Chicago Opera Theatre’s inclusion of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi in its 2015-2016 season is surprising given the company’s “opera less ordinary” tagline. Schicchi hardly qualifies, as it contains “O Mio Babbino Caro”, one of Puccini’s most famous arias.
In fact, performance of Schicchi is all too common. Schicchi is the third and final one-act opera of Puccini’s II Trittico but is often performed without the accompanying works, II Tabarro and Suor Angelica. This tradition frustrated Puccini whose three-part piece was inspired by his admiration for Dante’s three-part Divine Comedy.
Tabarro in particular receives disproportionately few performances. Before the 2015-2016 season begins, August is the perfect time to check out this fast-paced, stereotype-smashing work. Tabarro is short, simple, and intimate.
Tabarro blends the elegance and emotion of Puccini’s operas with the fast-paced melodrama of an episode of network television. Running under an hour, it is incredibly succinct. It requires no set or costume changes, limits arias in favor of sung dialogue, and has a relatively small cast. However, despite this frugality, it is musically and emotionally rich.
True to form, Puccini underscores his work with local color – this time in the form of undulating waves under the barge wherein the three main characters live and work. Most remarkably, none of these three characters conform to a binary classification of “good” or “bad.” Instead, the audience meets three deeply human individuals struggling with desire and regret.
Check out Puccini’ II Trittico available on DVD at the Naperville Public Library or for streaming through the Metropolitan Opera’s Met Opera On Demand streaming service. For more information on Schicchi and the rest of Chicago Opera Theatre’s season, visit www.chicagooperatheatre.org.
