Resumo de The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera is a satirical musical by Brecht set in London among the down and out beggars and thieves and was derived from an 18th Century Opera by Gay entitled ?The Beggars Opera.? The musical is filled with songs by Kurt Weill in German. During the 1940s and 50s these songs were later made famous in the English language by such singers as Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra.

As the play begins, the King of the Beggars, Peachum, is shown conducting a transaction with a young beggar. Peachum runs a shop in London from which he gives beggars their clothing and a place to beg. He lives there with his wife, Mrs. Peachum and their daughter, Polly. Soon Mrs. Peachum comes home and tells Peachum that their daughter is having a romance with the most powerful criminal in London, Mac the Knife.

During the next scene we find Polly and Macheath getting married. Macheath?s gang arrive with the wedding presents, all stolen, and everyone sits down to a feast. Polly sings a song in honor of their wedding day and Tiger Brown, the Sheriff, arrives to pay tribute to his old friend, Macheath. Apparantly they served together in the war and Macheath now bribes the Sheriff to leave him in peace.

Polly later returns home and finds her parents very upset with her for marrying the master criminal, Mac the Knife. Polly speaks up for her new husband, but her parents decide to bring down Macheath as an act of revenge. Peachum goes to Tiger Brown to make him arrest Macheath and Mrs. Peachum goes to the whores who Macheath frequents on a regular basis to make them turn their client in.

Polly goes to Macheath to warn him. Macheath hands the business over to Polly and gets his gang to follow her lead while he is running for his life.

Next we see Mrs. Peachum at the brothel, convincing Low-Dive Jenny, the prostitute, to turn in Macheath should she see him. Later that evening, Macheath turns up at the brothel and Jenny goes to find the police. Macheath finds himself surrounded and ends up in jail.

In prison, Mac is afraid that Tiger Brown will find out that he has been fooling around with Brown?s daughter Lucy as well as his new wife Polly. Lucy shows up at the jail to comfort Macheath. Unfortunately for both of them, Polly comes to the jail in the meantime and the two women have a fight over their man. Lucy informs Polly that she is pregnant with Mac?s child, while Polly declares that he married her, so each feels they have the prior claim. Mac, more afraid of Lucy?s father than Polly?s, decides to support Lucy and Mrs. Peachum drags Polly away. Lucy then gives Macheath a cane and hat to escape with and he runs away.

When Peachum discovers Macheath?s escape, he vows to have vengeance on him and runs back to round up the beggars. He gives the beggars signs and clothes in order to destroy the next day?s parade for the coronation of the new queen. Jenny soon enters with the other whores in tow, and asks for the reward owed to them for turning in Macheath. Peachum refuses to give them anything after Mac the Knife?s escape, and Jenny screams that Macheath is a better man than any of them. Peachum discovers that she has been sheltering him again and runs to find the police to retake the criminal. Tiger Brown arrives and threatens Peachum, but the beggars are far more powerful than the police and the King of the Beggars holds sway and convinces Tiger Brown to arrest Macheath.

Meanwhile Lucy and Polly have discovered that they both have been betrayed by Macheath. After they discover that Macheath has been arrested again and is going to be hanged at dawn. Macheath desperately seeks for one of his former friends to pay off the hangman, but they all refuse. However, at the last minute, the Queen offers a full pardon for Macheath and gives him a hereditary knighthood. Peachum declares that such an event would never happen in real life.

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