Marble City Opera journeys to Oak Ridge for their 2025 springtime offering, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, on Thursday and Saturday, June 5 and 7, at 7:00 PM. The opera company, well known for its outdoor, site-suggestive staging of productions of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah in 2023 and Puccini’s Il Tabarro last season, has once again chosen an outdoor location, A.K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge, making use of the bandshell pavilion. In truth, audiences will require only a little imagination to believe the pavilion is a circus tent for the story of the opera’s traveling troupe of commedia dell’arte actors. The opera is in two acts with a prologue. Soprano and Marble City Opera’s Executive Artistic Director Kathryn Frady is singing the lead role of Nedda and is directing the production. The conductor is Andy Anderson.
The production of Pagliacci is sponsored in part by the Cathedral Concert Series at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
BACKGROUND
Following its realism cousins in theatrical and literary movements of the late nineteenth century, verismo in opera sought to paint the world in a realistic light, centering on subject matter featuring average and common folks, often of humble or low stations in life and work. Opera first embraced verismo with Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana in 1890. Inspired by Mascagni’s success with the genre, Ruggero Leoncavallo followed suit with his own verismo work, Pagliacci (Clowns), two years later. Both operas, as well as many other verismo operas, featured a somewhat raw directness of style in both music and dramatic intent that was seen as a breath of fresh air.
SYNOPSIS (courtesy of MarbleCityOpera.com)
Prologue
Before the opera begins, a member of the small theatrical road company, Tonio, who looks like a clown, steps before the curtain. He tells the audience that a clown is also a man, so a clown feels sorrow and pity just like a man.
Act 1
In the latter half of the 19th century, in Calabria in the south of Italy, the small theatrical road company whose manager is Canio, arrived in the village. Canio’s wife is the main actress of the company, Nedda. She gets sick of her husband, because he is deeply jealous. Nedda has another man, Silvio. Nedda and Silvio promise to elope together. A member of the company, Tonio, overhears this promise, and he informs Canio of it. Canio appears, but Silvio has already run away. Canio is infuriated, he asks his wife, “Who was that?” But, Nedda refuses to answer.
In the meantime, it was time to perform. In the dressing room, Canio wears his stage costume to play the clown. When he puts powder on his face, he cries alone.
Act 2
Many villagers gathers, and the performance by the company starts. The story is similar to Canio’s reality. The woman, who is played by Nedda, meets her lover while her husband, who is played by Canio, is absent, and her husband comes home soon.
Canio was out of his senses. In the middle of his play, he strongly asks, “Tell me his name!” but his wife refuses to answer. The audience is excited by thier realistic acting. Finally, Canio stabs Nedda to death with a knife. The audience screams in horror. Before her death, Nedda cried, “Help me, Silvio!” Silvio appears in the audience, but he attempts to run away. Canio runs after him, and stabs him too. Canio tells the audience, “The comedy has ended.”
MARBLE CITY OPERA CAST
Nedda — Kathryn Frady
Canio — Edward Brennan
Tonio — Brad Morrison
Beppe — Cody Boling
Silvio — Daniel Spiotta
PRODUCTION DETAILS AND LOCATION
Marble City Opera’s production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
Thursday and Saturday evenings, June 5 and 7, at 7:00 PM
A.K. Bissell Park in downtown Oak Ridge at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike (across from Oak Ridge High School)
Some food and beverage trucks will be onsite.
>>Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets<<
