Last night we watched the classic opera, Pagliacci at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre named after Alisher Navoi. It is amazing to have access to such a beautiful theatre and professional performance in Tashkent. I bought 3 tickets for Nadia, Ocean, and me in the fourth row for $8.70 each. We took advantage of the free parking about 20 meters from the front door. It was an entertaining and exhilarating performance and we should do this more often! Professional theatre was established here in the 1920s and the construction of the theatre took place from 1942-1947, opening in time for the 500th anniversary of Alisher Nava’i, a 15th century writer, statesman, linguist, painter, mystic, etc. He was the greatest representative of the extinct Turkic language, Chagtai, that used to be widely spoken in Central Asia. It is regarded as the precursor to Uzbek.
The Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote Pagliacci in 1892 and it is the most famous of all his works that made it into today’s opera cannon. The story is a simple one, a jealous husband murders his wife and her lover. The couple is part of a traveling theatre troupe and what the audience thinks is part of the play, is actually the husband (Canio) in a jealous rage who stabs and kills his wife (Nedda) on stage. The lover (Silvio) intervenes and is also stabbed by Canio. Comic relief is offered by a hunchback character named Tonio. The audience hears the famous final line, “La commedia è finita!!” – “The comedy is finished!” The opera is referred to often in pop culture, with references in the Batman/Joker series and Smoky Robinson’s “The Tears of a Clown”. I recognized the song, Vesti La Guibba (Put on the Costume) which is a famous, sad opera song. I also learned of the stock character from Italian opera, the Harlequin, which is a comic, servant that is up to mischief in a plot. The Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian is identified by a brightly checkered costume.
After the show, we went to Shevchenko Street, the new walking street in Tashkent, and ate at Tom Yum Bar, one of Nadia’s favorite restaurants.
Bill's Blog 