I SAW AN OPERA ONCE. . .

"Pagliacci"
by Rugerro Leoncavallo
produced by and at Lyric Opera
Chicago
March 27, 2009

Wooooowwwwww!!!!!!

"Pagliacci" contains the DRAMATIC STRUCTURE--not 100%, but enough to provoke in the audience the Drama Within; and provoke it does. There's the Chief Protagonist, Canio, surrounded by a company of fellow protagonists--actors and other members of the troupe that includes Nedda; and the Arch-Antagonist, Tonia, accompanied by a group of antagonists--audience members, mainly, but also anyone else not associated with the troupe of players, namely, Silvio. Nedda and Silvio bridge the abyss between Protagonist and Antagonist, and take steps to consummate the relationship, which enrages our Arch-Antagonist, Tonio, who was previously rejected by Nedda, and with good reason--he is one, nasty Antagonist, who will intimidate Canio into carrying out a plot of jealous revenge upon Silvio, a plot that unexpectedly devours Nedda, as well. Poor Nedda. Poor Siliva. Poor Canio. We (the real audience) are moved to share the horrors of this tragic drama just as the play's audience (the one on stage) is horrified by the unfolding incidents to which they are not only the audience, but also with which they are unwitting participants in the tragedy.

If you have followed me thus far, then you understand why this play is a "WOW". Leoncavallo, the author, has chosen the setting, the characters and the situations so masterfully that the process of identification and revelation that the audience has that infinite reflection in opposing mirrors. The less than 100% grade that I give to "Pagliacci" is the tragicness of this play. True Drama finds happieness, peace, joy & fullfillment (enlightenment) for the Protagonist, something which, I suppose, Leoncavallo never knew in his own life, which is the real tragedy, is it not? It is. It is. I feel badly for Leoncavallo. I do. I look foreward, however, to see other productions of this masterful opera