Prelude – A smiling jazz Trio sings of perfect life in Suburbia, with its little white houses and happy, loving families.

Scene I – Sam and Dinah talk over breakfast, alternating between habitual bickering and lyrical moments of longing for kindness.  Dinah accuses Sam of having an affair with his secretary, which he denies.  She also reminds Sam that their son Junior’s play is that afternoon, but Sam insists that his handball tournament at the gym is more important.  They continue to argue until Sam leaves for the office.

Scene II – At work, Sam exudes confidence as he deftly handles business by telephone and promises to lend money to a friend.  The Trio extols Sam’s virtues.

Scene III – In her analyst’s office, Dinah recalls a dream of an untended garden, choked with weeds.  In the dream, she hears a voice calling to her, describing a beautiful garden, a place of love and harmony, and tries desperately to find it.  Meanwhile, at Sam’s office, he questions his secretary about their relationship, and when reminded of an incident, he insists that it was an accident and that she forget it ever happened.

Scene IV – Sam and Dinah accidentally run into each other on the street.  Uncomfortable, each makes up an excuse so they won’t have to have lunch together.  After parting, they privately reflect in duet on the confusing and painful course their relationship has taken, and yearn for their lost happiness.

Interlude – Inside the house, the Trio sings of lovely life in Suburbia, detailing the comforts of the American dream.

Scene V – At the gym, Sam has just won the handball tournament. He sings triumphantly about the nature of men - how some try with all their might to rise to the top, but will never win; while others, like him, are born winners and will always succeed.

Scene VI – Dinah has spent the afternoon at the cinema watching a South Sea romance movie called “Trouble in Tahiti.”  At first she dismisses it as sentimental drivel.  But as she recounts the story and its theme song “Island Magic,” backed by the Trio, she gets caught up in the escapist fantasy of love.  Suddenly self-conscious, she stops herself, and prepares dinner.  On his way home, Sam sings of another law of men - that even the winner must pay for what he gets - as he reluctantly returns to the discomfort of his home.

Scene VII – The Trio sings of evenings of domestic bliss in Suburbia.  Sam and Dinah try half-heartedly to talk about their relationship, but their effort turns into yet another argument that devolves into uncomfortable silence.  Neither of them has gone to Junior’s play.  Sam suggests they go to the movies, to see a new film about Tahiti; Dinah consents.  As they leave, they each long for quiet and communion, but not knowing if it’s possible to rediscover their love for one another, they opt for the “bought-and-paid-for magic” of the silver screen.  The Trio makes its final ironic comment, echoing the movie’s “Island Magic” theme song.

© The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc., 2010. Used by permission.

Time and Place: Southern Italy, 1865

Before the opera begins, Tonio steps in front of the curtain to explain that this opera was written about actors, who know the same joys and sorrows as the rest of us.

Excited villagers gather as a small troupe of actors arrive.  Canio, head of the troupe, describes that night's play, and when someone jokingly suggests that Tonio is secretly enamored of his young wife, Canio warns he will tolerate no flirting with Nedda.  As vesper bells call the women to church, the men go to the tavern, leaving Nedda alone.  Frightened by her husband's jealousy, she envies the freedom of the birds soaring overhead.  Tonio appears and implores her to love him; when she scorns him viciously, he vows vengeance.

Nedda in fact does have a lover: a villager named Silvio, who meets with her and persuades her to run away with him at midnight.  Tonio sees them and hurries off to tell Canio, who bursts in on the lovers.  Silvio escapes and Nedda refuses to identify him, even when Canio threatens her with a knife.  Beppe restrains Canio, and Tonio advises him to wait until evening to catch Nedda's lover.  The confrontation is cut short by the fact that the actors have a show to perform that night.  As he prepares, Canio sings of Nedda's betrayal, mourning the fact that he must play the clown though his heart is breaking.

The villagers, Silvio among them, gather for the play.  In the absence of her husband, Pagliaccio (played by Canio), Colombina (Nedda) is serenaded by her lover Arlecchino (Beppe), who dismisses her buffoonish servant, Taddeo (Tonio).  The sweethearts dine together and plot to poison Pagliaccio, who soon arrives; Arlecchino slips out the window.  With pointed malice, Taddeo assures Pagliaccio of his wife's innocence, firing Canio's real-life jealousy.  Forgetting the script, he demands that Nedda reveal her lover's name. She desperately tries to continue with the play, the audience applauding the realism of the "acting."  Maddened, Canio stabs Nedda and then Silvio, who has rushed forward from the crowd to help her.  Canio cries out that the comedy is ended.