In the expectedly inventive directorial interpretation by Mario Kovač and under the baton of Maestro Ivo Lipanović, the production brings to the stage elements typical of the era of its creation: characters of flesh and blood from lower social strata, whose sufferings are real and often bloody, clash with one another in a naturalistic manner. Drawing inspiration from an actual crime, Leoncavallo set the story of jealousy, infidelity, and murder among a troupe of traveling actors, creating a dramatic and emotional "theater within a theater" in which the tragic character Canio, with the mask of Pagliaccio, laments "Vesti la giubba", an aria that has made some of the greatest names in opera history famous.