Franco Zeffirelli's staging of Pagliacci @ Opera di Roma, already seen in Florence and Moscow in the past, impresses because, for once, the conservative director has decided to update an opera, shifting the action of Leoncavallo's blockbuster to the early 1960s. Gianluigi Gelmetti conducts. The cast of the production, as it is often the case at Opera di Roma, is quite crowded throughout the run (eight shows, total): Nedda will be played by Myrtò Papatanasiu, Susanna Branchini and Mina Yamazaki, Canio by Stuart Neill and Renzo Zulian; Tonio by Seng-Hyoun Ko and Silvio Zanon.
Stuart Neill was last seen at la Scala this past Dec 7 as Giuseppe Filianoti's last-minute replacement in Don Carlo (photo below).