{"id":34408,"date":"2025-06-09T13:52:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/?p=34408"},"modified":"2025-06-09T13:52:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:52:01","slug":"review-marble-city-opera-vies-with-mother-nature-for-a-rewarding-pagliacci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/09\/review-marble-city-opera-vies-with-mother-nature-for-a-rewarding-pagliacci\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Marble City Opera Vies With Mother Nature for a Rewarding ‘Pagliacci’"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY ALAN SHERROD<\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

S<\/span>ince its founding in 2013, Marble City Opera has followed an intriguing evolutionary track<\/strong>, one that has embraced the concept of site-suggestive staging to offer both a fresh take on operatic classics as well as a no-holds-barred exploration of contemporary works. For the last several years, MCO has used a late springtime slot to venture into alternative outdoor locations, immersing audiences in environments that alter their perception of familiar narratives. In 2023, the company explored Carlisle Floyd\u2019s atmospheric Susannah<\/i> at Marble Springs State Historical Site in South Knox County. Last year, the choice was Puccini\u2019s Il Tabarro <\/i>(The Cloak<\/i>) staged at two different spots on local rivers.<\/p>\n

Building on the outdoor experience gained from those productions, the company had planned a trio of opera-related experiences for this past weekend centered around two performances of Ruggero Leoncavallo\u2019s classic verismo<\/i> vehicle, Pagliacci,<\/i> at Oak Ridge\u2019s A.K. Bissell Park, making use of its lawn and amphitheater-like pavilion. Plus, the two performances on Thursday and Saturday would bookend MCO\u2019s first \u201cOpera in the Park\u201d awareness-raising sampler event at the open-air Marble Hall in Knoxville\u2019s Lakeshore Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first performance of Pagliacci <\/i>on Thursday enjoyed a beautiful evening and gave the audience seated on lawn chairs and blankets on the pavilion\u2019s sloping lawn a beautiful golden-hour experience. Ultimately though, \u201coutdoor\u201d means being susceptible to the forces of nature\u2014the weekend\u2019s force of nature fell from the sky on Friday and Saturday evenings in the form of drenching rains. In the spirit of \u201cthe show must go on\u2026,<\/i>\u201d Friday\u2019s \u201cOpera in the Park\u201d proceeded under cover despite the thunderstorm, albeit accompanied by percussion provided by Mother Nature. Having been warned of a serious thunderstorm on Saturday, MCO settled for a weather contingency plan\u2014instead of the Oak Ridge park, the production would go indoors in the school gymnasium at Sacred Heart School, part of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, one of the production\u2019s sponsors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Marble City Opera ‘Pagliacci’ – Conductor Andy Anderson with Orchestral Ensemble – Photo: Christopher Frith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MCO artistic director Kathryn Frady had shouldered the responsibility of both directing the production of Pagliacci<\/i> and singing the lead soprano role of Nedda. As evidence of the professionalism and abilities of Frady and the five-singer cast, the two performances in vastly different environments had different personalities but each exploded with marvelously devised characters and truly impressive vocal performances. Interestingly, one could even make a case for Saturday\u2019s more intimate gymnasium performance being the stronger one musically both for singers and conductor Andy Anderson\u2019s orchestral ensemble, despite the obvious and notable lack of theatrical atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Frady\u2019s outdoor staging plan was to blur the work\u2019s period timeframe into a quasi-contemporary one, placing the opera\u2019s villager chorus in regular street clothes in amongst the actual audience on the sloping lawn, ready to take the stage, thus removing the typical theatrical boundaries of the fourth wall. Of course, the opera\u2019s narrative remained unchanged, with the performers donning their harlequinade-esque costumes and clown makeup for their commedia dell\u2019arte performance. On Thursday, the Oak Ridge audience, having generally learned to expect anything in an MCO production, seemed to delight in the approach and accept the pastoral atmosphere.<\/p>\n

As Nedda, Frady brought her considerable vocal and dramatic talents to bear in defining her character that not only must be believable as an abused wife having a love affair with the villager Silvio (Daniel Spiotta), but also be cute, charming, and playful in the \u201cplay within the play.\u201d In the aforementioned love affair, Frady and Spiotta were sensational, managing to sell their characters\u2019 attraction with an intensity and heat that was both lusciously lyrical and sensual in its raw physicality.<\/p>\n

Returning to MCO from last season\u2019s Il Tabarro<\/i> was tenor Edward Brennan as Canio,\u00a0 <\/span>the abusive and jealous manager that has chased his wife Nedda from their loveless marriage. With a marvelously clear, attractive, and powerfully expressive voice that opens eyes and ears, Brennan was able to handle with strength the three prongs of his character\u2019s dramatic arc: the theatrically confident manager, a broken man that jealously concedes Nedda\u2019s unfaithfulness in the sad and sorrowful \u201cVesti la giubba,\u201d and the raging drunk that ends the opera in tragedy.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Marble City Opera ‘Pagliacci’ – Kathryn Frady as Nedda, Brad Morrison as Tonio – Photo: Christopher Frith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also with a satisfying character arc was Brad Morrison\u2019s Tonio, who has his own battle with jealousy and revenge. Making a case for verismo storytelling, his character\u2019s prologue showed off a sensational depth of emotion, painted out in expressive vocal colors of bitterness and resignation.<\/p>\n

A familiar face and welcome voice for Knoxville opera-goers was tenor Cody Boling in the role of Beppe, one of the troupe\u2019s clowns. Boling\u2019s clear expressive voice and dramatic ability created a perfect basis for his Beppe, who must act as mediator in the jealous feud that is consuming the other characters.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, site-suggestive staging for opera, especially one in the outdoors, carries both risks and rewards. This fact was made abundantly clear to Marble City Opera and its supporters this past weekend. Ideally, the rewards of supporting novel and fresh approaches to the arts will out-weigh whatever cloudy skies may be in our future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ALAN SHERROD   Since its founding in 2013, Marble City Opera has followed an intriguing evolutionary track, one that has embraced the concept of site-suggestive staging to offer both a fresh take on operatic classics as well as a no-holds-barred exploration of contemporary works. For the last several years, MCO has used a late…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1640,341,412,1639],"class_list":["post-34408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-andy-anderson","tag-kathryn-frady","tag-marble-city-opera","tag-pagliacci"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/mco-pagliacci-oakridge.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96TJ0-8WY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30488,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/05\/marble-city-opera-postpones-i-pagliacci-until-august\/","url_meta":{"origin":34408,"position":0},"title":"Marble City Opera Postpones ‘I Pagliacci’ Until August","author":"Alan Sherrod","date":"May 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Marble City Opera has announced that its production of Ruggero Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, originally scheduled for May 29 and 30 at the Tennessee Amphitheater in World's Fair Park, has been re-scheduled for August 13, 14, and 15 at the same location. Tickets for the August performances will go on sale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MCO_Pagliacci.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MCO_Pagliacci.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MCO_Pagliacci.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MCO_Pagliacci.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/MCO_Pagliacci.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34392,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/30\/preview-marble-city-opera-to-present-pagliacci-in-oak-ridges-a-k-bissell-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":34408,"position":1},"title":"Preview: Marble City Opera To Present ‘Pagliacci’ in Oak Ridge’s A.K. Bissell Park","author":"Alan Sherrod","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Marble City Opera journeys to Oak Ridge for their 2025 springtime offering, Leoncavallo\u2019s 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\u2019s Susannah in 2023 and Puccini\u2019s Il Tabarro last season, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/edwardbrennanandkathrynfradyinpagliacciatoperawestphotobydiegovaldez-1x.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/edwardbrennanandkathrynfradyinpagliacciatoperawestphotobydiegovaldez-1x.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/edwardbrennanandkathrynfradyinpagliacciatoperawestphotobydiegovaldez-1x.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/edwardbrennanandkathrynfradyinpagliacciatoperawestphotobydiegovaldez-1x.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/edwardbrennanandkathrynfradyinpagliacciatoperawestphotobydiegovaldez-1x.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30559,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/22\/marble-city-opera-announces-upcoming-productions\/","url_meta":{"origin":34408,"position":2},"title":"Marble City Opera Announces Upcoming Productions","author":"Alan Sherrod","date":"June 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"What happens in the next thirty days in the Covid-19 pandemic will be a determining factor in how and when Knoxville is able to re-open its art and music scene. How will re-opening affect the number and demographics of new infections? 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This next season, 2024-25 will be the company's twelfth since it first trod the boards in 2013. Designed with a mixture of special events and mainstage productions, one might ask: \"What's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30935,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/24\/preview-marble-city-opera-returns-to-st-johns-cathedral-for-puccinis-tosca\/","url_meta":{"origin":34408,"position":5},"title":"Preview: Marble City Opera Returns to St. John’s Cathedral for Puccini’s ‘Tosca’","author":"Alan Sherrod","date":"May 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"BY ALAN SHERROD \u00a0 Marble City Opera \u2014 Giacomo Puccini's Tosca St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, 413 Cumberland Ave, Downtown Knoxville \u00a0\u2022 Thursday, June 3 | Friday, June 4 | Saturday, June 5 | 7:30 PM \u2022 Tickets and Information \u00a0 Admittedly, realism in opera is something of an oxymoron. 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