Where would opera, indeed, all fiction, be without deceit, or, at the very least, misunderstanding? Rigoletto, the great Giuseppe Verdi opera, is based on deceit and love; Opera Theatre of St. Louis gives it a dark, dramatic treatment showcasing both those elements. Despite darkness, drama and deceit, it manages to be quite beautiful, no small trick.
Based on a Victor Hugo story, the opera was originally set in the court of the duke of Mantua. Director Bruno Ravello has moved it to mid-19th Century Paris. It opens with a scene that’s Toulouse-Lautrec out of Degas with some lighting by Rembrandt, all at a cabaret full of the upper crust and some of the demi-monde. The duke is deeply licentious, bedding as many women as he can; tonight he’s considering a young ballerina and enjoying the can-can dancers. Rigoletto, an entertainer at court, is there. He’s disfigured by a major birthmark on his face, but uses a ventriloquist’s dummy to make cutting remarks to one and all. An old nobleman comes into the festivities. The duke has seduced his daughter but his outrage is met with scorn from the duke and Rigoletto as well. The aged father pronounces a curse on them both.
In other news, the duke’s roving eye has also hit on a sweet young thing he’s seen at mass. He intends to identify and then move on her. He has no idea she’s Gilda, the daughter of the widowed Rigoletto, who’s very tight-lipped about his private life. In fact, courtiers who have seen them think she’s Rigoletto’s mistress. Gilda, very sheltered by her father, knows there’s a handsome young man eyeing her at church and tells her maid she’s in love with him. There’s a knock at the door – and there’s her young man. It is, of course, the duke, using what we might term a nom de sheets. Just a penniless student, he assures her! Loves her! Will never love anyone else! She’s swooning, but dad’s coming and he ducks out before he’s caught.
The courtiers decide to kidnap Rigoletto’s “mistress” as a gift to the duke, and cart her off to his bedroom. [We have no idea of what she initially thinks when her “impoverished student” turns out to be a duke who has his wicked way with her.]
And this is just the first act.
Roland Wood, as Rigoletto, is splendid, both in his acting and his singing, a gorgeous voice showing his pride in his daughter and his terrible pain. The duke, Joshua Wheeler, is a charmer, great on the surface, but showing little if any conscience about what he does, even when we’re thinking maybe he really does love Gilda. His is the signature aria, la donna e mobile, and it sounds quite delicious if one overlooks the boldly superficial outlook it delineates. Gilda is So Young Park, an amazing voice, although physically rather stiff in her early scenes.
The curse-invoking father sung by Nicholas Newton, is deeply enraged, memorable in both sound and presence. A hired assassin comes to us via Christian Zaremba, slithery and threatening, and his sister, with whom he lures victims, is Lindsay Ammann. She’s quite a character, with a thrilling voice.
That wondrous light I spoke of, a golden glow, reappears several more times, and is the work of lighting designer Christopher Akerlind. Tom Watson created the wigs and makeup, particularly key in this birthmark-centric version, and the carefully-done costumes come from Mark Bouman. Roberto Kalb is conducting the orchestra for this beautiful, and of course very dramatic score – hey, it’s Verdi.
An exciting opening evening, even if it hadn’t been enhanced by thunder and rain outside while a thunderstorm is threatening onstage.
Rigoletto
through June 30
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Loretto-Hilton Center
130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves
314-961-0644