Dinner and a Diva: Pagliacci at Petite Violette

Join Capitol City Opera Company on May 21 at 7:00 pm at Petite Violette for a night of delicious food and performances from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

“Pagliacci is pure Italian opera – big, melodramatic, passionate, but with light and sparkle in the orchestra, particularly in moments of humour. The opera centers around a company preparing for the final rehearsal studio run of an opera. Director Canio is eaten up with jealous suspicion of his wife, leading lady Nedda, who, it turns out, is having an affair with another man – Silvio (the opera’s conductor). The couple plan to escape together, but their secret is discovered by Tonio (the opera’s designer), who has himself been rejected by Nedda. In revenge, he informs Canio of what he knows. Despite simmering tensions, the studio run goes ahead and the performers each take up their characters, which all mimic their real-life situations. It’s all too much for Canio. Art and reality blur and things quickly spiral out of control, towards Pagliacci’s bloody conclusion.”