Rigoletto
Welsh National Opera, Rigoletto: Latex, knickers and lots of wigs. Thankfully some very fine singing.
It is quite an achievement, making the womanising Duke of Mantua the only likeable character in Rigoletto. This was despite Raffaele Abete not giving the finest of the vocal performances of the evening. They belonged to the Rigoletto of Daniel Luis de Vicente and Gilda from Soraya Mafi. Admittedly Abete was not the originally cast…
Singing soars above what risks being a one trick zebra
I have had a Jon Snow moment, watching a production that is based on one premiss, black people can be vulnerable outsiders, surrounded by as far as I can see virtually an overwhelmingly white audience. I am not sure what that says about opera or about its reach, but I also suspect that applying a…
Opera North new season dates
Questions of power and identity, love and loss, will be coming to theatres across the North of England in the new year as Opera North opens its winter season with two new productions, while also offering another chance to see its new production of Carmen which premiered in September. Wagner’s Parsifal follows in June, with…
Opera North announces winter season
Questions of power and identity, love and loss, will be coming to theatres across the North of England in the new year as Opera North opens its winter season with two new productions, while also offering another chance to see its new production of Carmen which premiered in September. The Company’s eagerly-awaited concert staging of…
Rigoletto, Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre
This production of Verdi’s Rigoletto is a winning return to form for WNO. The story of the jester Rigoletto’s attempted revenge on his master the Duke for the seduction of his daughter Gilda, the action is transposed to Washington DC in the sixties, evoked by the costumes and design, such as Gilda’s hairband and bobby…