Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano English Translation by Anne & Herbert Grossman Directed by Jim Kimbrough
Florence, 1299. Buoso Donati is dead, and his relatives are weeping - until they find out he left everything to the monks. Now they're furious. Enter Gianni Schicchi, a clever outsider they'd normally look down on, who devises a scheme: he'll impersonate the corpse and dictate a new will to the notary. The relatives agree, each secretly bribing him to leave them the best stuff. What Schicchi does instead is Puccini's only comedy - and one of opera's most satisfying cons.
