What effect did john gay's the beggar's opera have on audiences?

Most of the performance of the John Gay's The Beggar's Opera was captivated the commend and attention of the popular audience in England in his first performance in 1728.
He chose the popular simple tunes to mock what many Britsh believed to be the overly virtuosic and artificial airs of Italian opera. It also contributed to expanding the audience for the theater to include more in social classes and contributed to the increasing use of theaters in the Haymarket.