Are you afraid of clowns?

Vancouver Opera announces its 2007/2008 season

November 10, 13, 15, 17, 2007 Queen Elizabeth Theatre

"Crazy Joe" Davolo: Are you afraid of clowns?
Cosmo Kramer: (nervously) A little.

I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
First produced May 21, 1892

The Vancouver Opera Society has unveiled its 2007/2008 season.

I Pagliacci is up first. It will be familiar to Seinfeld fans from episode 49 of that sitcom, The Opera.

It's a tragic story of possessive love. A troupe of strolling players arrive in Calabria at the time of the Feast of the Virgin di Mezzagosto. Canio, the chief of the troupe, invites all to come to the performance later that evening and then goes off to drink with the locals and members of his troupe.

Tonio, the clown, remains behind to care for the donkey. Underneath his striped clown costume is a deformed body. He proclaims his love for Nedda, the Columbine of the troupe, and who is also, of course, Canio’s wife. He tries to force a kiss from her and she rebukes him.

Tonio sulks off and vows revenge.

Nedda meets with Silvio, a handsome and wealthy villager, and he convinces her to leave this life she loathes and come away with him. She agrees – "Look in mine eyes, and kiss away my sorrow."

Tonio brings Canio, Nedda’s husband, to the tryst and they arrive just in time to hear Nedda’s parting words to Silvio, "Tonight love, and forever I am thine."

Silvio slips away into the night. Canio demands to know her lover’s name but she vows to seal her lips forever.

In the second act, the villagers arrive to enjoy the performance. The players present a stock-piece domestic comedy that mirrors all that has gone on between them in the first act. Tonio plays the idiot servant and he declares his love for Columbine (Nedda) but is rebuffed with scorn. The Harlequin (Bebbe) declares his love for Columbine but is nearly surprised by the arrival Puchinello (Canio), who arrives just as Columbine is helping her lover escape. He hears her repeat the same words Nedda used with her real-life lover earlier that evening.

Canio loses his head and forgets his part. He demands furiously the name of her lover. Nedda tries to restore the play. The audience, unaware of the real situation, are amused and in good spirits. They fail to grasp the seriousness. Tonio, sour with desire for revenge, keeps Bebbe (the Harlequin) from interceding before the the situation becomes lethal.

Canio, enraged at being denied the name, grasps a knife from the table and stabs Nedda in the heart and sings, "di morte negli spasimi Lo dirai!" (you will tell it with your dying breath).

And she does. She calls out in anguish to Silvio, who leaps from the audience to the stage, and dies in his arms.

Canio stabs Silvio to death and says, "So! Tis you, then? Tis well!" He turns to the audience, "The Comedy is ended."

There it is. Fucking clowns. You are wise to steer clear of them.

I Pagliacci is performed along with Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni

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Click here for the Vancouver Opera Society’s 2007/2008 season.