About this episode
Mac the Knife, terror of the London criminal underworld, is a character paradoxically best known to many as the subject of the upbeat, bubbly eponymous 1955, 1959, and 1960 hit single. However, his fictional roots go much deeper, to a nearly 300-year old opera called The Beggar’s Opera . From here, Mac’s trail led to 1928’s The Threepenny Opera, by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, that is the subject of today’s episode. Join Pat and guest Maria Coulter for a conversation about this opera, which is as atypical as it was popular. A classically trained soprano, Maria is able to provide special insights, having performed the role of Lucy Brown in 2022.