Union Avenue Opera is presenting a pair of operas about performers—one real and several fictional. The curtain raiser is Tom Cipullo’s Josephine, a monodrama in which the great Josephine Baker tells her own story. The evening concludes with Pagliacci, Leoncavallo’s verismo opera about infidelity in a commedia dell’arte theatrical troupe.

The premise of Josephine is that Baker, a native of St. Louis, is giving an interview to a journalist. The year is 1975, and Baker is waiting in her dressing room for the start of a rehearsal for her final comeback performance. Baker says she will talk about anything the reporter wants to hear about and tosses out an astonishing list of important people she has known.

The interviewer is never seen or heard. Baker tells him stories that encompass the dizzying heights of her show business career and the harrowing depths of the bigotry she had to endure as a black woman, not only in her youth, but even after she had become famous.

Baker’s credibility comes into question when she gives three different accounts of who her father was, but she is totally believable and deeply moving when she speaks about the 12 children she adopted. She calls them a rainbow tribe because they came from different backgrounds.

In beautiful costumes by Teresa Doggett, Manna K. Jones gives a compelling performance of Cipullo’s music for Baker. Cipullo’s dense libretto contains more information that I could absorb in one sitting, but I was inspired to look further into Baker’s life when I returned home.

Art mirrors life in Pagliacci. A company of touring actors are performing a play about adultery. The play’s unfaithful wife is portrayed by the unfaithful wife of the actor portraying the play’s betrayed husband. The real and the fictional infidelities reach a tragic conclusion at the same time.

Conductor Stephen Hargreaves leads the Union Avenue orchestra in a spirited account of Leoncavallo’s score. Kathryn Frady’s astute stage direction includes a dumbshow that helpfully introduces the characters during the overture.

Andy Papas delivers the opera’s prologue, which points out that the author was inspired by a real story and that the actors are just like the people in the audience. Papas is chilling in the prologue and in the opera that follows as Tonio, who plays the fool in the commedia dell’arte troupe. Tonio is smitten with Nedda, the unfaithful wife of Canio, the leader of the company. After Nedda rejects him, Tonio avenges the blow to his pride by revealing Nedda’s infidelity to Canio.

Jonny Kaufman brings a powerful voice and stage presence to his portrayal of the brutal Canio. Meroë Khalia Adeeb sings beautifully and evokes deep compassion for Nedda. Kenneth Stavert captures the ardor of Nedda’s lover, Silvio. Marc Schapman is a fine performer as Beppe, the actor who plays Arlecchino (Harlequin), the wife’s lover in the commedia dell’arte play.

The centerpiece of Laura Skroska’s scenic design is the stage for the play within the opera. The rear of this stage has reversible panels that are cleverly used. Teresa Doggett’s handsome costumes distinguish clearly between the actors, the characters in the play, and the audience. Fine contributions to both operas are made by lighting designer Patrick Huber, properties master Julia Nelson, and supertitle designer Philip Touchette.

Josephine and Pagliacci continue at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Boulevard.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Dan Donovan Photography
From the left, Canio (Jonny Kaufman) assaults Nedda (Meroe Khalia Adeeb) in Pagliacci.

Union Avenue Opera is presenting a pair of operas about performers—one real and several fictional. The curtain raiser is Tom Cipullo’s <em>Josephine</em>, a monodrama in which the great Josephine Baker tells her own story. The evening concludes with <em>Pagliacci</em>, Leoncavallo’s verismo opera about infidelity in a commedia dell’arte theatrical troupe.