Sunday, October 21, 2012
Review: 'Rigoletto' captures dark world in opening night
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bleak and forbidding, the 16th-century Mantua of Verdi's "Rigoletto" is a place that might as well have "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" emblazoned above the proscenium arch. Murder and kidnapping reign in the city state, while the actual leader flaunts his libertine lifestyle in a way that would make Don Giovanni blush. Framed by cold stone walls and excessively mean-spirited courtiers, the Pittsburgh Opera production captured that dark world in its run that opened Saturday night at the Benedum Center.
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2 comments:
It certainly sounds like this show does not give your typical atmosphere. I am interested to see how the lighting, or lack there of, contributes to the feel of the show and how the heavy costumes fit with the lighting. It seems heavier costumes would fit with a dark ominous show. It sounds like the director did a smooth job a lacing together different pieces of staging within the production. It is always intriguing to see which details a director can slip into the show to challenge the audience to see if they will notice them. I think that is one of the most entertaining things about watching a show - seeing if you can find how the choices made by designers are related and what they contribute to the choices other designers of the production made.
I am so pleased that Opera is still commonplace in modern Pittsburgh, as well as the rest of the country. It is such an elegant art form that could have been written off as to lavish for certain economies, yet it has survived all sorts of financial collapses over the years. It is a connection to a time long gone, where music was more important than words and the feeling triumphed over the content of speeches.
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