Francesco Meli makes being the Duke of Mantua look pretty appealing in David McVicar’s 2001 Rigoletto, back at the Royal Opera House until 1st March. The army of flatterers, sumptuous costumes and consequence free trysts with a bevy of beauties are all very well but it’s the way Meli sings the wonderful songs that makes the Duke the real hero in Verdi’s opera. Meli is making his Covent Garden debut in this production and it is worth going just to hear the exuberance in his voice when he finally breaks into La donna e mobile in Act III.
Verdi based Rigoletto on the play Le Roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave. It was first performed in Venice in 1851.
Rigoletto’s enduring fascination down the years has had much to do with the quality and range of the music and Daniel Oren conducts flawlessly. David McVicar is also careful to make the most of the brutality in Verdi’s Mantua: Michael Vale’s clever revolving set shows the opulent decadence of the court and the underworld habitat of Rigoletto and Sparafucile to be two sides of the same coin. In neither arena do goodness or virtue abound: the self-sacrifice of Gilda, movingly sung by Ekaterina Siurina, leaves Rigoletto broken, Monterone unavenged and the Duke free to ruin more lives. Cruelty and corruption work their will unanswered in the guise of wealth and beauty.
The Royal Opera House is tailor-made for the large chorus operas in the repertory” there is something inherently pleasing about the swelling sound of a horde of excellent singers sweeping about in cloaks and masks. This production delivers its fair share of full stage spectacle but the intimate duets are where it really comes into its own. Such is the tenderness between the Duke and Gilda in Act I that you can almost believe there might be a happy ending for them both.
The Royal Opera’s Rigoletto is at the Royal Opera House’s Main Auditorium, Covent Garden until 1 March 2009.
