# The Met's [new] Rigoletto



## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

Couldn't find a thread for this yet. It all seems interesting and the story and concept is nice, but I have a strong feeling that the actual performance will not live up to the originality of the production (like the met is so good at doing).

thoughts?


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

The met has been kind of reaching beyond it's grasp recently. 

I gotta say, Rigoletto has never been a fav of mine. It has some great high lights but I always get stuck on the story. The Count is a scumbag, Gilda is one of those women who always defend their abuser and Rigoletto is not just a Fool, he's a gulible idiot.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I'll wait till i actually see it to decide - my experience has been that when reviewers attend the very same performance I do they come away with vastly different ideas about it


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> I'll wait till i actually see it to decide - my experience has been that when reviewers attend the very same performance I do they come away with vastly different ideas about it


Good thinking

I sometimes read a review of something I've seen & wonder if the critic was actually at the same performance


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Well, and we've talked about this before: reviewers don't seem to feel free to LOVE what they see. I guess so-called "professionalism" creates a barrier between them and the real operatic experience.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

drpraetorus said:


> I gotta say, Rigoletto has never been a fav of mine. It has some great high lights but I always get stuck on the story. The Count is a scumbag, Gilda is one of those women who always defend their abuser and Rigoletto is not just a Fool, he's a gulible idiot.


But the scumbag, the gullible idiot, and his dimwitted daughter have such beautiful music to sing!


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

The interview conducted by Deborah Voigt with Diana Damrau and Zeljko Lucic (sorry, I'm too lazy this morning to look up all those diacritical markings) during yesterday's airing of _Maria Stuarda _spectacularly failed to find any compelling reasons to do those beyond "You know, Frank Sinatra, Sin City, get it?" Typical question: Debbie: "Does this new production shed any new light on the drama of _Rigoletto_?" Diana: "No, not really."

Tee hee. I guess I am tired of _Rigoletto _anyway, having seen it in theater at least three times (Covent Garden, Dallas, Met) and listened to it on CD/DVD so many more, so think I will save my money and time. My favorite bar none is still Leonard Warren, although I quite enjoyed the Dresden Staatskapelle DVD with Damrau-Florez (bit light)-Lucic from a couple of years ago.

Best Regards,

George


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

In 2011, our local opera company staged a production of _Rigoletto_ that turned the Duke into a 1940s-era mobster boss. It wasn't horrible, but I can't say it was especially enlightening, either. The costume for Rigoletto looked as though it had been stolen from a hotel bell-hop.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> In 2011, our local opera company staged a production of _Rigoletto_ that turned the Duke into a 1940s-era mobster boss. It wasn't horrible, but I can't say it was especially enlightening, either. *The costume for Rigoletto looked as though it had been stolen from a hotel bell-hop*.




Welsh National Opera's Rigoletto a couple of year's ago was set in the White House in the 1960s & the Duke was a President (mmm??). Rigoletto was disabled and had an iron on his leg like the polio victims of years ago. I only went because Simon Keenlyside was Rigoletto but it was awful. :lol:


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

WELL. I was sitting in the cinema last Saturday waiting for Maria Stuarda to begin - how early do you have to come to those things to get a good seat, anyway? I was there a good hour early and everybody looked like they had been there QUITE a while. Yeesh. But anyway. So I was reading my book, not paying much attention to the pre-game entertainment - they advertise Broadway shows, coming Fathom events, and whatnot - and at some point I glanced up and there was a guy on stage doing a comedy routine with some Vegas showgirls. He was obviously pretending to be an Italian opera singer - think the parody Italian guy from Gay Divorcee, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - and he had a cute little patter song and it was all very humorous and ironic and I was just waiting for bottles of Sprite or Coke or whatever to appear when it all gradually became thuddingly clear: that was Piotr Beczala, and this was Rigoletto. WELL. I am breathless with anticipation. My ticket is for the same date as the HD broadcast so I'll see the best they can do, anyway. I thought the interview with Lucic and Damrau mentioned above made it pretty clear that Lucic for one is disgusted by the whole thing and only going through with it for the money. Of course, with that face, it's hard to imagine him not disgusted by something - if he didn't speak like a diplomat I'd half think he must be wanted for war crimes in some Eastern European country.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Welsh National Opera's Rigoletto a couple of year's ago was set in the White House in the 1960s & the Duke was a President (mmm??). Rigoletto was disabled and had an iron on his leg like the polio victims of years ago. I only went because Simon Keenlyside was Rigoletto but it was awful. :lol:


Yes, our favorite singers can compensate for a great deal!


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The Met's new updated Rigoletto is apparently tame compared to some of the loony productions in Europe, Germany in particular . The New York Times article on the Met Rigoletto last week in the Sunday arts section describes a recent Munich Rigoletto where the characters were dressed up as Gorillas !


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

Oh, yeah, the "Planet of the Apes" _Rigoletto_. I'm trying to recall who the tenor was who sang the Duke when this production came out several years ago -- he's fairly well known. (No, not Kaufmann!)


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> Oh, yeah, the "Planet of the Apes" _Rigoletto_. I'm trying to recall who the tenor was who sang the Duke when this production came out several years ago -- he's fairly well known. (No, not Kaufmann!)


:lol:

According to intermezzo the Duke should have been Joseph Calleja but he cancelled & Piotr Beczala sang instead.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I thought it might have been Beczala. It's given him an acute allergy to Regie, judging from interviews I have read.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Good grief, Planet of the Apes? Rather than ruin a good opera with such nonsense I would much rather insert a few arias and a lively overture into the Planet of the Apes movie.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Just packed up my significant other on his way east this morning so he can begin rehearsals for his upcoming gig. It will also be a good excuse for me to spend the occasional weekend in New York, starting in a few weeks: got tickets for Rigoletto on 2/23 and the lusciously cast Don Carlo the night before. Exciting times!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Well, I went to the performance Saturday afternoon, and I have to say, I thought it was extremely enjoyable. It all worked, it really did. The stage director didn't screw it up. The elevator trick was possibly more pointed and more effective than the usual fooling about with ladders, I thought. (Getting Rigoletto distracted while they kidnap Gilda.)

I did have a few quibbles. I thought they missed a couple of tricks dramatically - the crowd action in the opening scenes should really make it clear that Rigoletto is the WORST of the bunch, shouldn't it? And then when he's raging at them to try to get his daughter back, they really should pin him down and do something embarrassing to him to recapture audience sympathy - paint a clown face on him or something. I think that would have worked better. lol greg, stage director!

I thought Monterone and Sparafucile should have switched roles - they guy that sang Monterone had a really full-bodied sound, and Stefan Kocan's voice, though strong, was kind of empty. There's probably a term for that, but I don't know it. And Damrau for the first half was kind of weak in the top of her range. She got it back toward the end though, and I think everybody was happy. Lucic sang great, and Beczala didn't do too badly either.

But overall: extremely enjoyable. Not the travesty everyone was afraid of. Whew!


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> But overall: extremely enjoyable. Not the travesty everyone was afraid of. Whew!


Saw it last Saturday night from balcony. Again we are in agreement. The concept worked surprisingly well.

I really enjoyed the design of the sets, particularly the Duke's pad. Immediately before Act 2, I facebook tagged myself at "Verdi's version of 'The Hangover'", so I really enjoyed the morning-after feel of the post-kidnap courtiers/gangsters.

It was a solid performance all around, but I couldn't help comparing this cast to that of the La Scala Rigoletto I saw in November, two-thirds of which (Vittorio Grigolo and George Gagnidze) will be in the Met's April run. I think that would be the one to see. Grigolo brings an expressiveness and passion even beyond Beczala's substantial performance. And his undeniable star quality will suit this production to a tee.

My directorial quibbles:
The neon was nice eye candy and effective, especially the lightning effect, but at a few moments bordered on rock concert intensity that threatened to overwhelm the music.

The fateful reprise of La Donna e Mobile felt awkward to me and the solution seems _so_ obvious: The Duke has just awoke from a nap in seedy a hotel/apartment of ill-repute... why not sing in the shower?

Placing Sparafucile's victim in the spacious trunk of the '57 Cadillac or whatever it was made sense, but also made for an awkward final duet with Gilda leaning out of and Rigoletto leaning into the open trunk.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Cavaradossi said:


> The fateful reprise of La Donna e Mobile felt awkward to me and the solution seems _so_ obvious: The Duke has just awoke from a nap in seedy a hotel/apartment of ill-repute... why not sing in the shower?


Nice. Not sure Beczala will look as good as Maltman though!


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Nice. Not sure Beczala will look as good as Maltman though!


Oh my! I was picturing more of a strategically placed, tastefully trashy, mid-20th-century etched glass shower door - maybe with a mermaid pattern, or, this being the Wagner year, Rhinemaidens. Maybe they can get that worked out by the time Grigolo arrives in town. They should already have the plumbing in place under the stage from Parsifal... :devil:


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