Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price John Gay's bawdy and burlesque pastiche of classical Italian opera, often regarded as the world's first ever musical. Peachum the thief-catcher is horrified when he discovers his beloved daughter Polly has married Macheath the highwayman; he and his wife plot Macheath's death in the knowledge that they would be entitled to their daughter's inheritance once he was out of the way.