14 CENTERBILL • NOVEMBER 2017
Band
Piano, Music Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy Douglass
Guitars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Warren
Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Woody Bond
Reed I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .David Gambino
Reed II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jarryd Dollard
Trombone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Henry
Trumpet I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven Vought
Trumpet II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ava Kord Octlanch
Synopsis
A pair of streetsingers welcome the audience and give an overview of the world the audience
is about to enter (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”). Act I begins in the shop of J. J. Peachum, who
runs a rather unusual business – he is the boss of London’s beggars. He equips and trains them
in return for a cut of whatever they can beg. In the rst scene, he enrolls a new beggar with the
help of his wife. After nishing with the new man, they notice that their grown daughter Polly did
not come home the previous night. The scene shifts to an empty stable where Macheath himself
is about to marry Polly, as soon as his gang has stolen and brought all the necessary food and
furnishings. No vows are exchanged, but Polly is satis ed, and everyone sits down to a banquet.
Polly begins to show a surprisingly tough side of herself (“Pirate Jenny”). The gang gets nervous
when Chief of Police Tiger Brown arrives, but it’s all part of the act; Brown had served with Mack
in England’s colonial wars and has prevented Mack from being arrested all these years. The old
friends duet (“Army Song”). In the next scene, Polly returns home and de antly announces that
she has married Mack. She stands fast against Mr. and Mrs. Peachum’s anger, but she does let slip
Brown’s connection to Mack, which they will use to their advantage.
Polly tells Mack that her father will have him arrested. He is nally persuaded that Peachum
has enough in uence to do it and makes arrangements to leave London, explaining his bandit
“business” to Polly so she can manage it in his absence. Before he leaves town, he stops at his
favorite brothel, where he sees his ex-lover, Jenny. They sing the “Tango Ballad” about their days
together, but Mack doesn’t know Mrs. Peachum has bribed Jenny to turn him in. Despite Brown’s
apologies, there’s nothing he can do, and off Mack goes to jail. And this is where we take our
intermission.
After Mack sings the “Ballad of the Easy Life” to begin our second half, another girlfriend, Lucy
(Brown’s daughter) and Polly show up at the same time, setting the stage for a nasty argument
that builds to the “Jealousy Duet.” After Polly leaves, Lucy engineers Mack’s escape. When Mr.
Peachum nds out, he confronts Brown and informs him that he will unleash all of his beggars
during Queen Victoria’s coronation parade, ruining the ceremony and costing Brown his job.
Jenny comes to the Peachums’ shop to demand her bribe money, which Mrs. Peachum refuses
to pay. Jenny reveals that Mack is at Suky Tawdry’s house. When Brown arrives, determined to
arrest Peachum and the beggars, he is horri ed to learn that the beggars are already in position and
only Mr. Peachum can stop them. To placate Peachum, Brown’s only option is to arrest Mack and
have him executed. In the next scene, Mack is back in jail and desperately trying to raise enough
of a bribe to get out again, even as the gallows are being assembled. Soon it becomes clear that
neither Polly nor the gang members can raise any money, and Mack prepares to die. Then a sudden
reversal: a messenger on horseback arrives to announce that Macheath has been pardoned by the
Queen and granted a castle and pension. The cast then sings the Finale, which ends with a plea that
wrongdoings be pursued but not punished too harshly.
Join our Annual Campaign!
Do you believe in our work? Would you like to see us continue to grow – not just in terms
of our work on stage but in the community – while continuing to work toward a living wage
for our artists? It’s easier than you might think! Please join our 2017 Annual Campaign; we
have a $60,000 goal for the year, and we still need to raise another $14,000. However, thanks