Seattle Opera
Pagliacci
McCaw Hall, Seattle Center
August 3, 2024
Opening night at the Seattle Opera is always exciting, but there was an extra thrill in the air at McCaw Hall when Ruggero Leoncavallo's popular Pagliacci opened for the first time since 2008. That production 16 years ago was a dreamy tribute to the traveling circuses of old, complete with acrobats, tightrope walkers, and jugglers. Fast-forward to August 3, 2024, and we have Stage Director Dan Wallace Miller's very different vision... just as musical but far more dangerous.
Miller has moved the story forward from the 1890s to 1947 in Calabria during the slow recovery from post-WWII poverty. The mountain village is just as picturesque as the original setting, but these folks are struggling with shortages and dreariness. When the circus comes to the town (which is still boarded up and plastered with political posters), we can appreciate why everyone gathers in front of the church to see something colorful and happy.
As the tragedy unfolds between Canio, the pagliaccio (circus clown) and Nedda, a young perform-er who may or may not be his wife, the dramatic irony intensifies between the excited townsfolk in front of the makeshift curtain and the acrimony that looms behind it. The great pleasure of this opera for the audience is how cleverly we are made to identify with those sitting on the church steps while at the same time we watch the backstage conflict that burns like a slow fuse toward disaster.
Tenor Diego Torre sang Canio, the angry clown, with a distracted edge that seemed barely con-tained. His big aria, "Vesti la giubba," when he puts on his clown outfit, knowing that he will kill his lover, was sung with none of the pathos of a Pavarotti but with a ferociousness that made you un-derstand the unhinged violence of murder. Monica Conesa's Nedda also departed from the tradi-tional hard-hearted-lover theme to show us a woman, abused, desperate, and doomed. Both Die-go and Conesa are debutants, and both were extremely moving. We hope to see them in Seattle again in the future.
The chorus has a large part in this opera, and everyone acted their part as though it were a real village with distinct individuals. The gang of rowdy children was especially pleasing, as was their piping accompaniment to the adult chorus.
The greatest element of opera is, of course, the music, and Pagliacci has some of the most dramatic and memorable in the repertoire. Conductor Carlo Montanaro led the orchestra through the wide range of dangerous, charming, and dreamy pieces with the true hand of a conductor born in Italy.
In all, it was a fabulous evening of drama and music, and a real testament to the world-class opera we are privi-leged to have in Seattle.
This is also, sadly, the final season for the distinguished general manager, Christina Scheppelmann, who led Se-attle Opera through the pandemic with generosity and imagination and whose vision for the company has ex-panded the range of new works by new and previously neglected composers. We always knew she'd be with us for only five years... but what a great five years it has been! She has done a wonderful job, and we wish her well as she returns to Europe to direct the La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, Belgium.
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