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I did a little obsessing about the origin of the song "Mack the Knife," which was one of my favorites when I was a kid (okay, still pretty much is). I was surprised, a few weeks ago, to find that most people apparently don't associate Louis Armstrong with this song! That was the version my Grandmother had, and I always heard growing up.
Anyhow, Mack The Knife, as we all know, comes from The Threepenny Opera. The Threepenny Opera was a rewrite of The Beggar's Opera, a satirical ballad opera written in 1728 by John Gay. Gay also wrote a sequel called "Polly," in which Macheath (Mack the Knife) becomes a pirate and Polly gets sold by white slavers to a plantation owner in the Carribean, but escapes, dresses as a boy, and eventually marries a Carib prince. But this play was apparently so pointedly political that it was banned, and there's no indication on Wiki if there are still any copies in existence.
That would be SO AWESOME. Play it again, Louis!
Anyhow, Mack The Knife, as we all know, comes from The Threepenny Opera. The Threepenny Opera was a rewrite of The Beggar's Opera, a satirical ballad opera written in 1728 by John Gay. Gay also wrote a sequel called "Polly," in which Macheath (Mack the Knife) becomes a pirate and Polly gets sold by white slavers to a plantation owner in the Carribean, but escapes, dresses as a boy, and eventually marries a Carib prince. But this play was apparently so pointedly political that it was banned, and there's no indication on Wiki if there are still any copies in existence.
That would be SO AWESOME. Play it again, Louis!