Opera-Rigoletto

Rigoletto is an opera that takes human frailty to the extreme.  Perhaps that is the basis for Opera anyway.  Arias and duets are sung with great emotion as the characters are swept up in the drama of rage, jealousy, despair, deceit and frivolity. 

Rigoletto the main character, is a Duke’s jester.  He entertains the Duke, but does so at the expense of other courtiers.  As a result, he makes enemies who wait to take revenge. The Duke is a philanderer who is accused by Count Monterone that he has shamed his daughter.  Rigoletto insults the Count and in turn, the Count curses Rigoletto.  Rigoletto is concerned because he also has a daughter who he has kept sheltered over the years.  The duets between Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda, are absolutely beautiful.

Gilda adores her father and obeys him by staying home, leaving only to go to church.  But at church, the Duke spots her and tries to win her heart.  Of course she falls hopelessly in love with him. 

In the meantime, the courtiers spy on Rigoletto and see him with Gilda.  They think Gilda is his lover and they kidnap her, taking her to the Duke.  Rigoletto discovers what they have done and he rushes back to the palace.  Gilda flings herself on her father, confessing her shame by the kidnapping and liaison with the Duke.  

Rigoletto takes Gilda home to dress her in men’s clothes so that she can escape the shame of Mantua.  He then hires an assassin to kill the Duke for shaming his daughter.  During a dark and stormy night at an inn, Gilda overhears the assassin’s plot.  To save her love, she pretends to be the Duke and is killed instead.  When Rigoletto returns to the inn, he is overwhelmed with grief when he discovers the body of his daughter.  In the background he hears the dang Duke singing.  The curse!

I thought the singing and the bright costumes were beautiful.  But I couldn’t identify with the characters to become emotional.  Rigoletto was mean to others and a bit twisted that he control his daughter’s life so much that she didn’t know any better and fell for the Duke who didn’t deserve her sacrifice.

Would we see it again?  Of course, of course.  It is a Verdi classic and the music transcends the characters’ frailties. 

George Gagnidze plays Rigoletto, Sarah Coburn plays Gilda and Gianluca Terranova plays the Duke.  All well done.