Leoncavallo

Jesus does not physically appear on stage, so the story's focus is on the ordinary people sharing their compassion when confronted with the evil of empire, in the same vein as Puccini's humble bohemians or Ruggero Leoncavallo's commedia performers.

The title of which opera composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo literally means Clowns?

In 1999, Mr. Castronovo made his professional Met debut as Beppe in Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci.”

Nedda, the leading female character of Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” must die rather than consummate true love.

And much as Leoncavallo’s opera reveals the fluid boundaries between art and life, Ms. Jaho says she believes that a singer must be “real onstage” in order to serve the music.