Last night was the closing night of Rigoletto at the Seattle Opera. It was an enjoyable evening, and there was much to be admired in the orchestra and the singers, but overall this production was slightly below the level that I have come to expect from the Seattle Opera.
Riccardo Frizza was the conductor for the evening. He's Italian of course, and he has conducted in several major opera houses around the world. He took the overture slowly and gravely, setting a dark and dramatic mood for the beginning of the opera. The orchestra sounded solid and impressive throughout, and at the end of it the curtain rose to reveal the opening scene of the Duke's party.
Francesco Demuro, who we saw in La Bohème back in March, was excellent as the Duke. He has a clear, rich voice and great lyricism. Already though, throughout the opening party scene, it began to be evident that the different components of the production weren't quite locked in right. Some of the dancing in the party looked awkward and contrived, and some of the singing was slightly out of sync with the orchestra. It didn't have the complete cohesion and togetherness that were present in La Bohème, The Daughter of the Regiment and Wagner's Ring Cycle.
I was immediately disappointed with Marco Vratogna's Rigoletto, both visually and aurally. He didn't look like much of a hunchback, and there was something coarse and distant about his acting. In addition, his voice didn't project very well.
The whole production was set in Fascist Italy, which I won't speak too much about as it had no impact on my impression of it. I didn't see the point of setting it there, but it also didn't interfere too much with the story, so I was neutral about it. One very interesting element of that setting though was the fact that they made Count Monterone into a sort of Jewish stereotype. He had a yarmulke on his head, glasses, and he looked slightly disheveled and was the spitting image of the concerned father. He got beaten up quite badly by the brutish courtiers who here took on the appearance of the fascist police. They would often give the Hitler salute throughout the production.
Monterone, played by Donovan Singletary, also didn't have a voice that projected very well, which is a terrible thing given that he sings about his voice "falling upon you like thunder," and his placing of the curse on Rigoletto is supposed to be imposing and terrifying; here it was neither. Soon enough the first scene came to an end, the curtain came down for a little while, and then we found ourselves in the dark alley where Rigoletto bumps into the assassin Sparafucile. Andrea Silvestrelli was a wonderful Sparafucile. I was very much looking forward to seeing him again after his performance as Hunding in The Ring. Here he didn't quite give as stellar a performance, but his appearance, mannerisms and voice all worked perfectly for the shady character.
Once we got into Rigoletto's house and he greets his daughter Gilda, the production took on a greater level of subtlety and involvement. The interactions between the two were wonderful, and Nadine Sierra was a perfect Gilda. Vratogna's stale acting and quiet voice notwithstanding, everything was done very well, and Sierra carried the show through most of this scene and into her famous aria, Caro Nome. The Duke of course appears before then, wooing Gilda and thereby prompting her to sing Caro Nome after he leaves. Demuro gave a stellar performance in this scene as well, and Gilda perfectly portrayed the innocent, naïve girl.
I should mention that my expectations for the character of Rigoletto have been set by Cornell MacNeil's performance in the 1977 Metropolitan Opera DVD. It is a truly exceptional performance and an example of a singer completely transforming into their character, so it is extremely difficult to meet that standard.
Anyways, towards the end of Caro Nome, Nadine Sierra went out on a limb and had what seemed like an extended series of elaborated endings which consisted mostly of herself singing very high notes with no orchestral accompaniment. I'm not familiar enough with the music to know whether everything she sang was merely a stretched version of what's in the score, or whether she was actually adding ornaments as well.
There were dramatic and suggestive touches added to many scenes throughout the opera. The first one was the fact that Monterone's daughter was actually present at the opening party scene, drunk and almost taken advantage of by the Duke. The next major one was in the concluding segment of the first act, when the Duke's men come into Rigoletto's house to kidnap Gilda. One of the thugs gags and binds Rigoletto's maid, and as the tense scene unfolds she sits tied to a chair sobbing.
Even though the tension and drama in the act's conclusion wasn't quite what I hoped it would be, it did achieve a certain erie quality to it. When Rigoletto tears off his blindfold and begins searching the house for Gilda, the rising motives in the orchestra were slow and deliberate, giving it a fluid drive that differs from the standard sharp-edged interpretations that move more hastily. Vratogna took no deviations from the score in his closing cries, which dampened the drama compared to some of the recordings we are used to now, but I can't complain if Verdi wouldn't have. Then the curtain fell, concluding the first act.
A long intermission followed, scarcely shorter than the second act that was to follow it. We wandered around, looked into the orchestra pit, and returned to our seats. A woman who sat next to us asked us how we were liking it so far, and apparently she was a singer herself.
The second act takes place entirely inside the Duke's home, and it is about half the length of the first act. The Duke is flustered over the fact that Gilda has gone missing, unaware that his own men kidnapped her. He figures it out quickly and goes to join her in whatever room his men put her. Rigoletto then comes in and has a dramatic confrontation with the Duke's men over the kidnapping of his daughter. The strings in the orchestra played their most fiery during the moments when Rigoletto calls the courtiers a vile race and begs them to give him back his daughter. All in all this act was very solid, moreso even than the first, and by the end of it I began to get the feeling that my slight lack of enthusiasm for the production was simply for the same reasons that I've always had a slight lack of enthusiasm for this opera compared to Verdi's other masterpieces. I couldn't pinpoint anything that was flawed musically, I think it's just not my favorite opera.
I did particularly enjoy the closing number of the second act. After Gilda and her father are reunited (this included some surprisingly emotional acting from Vratogna when he realizes that the Duke has been with his daughter) Rigoletto swears vengeance on the Duke whilst Gilda begs him to forgive him. This closing piece is very catchy and I found the interpretation and tempo to be such that it spoke to me in a way it never had before. The curtain then fell, and another long intermission followed.
The third and final act of Rigoletto is arguably the best of the three; definitely the most dramatic anyway. It takes place at Sparafucile's house on a stormy night, and Rigoletto and Gilda approach and observe the Duke inside his house, having entered in order to woo Sparafucile's sister. Gilda realizes that the Duke deceived her, but she continues to love him anyway. This act is famous for the quartet between the four characters in the scene (everyone but Sparafucile), which was performed very well by all involved. The blending of the voices on stage was particularly smooth and impressive. This act becomes very dramatic towards the end, as Gilda contemplates sacrificing herself to save the Duke, and Sparafucile argues with his sister about whether or not the Duke is to live. Eventually Gilda rushes into the house and gets stabbed, saving the Duke's life.
The musical performances from the orchestra and the singers throughout all this drama were very good, and I got very emotionally wrapped up in it. The moment that Gilda runs into the house was the only moment in the opera where my heart pounded and my eyes watered. If that doesn't happen at least once during a dramatic opera, I consider the performance to be a failure.
The rest of the act was good, although predictably Vratogna was not very convincing in his reaction to finding that Gilda was killed instead of the Duke. It's very hard to convincingly portray this, and perhaps that's another element of this opera that makes it difficult to stage effectively; many of the emotional moments are so extreme as to be impossible to actually pull off, and so it appears to fall flat. Rigoletto's final cry of "The Curse!" was quite good though; his voice soared up and out into the hall, riding on the thick orchestral texture beneath him, but ultimately I think it could have been more.
Overall, I would say that both the orchestra and Marco Vratogna lacked a certain level of intensity and emotion, while Nadine Sierra and Francesco Demuro gave stellar performances, balancing it out to make a rather good and enjoyable production, but certainly not a great one.
After the opera was over, the cast took their bows wearing Seahawks shirts, and a "12" flag descended from above the stage. I don't have much to say about this. It speaks for itself, and we can only hope it never, ever, ever happens again.
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