Opera Reviews
29 March 2024
Untitled Document

A return to Verdi's intent



by Steve Cohen

Verdi: Rigoletto
Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia
November 2016 

Tito Capobianco became prominent in the world of opera in 1957 when he directed a modern-dress Tosca in Buenos Aires in which the villain resembled Argentina’s dictator, Juan Perón.

In 1966 he staged the opening of Lincoln Center in New York and then became the most acclaimed opera director in the world and the head of opera companies in New York, Pittsburgh and San Diego. He was the favorite director of Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. Now age 85, Capobianco limits his work to a handful of productions each year, one of them being at the Academy of Vocal Arts. This AVA production, therefore, attracted international attention.

His work has been notable for being innovative, and his radical idea this time was to return to the text and the score of the original. I am not opposed to re-interpretations such as the Met’s Rigoletto which is set in Las Vegas in the 1960s, or the Frank Corsaro-New York City Opera production that was set in Manhattan’s Little Italy. But it’s salutary to see this masterpiece as Verdi intended it.

The title character is an outsider in the 18th century—a hunchbacked jester who is a procurer for the womanizing Duke of Mantua and who mocks the cuckolded husbands of the duke’s victims. A widower, his only joy in life is his teenage daughter, Gilda. When the duke abducts and has sex with Gilda, therefore, Rigoletto seeks revenge and hires an assassin to murder the duke.

Being traditional does not preclude imaginative touches. For example, after the abductors carried Gilda out of her home, Capobianco had them rip off her dress and leave it on the doorstep as extra humiliation for Rigoletto.

Also, did you ever wonder why the tenor sings “La donna e mobile” (Women are fickle)? Normally, he stands alone and proclaims it, without any dramatic motivation. In this production, the duke sits down with the pimp owner of a tavern who pours him a drink, then the tenor toasts his host with the song. Simple, and effective.

AVA’s music director, Christofer Macatsoris, also hews to Verdian tradition and leads the music without distracting exaggerations. Where other conductors allow singers to take extra breaths for their convenience, Macatsoris insists on the long, unbroken, arching melodies that Verdi wrote, especially in Caro nome and in the closing duet for Rigoletto and his daughter. The orchestra produced rich sounds and dramatic climaxes.

The sets by Peter Harrison, based on Capobianco’s sketches, and costumes by Val Starr were beautiful, capturing the look of Mantua and providing contrast to the dark action that pervades the opera. A wind machine and thunder and lightning flashes were terrifying.

I saw and heard three of AVA’s alternating casts, and all the singing was of high professional quality. Although the Academy of Vocal Arts is a school, keep in mind the fact that some of its resident artists already sing in major opera houses, and many have become stars at the Met, La Scala, etc., shortly after their graduations.

Jared Bybee, Ethan Simpson and Timothy Renner all were mature and powerful Rigolettos who projected the pain of the character. Vanessa Vasquez and Karen Barraza were more full-voiced and dramatic than typical fragile Gildas, which seemed right because the character, after all, as created by Victor Hugo and by Verdi, is a strong figure who disobeyed her father.

As the duke, Marco Cammarota seemed most comfortable with the stentorian part of his voice while Roy Hage emphasized the lyric side of his and John Matthew Myers displayed beautiful legato. The mezzos Alejandra Gomez and Hannah Ludwig gave two of the best presentations I’ve ever seen as Maddalena, the slutty sister of the assassin. Anthony Schneider and Nathan Milholin were equally good as the chilling Sparafucile. Andre Courville was a properly terrifying Monterone.

Speaking of going back to the original source, there’s one place where Hugo’s play is even more poignant than Verdi’s opera. Verdi, you will recall, has Rigoletto recognize his daughter’s death by singing “Gilda! mia Gilda! È morta!while Hugo’s protagonist recognizes that he brought on the tragic conclusion by saying the words "J'ai tué mon enfant!" (“I have killed my child”).

Text © Steve Cohen
Photo © Academy of Vocal Arts
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