The Threepenny Opera

“Yes, run after happiness, / But don’t run too fast, / For everyone runs after happiness / And happiness runs behind.”

In a London of an indeterminate past, future, or present, survival and personal gain take precedence over moral scruples. For Mr. Peachum, the self-proclaimed “King of Beggars,” even pity is a commodity. His business relies on equipping beggars with just the right amount of wretchedness to elicit maximum generosity from passersby. Naturally, he pockets the lion’s share of the proceeds, for “first comes food, then comes morality.” His daughter Polly, meanwhile, has her own plans: she marries the gangster Macheath, known as Mackie Messer. He is charming, unscrupulous, and well-connected. For her father Peachum, “who knows the harshness of the world, the loss of his daughter means nothing less than utter ruin.” He does everything in his power to hand Mackie over to the police.

But even the law is not incorruptible in this world. Macheath can count on old connections: Police Chief Brown was once his “blood brother.” The lines between crime and order, between right and wrong, are blurred. For “unfortunately, no one has yet heard / That something was right and then it was so.”

Economic dependencies, growing social inequality, and a system that often takes moral outrage where it costs the least—these were not just topics for a song back then. Since its premiere in 1928, the “Opera for Beggars” has lost none of its relevance, sharpness, or rousing sound.