All too often, ambitious opera directors move operas from one time and place to another in an attempt to “improve” them via this or that bold new concept. In 1976 Patrice Chéreau’s notorious Bayreuth production placed Wagner’s Ring on a Rhine River (or possibly Hudson) blighted by tenements and a mammoth hydropower plant. Jonathan Miller’s controversial 1982 producti (...)
The Last Word
High-Concept Verdi
The remainder of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you’re not currently a Commonweal subscriber in print or online, an online-only subscription costs just $34 a year. Click here for immediate access.
I was the new production of Rigoletto in the high-definition transmission to a movie theatre (not the same experience as in the opera house but more accessible financially and geographically).
Professor Tilley makes many good points, but one thing lost in the new production is that the Duke is the political ruler, with power over his subjects that a casino operator lacks. That ducal power adds to the impact of his immoral attitudes and conduct. It is lost in the new production.
Correction: "saw" the new production!
Although I did not see this new Rigoletto the early reviews made me scoff and I imaagined my mother, a devoted fan of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, rotating in her grave. Prof. Tilley's thoughtful article changed my mind, even as I agree that Mr. Pagano's point about ducal power is a very good one. Woody Allen, after all, in To Rome With Love, conceived a production of Rigoletto where all the characters were dressed as white mice. Why not Las Vegas?