GIANNI SCHICCI (OPERA)

Finger Lakes Opera at MCC Auditorium, 2024

SUMMARY AND CREDITS

Gianni Schicci is a one act comedic opera. Buoso, the family patriarch is dead and each of his family members want his obscene wealth to themselves. Unfortunately, he left it to the local monks, so the family is forced to bring in a local con man, Schicci, to pose as Buoso and re-write his will on his death bed. However, Schicci leaves the bulk of Buoso’s money and property to himself so that he can ensure a better life for his daughter who wishes to marry one of the younger cousins of Buoso’s family.

We knew at the beginning of the process that Buoso is a colorful guy, extremely selfish, but eclectic in his taste, and probably the kind of person who’d throw a lavish party for his friends, and then fail to tip the waitstaff. His dressers and closets are full of valuables, but he didn’t share with his family at all. We find that the family portraits for instance all have animal heads, with a painter for each member of Buoso’s family. They do not appreciate this revelation. The feelings and the character choices are as big and sweeping as the music in the opera, resentment and jealousy is punctuated by deviousness, and false-kindness. We wanted to accentuate the rich emotional landscape of the caricatures that each family member represents, by using bright saturated colors and huge changes in intensity (loosely justified by the opening and closing of the window curtains) to create an emotionally charged lighting landscape that would heighten the storytelling and fun.