Knoxville Opera closes its 2025–2026 “Masters of Mischief” season this weekend with Gianni Schicchi, a comic opera that feels more like an episode of Succession than the version of “opera” most people picture in their heads.
I’ve played fast and loose with my cheeky reviews of this season’s productions (see also: Carmen and Il Barbiere di Siviglia), partly because I think opera deserves a little liberation from the long shadow of its stereotypes — that it’s slow, stuffy, elitist or somehow culturally assigned to people who own opera glasses and say things like “summering.”
The fact that the folks at Knoxville Opera have not only tolerated my creative liberties but egged them on only confirms my enthusiasm for this institution. Under the leadership of General Director & CEO Jason Hardy, Knoxville Opera has been intentionally working to make the art form feel welcoming, engaging and accessible without sacrificing artistic quality.
They are also clearly having fun with it, too. If you don’t already follow Knoxville Opera on social media (Facebook | Instagram), you’re missing out on some genuinely funny, self-aware content that understands you can honor a centuries-old art form without treating it like a museum artifact.
In reality, a lot of opera is funny. Messy. Dramatic in the way good reality television is dramatic. People scheming, seducing, lying, disguising themselves, ruining dinner parties and making terrible decisions with tremendous confidence.
Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi leans fully into that energy. It’s brisk, chaotic and thoroughly entertaining, centered around a family so consumed by inheritance drama that they enlist a con man to help rewrite a dead relative’s will. Naturally, this does not go entirely according to plan.
Not unlike Succession, Gianni Schicchi is full of awful people and yet you can’t stop watching. Greed, family dysfunction and opportunism drive the plot at a pace that feels surprisingly modern for a work that premiered in 1918.
I really enjoyed this interview, which includes so many interesting details about the show I wouldn’t have picked up on otherwise (“just come see the helmet!”):
In this production, Timothy Mix is a real trip as Gianni, swaggering into the mayhem with the energy of a guy who absolutely knows he’s the smartest person in the room but also — and he plays this note subtly — may be one of the only people in the opera with any functioning moral compass whatsoever.
And then there are the genuinely sweet young lovers Lauretta and Rinuccio. Helen Zhibing Huang is a delight as Lauretta, Gianni’s daughter, cutting through the opera’s parade of greedy weirdos with warmth and charm. She delivers the show’s most famous moment, “O mio babbino caro” (“Oh My Beloved Father”), an aria that I promise is embedded somewhere deep in your subconscious. In the middle of all the inheritance scheming and toxic family drama, Lauretta basically steps in like, “Okay but I’m actually in love over here???” and suddenly the whole room softens for a few minutes.
But not for long!
The whole production moves fast, looks fantastic and never overstays its welcome, making it a great entry point for the opera-curious or an inviting on-ramp for kids. I was in and out of dress rehearsal in barely over an hour, which means you can get a full evening of world-class opera and still have plenty of time for dinner, drinks or dessert afterward at one of downtown’s many fine establishments. Or, alternately, be home in pajamas by 9:30 p.m. Choose your own adventure.
Gianni Schicchi
7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8
2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 10
Bijou Theatre
Tickets are $30-$135
There’s a free pre-show talk before each performance (6:35 p.m. Friday and 1:35 p.m. Saturday) if you want to deepen the experience.
Limited tickets ($45) are also still available for the Pre-Opera Brunch on Sunday, May 10, at noon at KoPita Authentic Mediterranean (507 S Gay St.). Hosted by the Knoxville Opera Camerata, Chef Avi Zenatti will open the restaurant exclusively for KO patrons and prepare a family-style Mediterranean feast.
On a personal note, I want to thank Knoxville Opera for its ongoing support of Inside of Knoxville. It’s been a genuine pleasure to reconnect with this diamond of a local cultural asset over the past year and get to know the Opera’s deeply talented and passionate team along the way.
Learn more about the Knoxville Opera here.
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