Tragédie
Comique
(All shows can be adjusted/expanded/simplified to fit your ensemble.)
Source Material
I Started a Joke - Bee Gees
Once Upon a Time from “La Nouba” - Cirque du Soleil
Send in the Clowns - Stephen Sondheim
Tragédie Comique - Tate Fincher
Client is responsible for all arranging and performance rights.
Tragédie Comique explores the fragile space between laughter and heartbreak, where humor becomes a mask and performance reveals something painfully human. Inspired by the world of theatrical irony, tragic clowns, masquerade, and emotional contradiction, the show moves through elegance, distortion, vulnerability, and final revelation. What begins as wit and spectacle gradually exposes the sadness beneath the surface, inviting the audience into a world where comedy and tragedy are never far apart.
The production unfolds through four movements: A Jest in Earnest, Procession Grotesque, Behind the Smile, and Tragédie Comique. Each movement peels back another layer of the theatrical façade, shifting from playful irony to grotesque exaggeration, then into a deeply personal ballad of regret and longing. In the end, the full tragicomic world is revealed: beautiful, unsettling, dramatic, and strangely familiar.
With rich visual imagery, expressive musical contrasts, and a darkly elegant theatrical identity, Tragédie Comique asks a simple question: when the curtain falls, are we laughing at the tragedy — or grieving the joke?
I - A Jest in Earnest
II - Procession Grotesque
III - Behind the Smile
IV - Tragédie Comique
Full Show Coming Soon
Note Regarding Percussion Parts/Sounds
Most percussion sounds in my marching shows are meant to represent “percussion goes here” - I’m not a marching percussion writer…they are just a sketch.
I will work with your percussion arranger or help you find one!