Show t f tor torp of I Canio and his little troupe arrive of an afternoon in a village where they are given an evening performance Nedda r Is Canlos Canio's wife and she is left at the camp with Tonio the hunchback hunchback hunch hunch- back tack and Peppe the harlequin while her lord goes off to the nearest tavern for a drink or two hyo Nedda is a very beautiful and besides having having hav hay ing a lover in this particular village she has unconsciously won the heart of little Tonio But when he makes advances she spurns him and makes him angry Soon comes her true amour to the tryst Tonio who has been spying runs off to fetch his master from his cups Canio Canso comes comesup comesup comesup up just as his rival Silvio is naming a rendezvous for later on There is a rumpus The intruder intrude intruders escapes un identified but Canso Canio Is naturally very wroth The play which is to be I Punchinello must go forward however Unhappily enough this little farce is almost a reproduction of the actual events preceding it Nedda has the part of an unfaithful wife to or Canio Peppe is the successful and on the unexpected appearance of cio iio makes away through a window naming a tryst as he goes At this point the jealousy of Canio gets the best of him and he heis heis hes is s not acting any assumed part when I I he hoarsely demands over and over overA A AA to know who was the lover Nedda tries to keep up the farce but he draws a knife and runs toward her She screams for Silvio who also brings out his dagger and hastens to the stage Put he is too late Canio Canto stabs Nedda to death then turning recognizes his rival and stabs him As the villagers fall upon Canio he looks toward thE audience saying calmly The farce is now ended The program Is as follows I The Clowns A Grand Opera in two acts Words and music by R. R Leoncavallo First performed at the dal Verme Milan Italy May 1892 Characters of the Drama Nedda the Columbine In the play Miss liss Edna Evans Canio Canso in the play David Reese Tonio Taddeo In the play Hugh W. W Dougall Sil Silvio vio a villager David P. P Smith Peppe Harlequin i in the play play- Arnold Beckstrand Villagers and Peasants The scene an actual Is laid in Calabria near Montalto on the Feast of the Assumption between 1865 and 1870 Chorus including the boys boy's chorus of thirty numbering voices Orchestra fifty men I A AA AA A. A AAA |