Never been invited to one of Silvio Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties? Try going to Wellington's St James Theatre, where one is in full swing as part of Rigoletto, NBR New Zealand Opera's latest production.
Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
NBR New Zealand Opera
Directed by Lindy Hume
St James Theatre
Wellington
Until May 26
Then Aotea Centre
Auckland
June 7-17
Never been invited to one of Silvio Berlusconi’s bunga bunga parties? Try going to Wellington’s St James Theatre, where one is in full swing as part of NBR New Zealand Opera's latest production, Rigoletto.
There is only one fully naked guy, but all the bunga bunga girls are partying, and Silvio and his mates are up for anything.
Setting the opera firmly in 21st-century Italy turns this Rigoletto into front-page tabloid material, and it works brilliantly.
Over the last few years Rigoletto has had a number of updates with contemporary Mafia settings.
But this production gives the opera immediacy and relevance. It also helps it make sense.
The first act opens with the Duke of Mantua very much like former Italian prime minister and media tycoon Berlusconi, flanked by police, army, politicians and various aides, including a cardinal bursting into a the grand set where the business of the day is to be done.
Like Berlusconi, the duke presents as the loveable tyrant while Rigoletto is a fawning, backroom procurer who uses his intimacy with Mantua to intimidate others.
Playing in the background is an actual handi-cam feed, along with real news footage, which gives the scene urgency and drive.
The first act’s dramatic opening is just the start of probably one of the most mature and intelligent productions of the opera - and it certainly kept the audinece enthralled.
One of the problems I have always had with this opera is the curse with which Monterone damns Rigoletto and the duke early on.
The notion that he has been cursed preys on Rigoletto's mind, and when his daughter dies in his arms he shrieks about how the curse has been fulfilled. Of course, the evil duke still lives, so the curse has not affected him.
In fact, Rigoletto himself is the reason his daughter has been killed. He is the curse and she dies because of his deceit and immorality, rather than anyone else’s.
The duke and his various courtiers are not particularly evil. They act as most politicians, using or skirting the law in an amoral fashion.
It is Rigoletto who embarks on a course of revenge by deciding to hire an assassin to kill the duke.
The courtiers and the duke are also upfront about what they do. It is Rigoletto who presents a façade at court and to his daughter, withholding the truth of his relationship with the duke, even from her.
This veneer is his undoing. His pretence of an irritating, sycophantic fool at court which hides a deep-seated resentment.
His lack of awareness of his involvement with amoral activities, as well as presenting himself as a cloying and over-protective father, is his weakness, his flaw, his curse.
Warwick Fyfe as Rigoletto has to convey this complex set of attributes and flaws. His character never becomes over-demonstrative and there is always a sense of him holding back in his expression of love, hate and contempt.
It is too easy to have Rigoletto portrayed as a twisted character who is obviously deformed physically as well as mentally, and Fyfe carefully avoids this.
His “Pari siama” (How alike we are) when singing of the assassin Sparafucile is haunting in its exposure of Rigoletto's awareness of his own wretchedness. His voice catches with shuddering emotion at just the right point.
Then he superbly transitions to his singing as devoted father of Gilda. This ability to capture his two personalities, the heartless and the warm, in just a couple minutes showed a singer able to convey deep psychological states with exquisite refinement.
As Gilda, Emma Pearson created a character which expressed all the conflicting emotions of a young woman exposed to the ache and desperation of love, the terror of kidnap, the embarrassment of talking to her father about her seduction and the confusion of being dragged into the adult world.
Her voice soars with emotional expression in aria such as Care nome (Dear name), where effervescence and passion erupt.
Rafael Rojas as the duke sang gloriously as the laidback hedonist with just the right mix of bravado and self-awareness.
In his role as Gilda’s lover his voice took on an elegant combination of romanticism and cynicism which helped create a fully rounded disreputable character.
Ashraf Sewailam was a splendid Sparafucile, who he portrayed as a groovy hit man, showing Rigoletto photos of his temptress sister as well as his hits on his cellphone.
His voice resonated with darkness and menace, his body cat-like tense with suppressed nervous energy.
Kristin Darragh is splendid as Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister, and she adds a sensual dimension to the final quartet when she sings with the duke, Rigoletto and Gilda in a profound Bella figlia (Lovely woman).
While the opening palace interior is relatively traditional in its combination of the classical and the modern, the other sets are a triumph, with small brilliantly detailed constructions on a revolving stage, which helps concentrate the action.
The cleverest one is a bus stop shelter replacing the traditional alley way and providing a sense of contemporary realism.
Another clever innovation was the background projection of video images which included flocks of crows, with dramatic closeups of single birds - telling symbols of foreboding and death.
One small detail rankled. One of the duke's retinue included a cardinal. But he behaves like the rest of the entourage. When they go kidnapping he joins in. When they have a laugh at Rigoletto’s distress over Gilda’s plight, he joins in.
It seems to go against the overall realism of the chorus that such a figure does not show some awareness and concern.
As ever, the Vector Wellington Orchestra was in great form, with conductor Wyn Davies ensuring the music added to the overall dramatic effect, dominating when it needed to but always allowing the singers the space to let their voices shine.
The director, designers, soloists, the chorus and musicians have brought together a seamless tale of brilliantly rounded characters with vivid emotions and contemporary relevance.
