Clowns come to town
Center for Music & Performing Arts debuts theatrical performance of “I Pagliacci”
The Center for Music & Performing Arts opera “I Pagliacci” — meaning “clowns” in Italian — debuted Jan. 15 and ran through Jan. 19. The Italian opera was full of lovers’ duets, betrayal, jealousy and revenge. Though it was performed in English, the music, costumes and performers took the audience back to 19th century Italy.
Sing — Following a band of clowns, the opera brought music to a story of love, pain, tragedy and a lesson learned. Photo credit: Amber Tiller
The story covered a clown troupe that traveled into a small city to perform. The group came into town and what had been happening inside their personal lives was revealed.
Jason Nichols, a senior at Liberty, played the lead role of Canio, and explained that his character had some dark elements.
“(Canio is) the father figure, the benefactor, he’s the godfather, he’s the dictator, he’s everything,” Nichols said. “He’s kind of got dual personalities. He’s all great and sweet and nice until you cross him. Once you cross him, you’re going to go down. … In the beginning, you’ll see someone tell him, ‘Hey, I think you’re wife’s cheating on you,’ and he gets very stern in front of the whole townspeople.”
While an opera can seem intimidating, “I Pagliacci” dealt with common issues and had recognizable music.
“You’re seeing what really is revealed, true personalities, true desires, true wants,” Nichols said. “So all of this is a show about a mask and putting on the perfect illusion and seeing true life. … The Aria, ‘Vesti la giubba,’ the iconic aria, you see it featured in a lot of commercials. It’s just got a really familiar line. The reason why I liked it so much is just because of how much character I can put into it.”
Usually, the operas the music department put on have double casting. In this case, the role of Nedda had three actresses, and the role of Silvio had two actors. Bree Jordan, one of the actresses who played Nedda, explained her experience sharing her role with two other people.
“(It was) interesting, because normally double casting is standard, but it’s not usual to have three people on a role,” Jordan said. “But it’s been really cool for each of us to have the chance to do the role.”
Also performing in the role of Nedda were Autumn Struhar and Kristen Christopherson. Jordan performed Jan. 15 and 18. Struher performed Jan. 16 and 19. Christopherson
performed Jan. 17.
Because Jordan had the opportunity to both play the role of Nedda and enjoy the opera as a spectator, when she was not on stage, she had a different perspective than a typical opera patron.
“It’s very cathartic to watch, and it (caused) a lot of introspection in the viewers because the ending (was) very abrupt, and the climax (was) just like, ‘whoa, it’s over,’” Jordan said. “And I think that one of the largest takeaways (was to) be wary of the consequences of your actions and the emotions that take place, … because every character has some good and some bad in them. It’s very realistic and very bad in that sense.”
SAMMS is a feature reporter.