Rigoletto ...

[smokingboot]

is brilliant.

And Jonathan Miller's production at the ENO is a great rendition of it; translating the whole Italian ducal court into 1950s New York mafiosi land really works.

But the story is so horrible, I am never going near it again.

Comments

[steve-c.livejournal.com]

True - not the nicest story ever, but horrible in the tradition of Hamlet and the like. It's Hardly Hostel or Saw 3!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

It's so cruel.

Rigoletto's begging for news of his daughter, so humiliating, and the end of the second act, where Gilda's telling him what's happened; The pain and shame of the girl who is coerced/raped/seduced, the Duke's jaunty little ditty about how awful women are, when all he does is chew them up and spit them out, smiling! Poor Rigoletto's eventural gloating, and subsequent ruin...

Horrible beyond a dozen gorefests.

My heart broke a string.

[steve-c.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting juxtaposition - a heart rending story with some truly obnoxious characters and terrible tragedies, and yet it contains some of the most soaring and uplifting music I've ever encountered and the tale itself is beautifully constructed.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I find pretty much all the characters obnoxious, and all the more human for it I guess - Gilda's the exception, and even she is very real. The music is powerful and the story keeps me watching, though I have major problems with the way Rigoletto is duped. I mean, he's being wildly stupid there!

It's unforgettable.