed to gross artificiality. Its success in London must be attributed...