A curiosity from 1983 came my way the other day (imagine that): Jonathan Miller's British TV version of John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" starring none other than The Who's Roger Daltrey as Macheath. I showed parts of it in my British Literature class and watched the whole thing myself at home whilst reading the play. While it stayed very true to the work (with slight alterations throughout and a major one at the end) I came away disappointed. It was filmed in that soapy, hushed, BBC drama manner that can bore bore bore one. It felt claustrophobic too--the close-ups and tight angles didn't serve the music very well. Daltrey was still relatively young then (not quite 40, I think) and had some of the charisma and power of his Who persona on display, but his acting chops were still underdeveloped compared to everyone else. And why was it that all the women could sing like angels and none of the men (except Daltrey--some of the time) could croak out anything in tune? But like I said, it's a curio and it came in handy for my class who, I hope, benefited from seeing some scenes performed. "The Beggar's Opera" is hard to fully get otherwise.

CD