Revival graced with first-rate voices
Rigoletto (out of 4) By Giuseppe Verdi. Canadian Opera Company. Directed by Christopher Alden. Stephen Lord, conductor. Until Feb. 23 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. coc.ca or 416-363-8231
The story may not end happily for the title character, but the Four Seasons Centre audience enjoyed a feast of fantastic voices and gorgeous sounds from the orchestra pit at the first performance of the Canadian Opera Company’s (COC) revival of Rigoletto on Saturday night.
This is a remount of a production directed by Christopher Alden and designed by Torontonian Michael Levine. The COC first presented Giuseppe Verdi’s popular 1851 opera in 2011 with a different cast and conductor.
This time, the singing couldn’t be better, nor could we expect a more nuanced or muscular job from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, thanks to veteran American conductor Stephen Lord.
What prevents this Rigoletto from full excellence is Alden’s staging. Moved from the Renaissance to Victorian times, the three-act interplay between a lecherous aristocrat and an over-possessive father takes place in the same wood-panelled room served by the same haughty maid.
Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto divides the action between the ducal palace, the personal quarters of his jester Rigoletto and a country inn, where the tragic denouement takes place. Because we are not transported to these different settings, Alden uses a multitude of little tricks to make the scene changes work, but the result is an overall fussiness that does little to reinforce the plot.
My other quibble is with American tenor Stephen Costello in the role of the Duke. Costello is a fabulous singer. I would classify him as the best American operatic tenor the world has right now. He produces the kind of ringing, opera house-filling notes that give opera lovers goosebumps. But his acting left a bit to be desired.
I closed my eyes and heard impeccable renditions of this opera’s wellknown arias. But with eyes open, I could see Costello working much harder at delivering flawless vocals than making a compelling character.
Costello’s Duke is a sexual predator without a shred of genuine emotion. But I would like to argue that a convincing ability to simulate emotion is what separates a wannabe from a sexual predator who can truly get everything he wants.
There is no shortage of genuine emotional content from the rest of the first-rate cast.
In particular, Scots baritone Roland Wood is superbly intense as the Duke’s sarcastic comedian-in-chief and as a madly possessive father. American soprano Anna Christy is perfect as the emotionally fragile daughter Gilda, who falls prey to the Duke’s boundless lust.
And the story itself, built on characters who are pawns in each others’ lusts and jealousies, remains as relevant as ever. Except that, in real life, we would never hear the tragic stories sung so compellingly.
In short, male entitlement never sounded so good. Classical music writer John Terauds is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.