Plot Summary

"Some puns, some jokes, /Some very funny folks..." What else would you expect from Italy's classic commedia dell'arte, ask the two players who introduce Goosefeathers in its opening number. They display the masks and costumes they will use to portray seven different characters: the clever servant, Pedrolino; his bumbling fellow-servant, Arlecchino; their respective masters, Pantalone and Zanni; the swaggering Captain Braggadocio; Columbina, the lovely (if rustic) gooseseller; and the absent-minded Countess whose wild goose chase threads through the entire story.

News of the Countess's impending arrival for dinner sets the wheels of Goosefeather's farcical action turning. Zanni, the eager host, dispatches his servant Arlecchino to the market with a gold coin to buy geese ("The Goose Song"), while Pantalone, also invited to dinner, sends his servant Pedrolino to fetch his ruby ring from the jewelers, where it has been cleaned and repaired. Arlecchino, a would-be magician, tries to impress his friend Pedrolino with a disappearing coin trick, but after making Zanni's gold coin disappear, Arlecchino is unable to bring it back. At a loss as to how he will buy the geese for the countess's dinner, Arlecchino turns to Pedrolino for help, and Pedrolino hatches a clever plan ("Pedrolino's Plan Song"). He decides to sell Pantalone's gold ring to the boastful Captain Braggadocio, who insists on regaling Pedrolino with tales of his brave exploits ("A Moment Of My Time"). Having sold the ring for one gold coin, Pedrolino deftly steals the ring back from its new owner, leaving him in possession of both the ring and the gold.

Arlecchino, meanwhile, has been to the market, and one sight of the gooseseller, Columbina, has left his smitten by Cupid's dart. He takes the gold from Pedrolino, and pleads with him to loan him the ring as well, hoping to impress the new object of his affections. At the market, however, Columbina takes more of a fancy to the ring than to its wearer ("Love Duet"), and Arlecchino manages to lose the ring, believing that one of the gaggle of geese he has just bought has eaten it. Pedrolino suggests they cook and eat the geese; surely the ring will turn up, he tells his distraught friend. Twelve geese later, they are left with no ring, no gold coin, no geese, and only a stomach ache to show for their efforts.

Meanwhile, their masters, Pantalone and Zanni, voice their growing vexation with their servants' ineptitude in "The Masters' Song": "Can you believe how hard it is/To find good help nowadays?/When will we ever get the service we deserve?" Drawing once more upon his wits, Pedrolino decides to disguise himself as a dentist; he presents himself to Pantalone and offers to pull his rotten tooth for one gold coin ("Doctor Buffo"). Pantalone spurns the proferred extraction, leaving Pedrolino empty-handed just as the Captain returns to demand the return of his gold coin in repayment for the missing ring. A chase ensues ("Our Goose Is Cooked"), with the two players swapping costumes feverishly as they chase one another through the village square as a variety of characters. How does Arlecchino retrieve the gold and Pedrolino retrieve the ring? Will the Countess ever find Zanni's house in time for dinner? And just how many geese are in a gaggle? All it takes is a little bit of theatrical magic to resolve this farcical tale and deliver the audience their promised happy ending ("That's What You Expect" reprise).