If you’ve seen the promo photos going around for Lend Me A Tenor, you may be familiar with a certain clown with a droopy frown and sad features. Pagliacci has become a recognizable character associated with this zany farce. You may be asking: “Why Pagliacci?”
It may surprise you to hear that the opera character wasn’t always the recognizable figure. In early years of Lend Me A Tenor productions, the costume donned by Il Stupendo was a take on “Othello” instead. A choice that by all means was full of controversy and derogatory elements- though has now been revised (thankfully) to be much less harmful.
Pagliacci came in to save the day and redeem the other thrilling qualities of Ludwig’s work. The origin of Pagliacci all goes back to the 16th Century, a time of emerging trends and theatrical experimentalism.
Pagliacci, the sad clown, comes from the explorative genre Commedia Dell’arte- due to which it has been turned into an iconic opera filled with well known music. The opera is an explosive combination of experimental, improvisational theatre and masks. This genre has many forms, notably being more prevalent in France and Italy. Commedia Dell’arte, while not a direct predecessor of the farce genre, formed the building blocks that made farces in theatre what we know and love them to be today. The key elements of a show in Commedia Dell’arte style consists of Stock Characters (we now may refer to these as archetypes) such as the Lovers, Masters, and Servants. These stock characters serve as recognizable elements of a show that audiences can identify with. Physicalization (another key element of farce), improvisation, and masks.
Pagliacci, specifically, serves as a prime example of its genre. It fits the dynamic stock characters, contains a famous aria for a tenor (how fitting) and tells a story of a traveling group of actors with its play-within-a-play dynamic.
Ludwig, when needing a substitute for the offensive blackface, found Pagliacci to be the perfect substitute.
Pagliacci serves as the perfect comedic vessel as white face paint is donned by the clown which removes the need to change the face paint gimmicks and mechanics.
No matter how hard the actor tries to smile, it still looks like they’re frowning! Both Pagliacci and Lend Me a Tenor are filled with mistaken identity, dramatic irony, scrambling with high stakes and anxiety, and door-slamming chaos. The themes of each respective piece mirror each other almost ironically.
Art forms are forever evolving and changing. Progress being made allows us to appreciate older art forms while tuning our ears to be more cognitive of how we represent the people in our shows. We are so thankful to be able to perform the revised version of Lend Me A Tenor, and hope the audience finds it just as fun as we do!
There are only a few more chances to see the well known clown and hilarious farce. You can buy tickets by calling 616-456-6656 or by visiting circletheatre.org.
WRITTEN BY MICHAELA FAITH, MARKETING INTERN
Sources: https://www.britannica.com/art/commedia-dellarte
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pagliacci