Word: peachum
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...juice of art and life, however, flows richly enough through the original Beggar's Opera. The dominant motif-Gay's as well as Brecht's-is that money is thicker than blood. By now, the characters are classic, and they all live up to their names: Peachum (Gordon Cornell), the informer and fence; Lockit (Ralston Hill), the venal jailer of Newgate; and MacHeath (Timothy Jerome), the saucy highwayman who can down a wench as quickly as a cup of sack. As two of the ladies of his choice, Polly Peachum (Kathleen Widdoes) and Lucy Lockit (Marilyn Sokol...
Defoe wrote about Wild, and so did Fielding (The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great). John Gay used him as the model for Peachum ("Impeach 'em") in his Beggar's Opera. The story can stand any amount of retelling, and Howson's is full of wonderful oddments: at Old Bailey in Wild's time, trials were conducted in the open air regardless of weather; the original Jenny Diver sat in church with false, gloved hands folded primly across her stomach, while her real ones picked adjacent purses. There are also some linguistic notes: "Rattling...
...inane. This particular version of the Sheppard legend has the hero start out as a relatively innocent carpenter's apprentice and slowly immerse himself in the ways of thievetry, lechery, and general debauchery-only partially against his will. He is extorted by Jonathan Wiold, the Thief-Taker General (Peachum in Gay's play), ends up in Newgate Prison, escapes, is recaptured, hanged, then torn to pieces by souvenir hunters. Campbell's play is episodic, fast-moving, and filled with murky black dialogue. Senelick has expanded upon the episodic format of the text, so that time and the fairly simple plot...
...women! I love the sex," sighs Macheath the Highwayman. "I must have 'em." But they have him, for when Macheath promises marriage to Polly Peachum, Polly's Parents bribe the gentleman robber's other bawds to turn him in for the reward. Mac's other love, Lucy Lockit, frees him, only to have him recaptured. And he would hang, were it not for every opera's prescribed happy ending. Macheath escapes from Tyburn and rejoins Polly in a fullthroated choral finale...
...troupe, my favorites after Mrs. Channing were Johanna Madden (Mrs. Peachum), Jane Gratwick (Polly), Virginia Manack (Lucy), and William Hodes in the relatively minor part of Crookfinger Jake. It may be, however, that I was less impressed by Dean Gitter (Macheath) because he never gave me any reason to worry about him. He was obviously in command whenever he was on stage, and with a weaker actor in the part, the play would have limped. I didn't tune in on Arthur Friedman (Peachum) until the last act, and if I saw the play again, I'd probably like...