Opera Chic

Daniele Abbado's Rigoletto for La Fenice

Ages from its premiere at La Fenice in 1851, Italian opera director Daniele Abbado brings his new vision for Verdi's tragic opera (and Piave's gorgeously effective libretto) Rigoletto to Venice's historic opera house on September 25th.

Opening night's cast is Eric Cutler as The Duke, Roberto Frontali as Rigoletto, and Désirée Rancatore as Gilda. Our favorite humanitarian conductor, Myung-Whun Chung, conducts. 

Abbado (junior) spoke to Corriere's Io Donna about the new production: 

"The theatrical language of Rigoletto is powerful and revolutionary. In those years, Verdi was thinking about writing an opera about King Lear and he retained lots of ideas about that project which influenced this work. My production cuts out the exaggerated, deformed appearance of Rigoletto because to me it's not right to represent him like an Elephant Man figure. Instead, the scandalous characteristics of the opera depends on the fact that none of the protagonists have a uniform nature. Rigoletto, the Duke, and even Gilda mix in reality the negative and positive elements of their souls. None of them is completely innocent, the good and the bad is mixed in their hearts." 

Purring in Mantova

It's cool and all that the live-action Rigoletto from Mantova brought us so many treats: Domingo as baritone (again) in another career milestone, the gorgeous Renaissance palazzi and fortresses of Mantova, and the lush, cinematic vision of a talented cast and crew. But for OC, it pales in comparison to a small item found in La Repubblica. During filming, the cast and crew of over 350 people warmed to a stray cat that was hanging out at the Rocca di Sparafucile. Ingratiating himself to the cast, they called him "Sparafucilino", elected him as mascot and called him a good luck charm. We only hope that one of those 350 gave little Sparafucilino a warm home full of tuna and catnip.

More Photos from the Live Action Rigoletto in Mantova

(Above: Act II, Domingo in Mantova's Palazzo Ducale)

More photos from the live-from-Mantova Rigoletto (covered here, here, and here). 

^^^UPDATE^^^: you can watch it live, online via ZDF. 

 

(Above: Act II in Mantova's Palazzo Ducale)

 

(Above: Domingo as Rigoletto)

^^^Click for ten more!^^^

Domingo as Rigoletto, Raimondi as Sparafucile

First view of Domingo and Raimondi in tomorrow night's world premiere of Rigoletto in Mantova. 

Rehearsal Photos from the Mantova Rigoletto

 

ZDF offers a slide show of rehearsal photos from the live-action Rigolettothat's taking Mantova by storm on September 4. It's Rigolettowith Placido Domingo and Vittorio Griogolo in the true-to-libretto locations of Verdi's opera (OC posted about it here).

Access it here.

Live Action Hero Grigolo Heads to Mantova for an Open Air Rigoletto

All the world's a(n) (opera) stage. Verdi's Rigoletto takes it to the streets for a live-action performance of the opera, where the singers will wander Mantova's authentic landmarks noted in Francesco Maria Piave's libretto: Palazzo Te, Palazzo Ducale, and Castello di San Giorgio will be lousy with opera spectators and singers -- among them Ruggero Raimondi, Placidone Domingone (singing for the first time Rigoletto), and Vittorio Griogolo as the Duke. RAI's Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale will provide the soundtrack, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta.

Directed by Marco Bellocchio, RAI will broadcast «Rigoletto a Mantova» live to 138 countries on September 4 & 5. Although the interactive idea isn't particularly new (there's a live "Tosca in the Settings and Times of Tosca" from 1992 and a "La Traviata à Paris" from 2000), it attracts both opera fans and haters.  

Vittorio Grigolo spoke to Corriere della Sera (above) about the possible backlash from critics and opera purists who could crankily pan the unconventional Rigoletto as a detraction from the Opera is Serious Business ethic. Grigolo doesn't really care as long as the event has the potential to bring young people closer to opera. He also says it's important for him to sing and develop his career when he's young so that it attracts teens and new audiences to opera -- because if he doesn't e/insure a loyal following now, who will come to see him in 2035 when he hopes to still be singing? Don't worry, OC will be there in 2035 to hear him in Alfano's Cyrano...in vintage Alaia and orthopedic Roger Vivier.

The Duke of Mantua Gets His Filth On: Screenshots from Dresden Rigoletto

If you've ever fantasized about a mulleted Juan Diego Flórez fondling (fondueing) the bewbs of a topless young lady who happens to be naked aside from black spandex bottoms and a giant eagle head, you've come to the right place. Thanks to the 8-bottles-of-Robotussin-induced direction for the Staatsoper Dresden's Rigoletto, Nikolaus Lehnhoff begins Verdi's timeless masterpiece with a Hieronymus Bosch bang, which by Scene II, dies back down to a barely audible LeRoy Neiman fizz.

~*OC*~ made two flickr sets of plasma screen shots from the ARTE "live" broadcast of the June 21, 2008 Rigoletto at Staatsoper Dresden to satisfy all your Flórez needs.

 

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Go here for the Safe For Work set of 50ish images from the opera.

Go here for the Not Safe For Work set...JDF cupping Act I bewbs.

Too Much Love Will Kill You: Diana Damrau Shows You How It's Done

Ignore that silly baby blue house of dolls the director has trapped her in; nevermind those zany ninjas waiting to kidnap her. Just listen to her phrasing, witness her colors come alive. And watch her fall asleep, safe in the arms in love. To steal the show from the greatest tenore di grazia of this age on the night of his first big Duke of Mantua, you need a voice like this, and this kind of dramatic truth. Opera Chic is awed by the brilliance of Diana Damrau's star, even in that darkest night of Regietheater.

The Duke Of Mantua Is A Chubby Chaser: JDF in Dresden, "Bella Figlia Dell'Amore"

**** La Donna E' Mobile, Hells Yeah:

Live Aus Dresden: Juan Diego Florez's Duke Of Mantua, Finally -- On Arte TV

Just a teaser because it's late; and until tomorrow, enjoy the photos and just a few words -- tonight at 7PM Juan Diego Florez debuted in Europe his Duke of Mantua, his first big Verdi role (unitl now he had steered clear of all Verdi except for his delicious Fenton) that he had introduced to the world in Peru two months ago.

At 9PM -- just the time to crudely edit out all intermissions and the big ovations after the big arias -- Arte Tv has broadcast the entire show via satellite. Here are some images from the insanely bad production -- whose director thought a good idea to burden JDF with a terrifying mullet, a tragic ponytail in Act II, 1970s dinner jackets, leather trench coats, leather vests (revealing not-so-toned upper arms -- el mejor tenor del mundo needs to hit the gym a bit because, for once, we'd like our opera legends of today and tomorrow and of the day after tomorrow to be ripped, if at all possible) -- the Duke of Mantua in the Dresden production was in fact the Duke of Star Trek, presiding over a court of devils, lizards, crows, space aliens with grey metallic skin, topless girls with giant pigeon heads.

How was his Duke, ignoring the visual horror of the production? Juan Diego created a nervous, capricious monster of egotism with a hidden romantic, sweet streak -- whose lighter tenor voice cannot obviously match the greatest, thuggish Dukes of the past, but whose beautiful phrasing, warmth and clarity -- oh the sheer beauty of Florez's voice -- can make us understand not the Duke, but Gilda better.

Because it makes us understand how is it even possible to die for his lies -- even his "dear name", of course, is as phony as everything else about him. The fact that Gilda was Diana Damrau -- not simply the queen of the night but one of the very few queens of nowadays opera, really at the top of the game -- only made the night more special. And it was difficult not to swoon for the Staatskapelle's sound, thanks to Fabio Luisi's intelligent reading of the score -- a dark, burnished hearbeat pulsing through the night, with a wonderful transparency of sound, rich of German depth and Italianate warmth.

Of course, with a different, saner director in Niki Lehnhoff's place and Leo Nucci as Rigoletto we'd be able to call tonight's Rigoletto "the Dresden Rigoletto" the same way we say, fer example, "the Lisbon Traviata". But since the only true giant of this impossible role, il maestro Leo Nucci, wasn't part of the cast, we can only say that, yes, Zeljko Lucic's Rigoletto was vocally correct, if dramatically inert. Much more, of course, tomorrow.