Opera Orlando goes the show-within-a-show route in this creative mashup of the 1892 one-act opera Pagliacci (the classic tale of a sad clown who murders his cheating wife) with “Pulcinella,” a short Stravinsky ballet from 1920 based on the Italian commedia dell’arte character who eventually evolved into Punch (that puppet who’s always bopping his wife, Judy, on the head with a stick). So what we have here is a pair of truly exemplary marriages! Mars/Venus relations aside, this show may be the most fun you can have in a red-velvet seat all week – Pagliacci is grippingly emotional, “Pulcinella” almost feverishly sprightly, and joining the singers and dancers is beloved local vaudeville troupe Phantasmagoria. The whole production has a raffish vaudevillian charm sure to appeal to all ages.
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday | Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. | 844-513-2014 | drphillipscenter.org | $39-$79
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This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2019.
