When it comes to trying to make opera look more attractive to the new generations of operagoers, we saw the other day that dour La Scala chose a baffling campaign that reminds one of Halloween. Sunny Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, on the other hand, has chosen a less frightening path: they not only created a campaign, but they actually created a special event. A sort of back-to-school Verdi Festival where they stage the Trilogia Popolare with young cool (ie cheaper) casts and simpler (ie cheaper) sets trying to replace big budgets with good ideas in this season of deep cuts that the Italian government ungenerously imposed on opera houses.
The logo? A bunch of cans of tomato sauce, Verdi brand -- Rigoletto with "Intense and Aromatic" flavor, Trovatore "Strong and Spicy", Traviata, what else, "Sweet and Bitter".
The first show was "Rigoletto", conducted by Stefano Ranzani, directed by Franco Ripa di Meana, with the wonderful charismatic trio of James Valenti and Desirée Rancatore -- plus other young up-and-coming singers alternating as the Duke, Gilda and Maddalena. Ivan Inverardi ad Alberto Grazale will alternate as Rigoletto.
Director Franco Ripa di Meana, bless his heart, went for a simple, brash staging where naughty things happen in the blood-red velvet backseat of an old 1930s sedan, and corsets and pushed-up bewbs abound.
Click below for more, bigger bewbs after the jump...