Christopher Walker reviews The Royal Opera House’s Rigoletto

A star is born. The Royal opera House’s superb production of Verdi’s Rigoletto is a perfect vehicle for the London debut of young Italian soprano Rosa Feola.

She is outstanding. And teamed with fellow Italian Luca Salsi, the dynamism of the singing is only matched by the greatness of the drama.

A clever production, conducted expertly by Stefano Montanari, this is a ‘must’ for opera fans.

Rigoletto is based on Victor Hugo’s controversial play Le Roi s’amuse (“The king amuses himself”), whose depiction of a cynical, womanising, French monarch (Francis I) was considered so shocking it was banned.

To get through the censors in 1851 Verdi had to transpose it to Mantua, and the King became a Duke from an extinct royal family. Hence all these Italians.

The plot centres on the antics of the Duke’s Court which is little more than a pack of dogs, an element well captured by the intelligent direction of Oliver Mears.

The Duke happily seduces his followers’ wives and impregnates their daughters, egged on by his hunchback court jester Rigoletto.

Mocking one wronged father, Rigoletto is unsurprisingly cursed by him (the original working title of the opera was indeed “The Curse”).

The Duke’s capricious, abusive antics are hard to watch, and in this post “me-too” age, the feeling of outrage is on steroids. At one point I thought someone in the audience would drag him off stage.

Still, Verdi gives him plenty of excellent music including the most famous aria “La donna è mobile” (woman is fickle).

Verdi knew he had a hit on his hands, and afraid of rip-offs the original singer was given the music at the last moment and banned from whistling.

Because of this, The Duke is often played by talented but overly mature tenors.

Here, thankfully, Francesco Demuro is as young and jaunty as the Duke should be.

However, there is no question that the real stars of this production are the Duke’s court jester Rigoletto, Luca Salsi, and his daughter Gilda, Rosa Feola.

Rigoletto (the name derives from the French for jesting) is one of the most complex characters in opera.

Debased and deformed, yet all seeing, he in many ways dominates the Duke’s court.

For this to succeed on stage you need a singer who can act, and we certainly are given that in Salsi.

He is absolutely superb, and conveys the character’s pathos well. He also interacts perfectly with Rosa Feola as his daughter, and Feola’s voice is quite outstanding.

A welcome addition to the London stage. I can’t wait to hear her sing again.

Rigoletto secretes his virginal only daughter away from the terrible court in which he is employed and debased.

Inevitably, the pack finds out and led by the foppish Marullo (the divine Dominic Sedgwick) kidnaps her, to be served up to their master.

Of course, the sluttish Duke has already penetrated her sanctuary and captured her heart, though he himself remains unmoved.

In the final act, we find him back in the gutter, at the house of the thug Sparafucile (the excellent Evgeny Stavinsky) seducing his drunken sister Maddalena (a super Aigul Akhmetshina).

In a wonderful stylish staging by Simon Lima Holdsworth his objectification of women is captured in a trilogy of images – an idolized canvas, Gilda’s virginal purdah, and Maddalena’s pornographic bedroom.

It is pure genius.

The real joke of this piece is that despite the message of “La donna è mobile,” it is in fact the women who are loyal to an undeserving carnal man.

If you love Verdi, you must go – https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/rigoletto-by-oliver-mears-dates

 

Rigoletto 2022; Royal Opera House. Credit and copyright: Helen Murray