Rigoletto at the Met — Mantua meets Weimar

Bartlett Sher’s production of Rigoletto, which opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on New Year’s Eve, is set in Germany during the Weimar Republic, far removed from Verdi’s 16th-century Mantua but helpfully contributing to a spectre of political authoritarianism. Satirical images by the artist George Grosz adumbrate Nazi horrors while lending their darkish yet vibrant colours to Michael Yeargan’s sets and Catherine Zuber’s costumes, arrestingly lit by Donald Holder. The sets have a Met-style of grandeur, especially in depicting an imposing hall where the lecherous Duke gives parties and, supposedly, attends to matters of state.

Sher’s straightforward staging is a far cry from the radical production style favoured in Germany, where this opened in 2019 at co-producer the Berlin Staatsoper. Some German critics lambasted his alleged lack of novel ideas; for me, encountering characters whose behaviour Verdi might have recognised often came as a relief. In Sher’s treatment, the court jester Rigoletto’s reunion with his beloved daughter Gilda, after an onerous day’s work, is at once joyful and touching. Later, you sense the horror of her kidnapping when watching her put up prolonged but vain resistance.  

Not all is right, but Sher’s main blunder is his handling of the girl’s murder. To the novice opera-goer, her self-sacrifice as a stand-in for the faithless Duke — whom Rigoletto contracted to have killed because he raped and betrayed her — can seem hopelessly implausible. But fuelled by her irrepressible passion for the Duke, the crucial moment in which she chooses to die can make a tremendous impact. Here, unfortunately, she apparently first tries to explain her decision to the assassin, Sparafucile (Andrea Mastroni), in a mock conversation that mutes her driving passion and robs the scene of its spontaneity.

Still, Gilda emerges as a woman of character, not one who simply reacts to forces generated by others. Rosa Feola sings with limpid tone and a winning ability to spin phrases smoothly and evenly. She makes you realise that the doomed Gilda is the opera’s one character who develops. By contrast, the Duke changes not a whit, a point Verdi brings home by having him express condescension towards women in the opera’s first and last arias. Piotr Beczala dispatches each with light-hearted charm and brings the firm, luminous tone we expect of him to the Duke’s ardent central aria, when his infatuation with Gilda has not yet flagged.

Quinn Kelsey, an expressive singer not afraid to sing quietly (a virtue also possessed by Feola and Beczala), gives a compelling, thoroughly considered portrayal of Rigoletto, although his big, rather woolly voice will not appeal to everyone. Conductor Daniele Rustioni leads an accomplished performance occasionally short of energy.

Before the start of the Omicron-defying premiere, general manager Peter Gelb addressed the audience, noting that the Met has yet to cancel a performance this season. Let’s hope it stays that way.

★★★★☆

To June 11, metopera.org