Pagliacci, Dark Comedy, and Post-Quarantine Planning

Unless you’ve had your head buried firmly in the sand, you know how seriously COVID is impacting the arts community. Gatherings of 250 or more people are banned, and theatre events and concerts are cancelled. To put it very lightly, it’s a huge bummer.

So, how can you help artists in this tricky time? Well, first and foremost, take care of yourself. Practice social distancing, spend your money on necessities like food and soap (but for the love of god, not 100 rolls of toilet paper if you’re a single-person household.) But if you find yourself sitting around with some extra cash in your pockets burning a hole, one of the things you can do is go ahead and buy some tickets to events that haven’t happened yet.

Lots of bands have postponed their tours, and theatre seasons are usually announced pretty far in advance. Keeping the cash flowing to artists and performers during these standstill times is good for the economy and the folks who need support the most.

You can start by grabbing tickets to Opera Colorado‘s next season. The first performance isn’t until November, so, knock on some serious wood, things will be back to normal by then. Next time around, they have some amazing shows, their own version of The Shining and two more classic operas. They just had to cancel their upcoming gala and Afternoon of American Song event, so this is a great time to help out.

This year, they completely blew people away with their amazing rendition of the classic Pagliacci. Talk about your dark comedy, revisiting this show via film or recording could be just what the doctor ordered if you’re on self-imposed quarantine. It focuses on a circus troupe with a dark undercurrent. While the performers act out a comedy on stage about betrayal and cheating, the actors take things to a meta place, as they’re dealing with similar issues in their personal life, and things get dark very quickly.

Opera Colorado did a beautiful job telling this story with awesome costumes, a gorgeous set, and superb singing and acting. Make sure to snag tickets, and don’t miss their upcoming events!