The Threepenny Opera is a musical drama in three acts written by Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill.

Antihero gangster Macheath (“Mackie”) marries Polly Peachum, daughter of a leader of a ring of London beggars. Mr. Peachum contrives to have Macheath arrested; Macheath escapes but is betrayed to the police by a prostitute, Suky Tawdry. Condemned to the gallows, Macheath is saved by a last-minute pardon on Queen Victoria’s coronation day.