‘THEIR VOICES MADE ME CRY’
Audiences enraptured by the Florida Grand Opera’s production of “I pagliacci” and lead singers Limmie Pulliam and Kearstin Piper Brown gave standing ovations to the classic play within a play. But they may as well have been shouting “Bravo!” to the play within a play within another play portraying real life, the story of a struggling South Florida company that first staged “Clowns” in segregated 1942 Miami now daring to reinvent itself by spotlighting two Black singers smashing stereotypes in a traditionally white, wealthy art form waning in popularity.
“As a Black opera singer I know people are going to see me before they hear me. They’re going to see my skin before they hear my voice,” said Piper Brown, a soprano cast in the role of Nedda. “I long to be heard before I’m seen. I long to change minds and help everyone understand that when people of color thrive, we all thrive.”
She is making her debut as Nedda for the Florida Grand Opera, which will stage its final two performances of “I pagliacci” Feb. 8 and 10 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts after earning rave reviews for three shows last week at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.
“This production with Kearstin means a lot to us,” said Pulliam, a tenor who plays Canio, the star actor in a traveling troupe who is betrayed by his wife. Stabbed by the heartbroken Canio, Nedda and her lover Silvio die, as the on-stage audience in a small Italian town reacts with confusion and horror. Is it real or part of the show? He declares “This comedy is over,” and the curtain falls.
“Early in my career it
VIDEO: Opera stars talk about making history Limmie
Pulliam and Kearstin Piper Brown talk about their roles in the Florida Grand Opera's ‘I Pagliacci.’
How two Black singers are breaking barriers at Miami opera
was not unusual for me to be the only Black face in the entire theater,” Pulliam said. “Today, South Florida gets to see two AfricanAmerican singers at the height of our vocal abilities when typically the only time you see more than one African-American on an opera stage is in ‘Porgy and Bess.’”
OPENING MINDS THROUGH OPERA
FGO’s production is a milestone. The oldest theater arts organization in the state opened with an allwhite cast premiere of “I pagliacci.” Eighty-two years later, new general director Maria Todaro and new president Tina Vidal-Duart share a vision for a renaissance of FGO, which was financially decimated by COVID. They want the opera and its fans to reflect the diversity of South Florida. Pulliam and Piper Brown personify that goal.
“We’ve got to provide more opportunities for Black and brown singers,” Pulliam said. “That’s the only way to grow our audience and our industry. It is frustrating that in 2024 we’re still calling a production such as this one ‘groundbreaking.’
“I’ve been told audiences would not be comfortable seeing an African-American male in a romantic role with a white female. To think an opera singer cannot be believable because he or she is Black shows you how far we have to go.”
Todaro recalls how her father, Italian opera singer Jose Todaro, used to play the role of Othello in black makeup.
“Opera has a reputation of being written by white people for white people,” she said. “But opera has made a lot of progress in a short time. Limmie and Kearstin are exquisite singers. Their skin color did not
Two Black singers in Florida
Grand Opera’s production of ‘I pagliacci’ receive rave reviews and break barriers in traditionally white opera