PAGLIACCI
The Show Must Go On
Composer & Librettist
Ruggero Leoncavallo
First performance
May 21, 1892, Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, Italy
Run time
Approximately 1 hrs 45 min
including one intermissions
Sung in Italian
English captions projected above the stage
Date
Friday, February 26, 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 28, 2:30 pm
Venue
The Egyptian Theatre
700 W Main St, Boise
Doors open
6:00 pm (Feb 26) | 1:00 pm (Feb 28)
Center Stage with Stacey
6:30 pm (Feb 26) | 1:30 pm (Feb 28)
Ticket Prices
Adult: $41 to $132
Senior: $33 to $119
Youth: $29 to $87
Military discount available
Groups
Save 20% on groups of 10 or more. Contact the box office at 208-345-3531.
All tickets show the “all-in” price, fees and tax included.
About the Show
The show must go on… even when everything else is falling apart.
A traveling troupe of performers arrives in town, ready to entertain with laughter, music, and comedy. But behind the painted smiles and colorful costumes, jealousy simmers, secrets are carefully guarded, and relationships begin to fracture.
As the players prepare for that evening’s performance, emotions that belong behind closed doors refuse to stay there. What begins as playful theater slowly blurs with real life, leaving the audience and the performers themselves struggling to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Featuring one of opera’s most famous arias, Vesti la giubba (“Put on the Costume”), Pagliacci is a gripping story of love, betrayal, obsession, and the dangerous consequences of letting emotion take control. Its unforgettable score builds from quiet moments of longing to breathtaking intensity, reminding us that the masks we wear can only hide the truth for so long.
Part of Opera Idaho’s Unraveled season, Pagliacci explores what happens when carefully crafted performances give way to raw human emotion. When the roles we play no longer protect us, what remains?
Powerful, passionate, and emotionally unforgettable, Pagliacci is a masterpiece that continues to captivate audiences more than a century after its premiere.
About the Composer
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919) was one of the leading composers of Italy’s verismo movement, a style of opera that traded kings and myths for stories about ordinary people and the powerful emotions that shape their lives. His greatest success, Pagliacci, remains one of the most beloved operas in the repertoire, celebrated for its unforgettable music and gripping portrayal of love, jealousy, and the thin line between performance and reality.
Leoncavallo often said the inspiration for Pagliacci came from a murder case connected to his childhood. His father, a magistrate, presided over the trial, and the tragedy left a lasting impression on the young composer. Whether every detail made its way into the opera or not, Leoncavallo believed that the strongest drama came from real life, an idea that became central to the opera and the verismo movement itself.
Following the opera’s extraordinary success in 1892, Leoncavallo turned his attention to another literary favorite, Henri Murger’s Scènes de la vie de bohème. To his surprise, Giacomo Puccini was working on the same story, sparking one of opera’s most famous rivalries. While Puccini’s La bohème ultimately became the more enduring success, Leoncavallo’s version remains an important work in its own right and reflects the creative energy of one of opera’s most fascinating eras.
More than a century later, Leoncavallo’s music continues to resonate because it reminds us that behind every performance are real people, real emotions, and lives that can unravel in an instant.
Synopsis (spoilers)
Prologue
Tonio the clown announces that what the audience is about to see is a true story and that actors have the same joys and sorrows as other people.
Act I
A small theatrical company has just arrived and Canio, the head of the troupe, advertises the night’s performance to the gathered crowd. One of the villagers suggests that Tonio is secretly courting Canio’s young wife, Nedda. Canio warns them all that he will not tolerate any flirting offstage—life and theater are not the same. As the crowd disperses, Nedda is left alone, disturbed by her husband’s jealousy. She looks up to the sky, envying the birds their freedom. Tonio appears and tries to force himself on Nedda, but she beats him back, and he retreats, swearing revenge. In fact, Nedda does have a lover—Silvio, a young peasant, who suddenly appears. The two reaffirm their love, and Silvio persuades Nedda to run away with him that night. Tonio, who has returned and overheard the end of their conversation, alerts Canio, but Silvio manages to slip away unrecognized. Canio violently threatens Nedda, but she refuses to reveal her lover’s name. Beppe, another member of the troupe, restrains Canio, and Tonio advises him to wait until the evening’s performance to catch the culprit. Alone, Canio gives in to his despair—he must play the clown even though his heart is breaking.
Act II
That evening, the villagers assemble to watch the performance, Silvio among them. Beppe plays Harlequin, who serenades Columbine, played by Nedda. He dismisses her buffoonish servant Taddeo, played by Tonio, and over dinner the two sweethearts plot to poison Columbine’s husband Pagliaccio, played by Canio. When Pagliaccio unexpectedly appears, Harlequin slips away. Taddeo maliciously assures Pagliaccio of his wife’s innocence, which ignites Canio’s jealousy. Forgetting his role and the play, he demands that Nedda tell him the name of her lover. She tries to continue with the performance, the audience enthralled by its realism, until Canio snaps. In a fit of rage he stabs Nedda and then Silvio, who rushes to her aid. Turning to the horrified crowd, Tonio announces that the comedy is over.