The Rake’s Progress

About the show

Tom Rakewell rejects steady work and leaves Anne Trulove for London with Nick Shadow, who tells him that he has inherited a fortune. Tom enters a brothel, then follows Shadow’s advice to marry Baba the Turk. Bored with his marriage, he wishes for a way to turn stones into bread; Shadow produces a sham machine and encourages Tom to market it. The scheme fails, and Tom is ruined. In a graveyard, Shadow demands Tom’s soul, but Tom wins their card game with Anne’s help. Shadow condemns him to madness. In Bedlam, Tom believes he is Adonis. Anne visits and sings to him, then leaves; Tom dies.