What do these famous cultural references have in common? The fifth episode in the first season of the 1960s television show Batman, which introduced Cesar Romero as the Joker; the Agatha Christie short story, Swan Song; the Marvin Gaye song, (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade is Over; the 1970 hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Tears of a Clown; the 49th episode of Seinfeld, “The Opera;” The Simpsons episode, “The Italian Bob.”
Each of them references the opera Pagliacci (Clowns), either by quoting lines from one of the songs or showing characters in an actual production. It’s a famous opera that has filtered into mainstream culture. Pagliacci is the concluding event of the Opera Festival of Chicago‘s fifth season.
