Ozarks Lyric Opera’s Pagliacci plays with language, film, vaudeville — and lots of clowns

Ozarks Lyric Opera’s production of Pagliacci will begin with the traditional entrance of the troupe along with the famous “Vesti la giubba” clown aria, and a three-minute film of the cast, foreshadowing what will happen throughout.

In the first act, several original elements will be used. A vaudeville show will sprout up with the cast, live on stage, said Sean Spyres, administrative director of OLO.

For the intermezzo (intermission), there will be a clip of a 1924 silent film, He Who Gets Slapped, starring Lon Chaney. A critic called it “a Pagliacci-type vehicle for Chaney.”

“For the second act, we have the opera itself,” Sean Spyres said. Halfway through this act, characters will change to their acting names for the play-within-the-play.

The songs in the vaudeville will be in English. The rest of the program will be in Italian. The clowns will be very flashy.

Using conventional and non-traditional approaches for the opera should hold patrons’ attention. Moreover, this is an opportunity to see and hear Michael Spyres in his debut of “Pagliacci.”

The opera will be performed on March 25 and 26, 7:30 p.m., at the Gillioz, 317 Park Central East.

“In this new concept production, the chorus of villagers in the first part of the opera become clowns in the second part of the opera as a way of seeing what’s going on inside Canio’s head,” said Sean Spyres. He also will play Beppe, an actor in the opera.

As for the clowns, “In the second part, we are giving them creative license to bring out their inner clowns,” Sean Spyres said. “They are transformed into clowns themselves, which is a different concept, totally.”

Two friends of the Opera, Darren Wynne and Kashena Starr, both clowns, helped with the non-traditional staging, Sean Spyres said. “It’s a rarity for a small company to try something like this. So, yes, it’s quite fun — and challenging — for everyone.”

In Act 2, “The workings of Canio’s mind are what we see. He sees clowns everywhere. He sees people attacking him. His one love that he’s trying to hold onto, and he ends it.”

Micheal Spyres said he has found his first role as Canio/Pagliacci to be daunting, because of the mountain of history — Enrico Caruso, Mario Lanza and all the tenors who have done it in the past. On the other hand, he places this role as the one most dear to his heart, he said.

“It’s one of the operas that I knew very first as a young child. My parents and my uncle had the records of Caruso singing Pagliacci. I would listen to it. This was how I grew up,” he said.

“A lot of people have morphed their own idea and turned their own character into Canio. I’m kind of doing that as well. I am a person who goes back to the score and I try to find the exact intentions of the composer.”

Different eras of theater are connected, among Commedia dell’arte, silent movies and talkies, opera and operetta, vaudeville and this production, Michael Spyres said.

“People don’t realize that Springfield was one of the epicenters of vaudeville, and the Gillioz here was also a vaudeville theater and was one of the first that started to show films,” he said. “Our concept was to come back to the Gillioz, do it in this theater, where it’s so historical. It’s truly magical.”

Want to go?

What: Pagliacci, by Ruggero Leoncavallo

Where: Gillioz Center, 325 Park Central East

When: March 25 & 26, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $27.50-$47.50. To purchase, go online to gillioztheatre.com or call the box office, 417-863-9491. All tickets are reserved seating

Cast

Canio/Pagliacci: Michael Spyres

Nedda/Colombina: Tara Stafford-Spyres

Tonio/Taddeo: Todd Payne

Silvio/Villager: Chris Thompson

Beppe/Arleccihno: Sean Spyres

Stage direction: Jay Jackson

Set design: John Johnson

Costumes: Sarina Textor

Conducted by Christopher Koch

Three notable arias

“Vesti la giubba” or in English, “Put on the costume,” sung by Canio in the first act.

Nedda, singing, is afraid of Canio’s jealousy: “brutale come egli è”; or in English, “brutal as he is,” in the first act.

“No! Pagliaccio non son!” or “No, I'm not a clown,” sung by Canio in the second act

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozarks Lyric Opera’s Pagliacci mixes film, vaudeville and clowns