"Canio, the heartbroken clown in 'I Pagliacci,' doesn’t just suffer. In the Seattle Opera’s new version of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera … he also dreams. In an 11-muinute sequence inserted after the aira 'Vesti la giubba,' music taken from Leoncavallo’s 'Zaza', a Metropolitan Opera hit in the 1920s, is heard as Canio relives his life with his beloved Nedda: He discovers her as an orphaned waif, teaches her to be an acrobat and actress and, finally, is rejected by her. Acrobats play Canio, as well as Nedda at different ages. Speight Jenkins, the general director of the Seattle Opera, found the music he said he felt had the proper sound for the dream.“ ("'Pagliacci‘ Becomes Dreamy,“ The New York Times, 14 Jan 08)
Once again, art imitates life. And dreams know no boundary dividing the two.
