Opera Review: Lyric Opera of Chicago finds an extra story layer in "Rigoletto"

Re-interpreting or updating a 19th-century opera in a way that speaks to a 21st-century audience without ignoring or (worse yet) contradicting the intentions of the work’s original creators is a dicey business. Now imagine upping the risk ante by using the existing design elements of a 19-year-old production.

L-R: Igor Golovatenko, Mané Galoyan Photo: Todd Rosenberg

That was the challenge director Mary Birnbaum faced in her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut, Giuseppe Verdi’s 1851 tragedy “Rigoletto,” which runs through October 1st. You know the story: The Duke of Mantua amuses himself by seducing and abandoning any woman who takes his fancy. His jester Rigoletto finds the Duke contemptable but mocks his victims (it’s his job, after all) while trying to hide the existence of his daughter Gilda from the Duke’s libido. When that fails, he hires the assassin Sparafucile to eliminate the Duke, with tragic consequences.

As Birnbaum writes in the program, this is a tale set in “a world where women were completely absent.”

[T]he out-of-court Duchess of Mantua (in a striking parallel with the Last Duchess in the poem of Robert Browning, Verdi’s contemporary) is present only in a fresco on the wall. Rigoletto’s wife is an angel (but she is dead)…Even when women are dressed as men—like the Page, or Gilda in the final act—they are always lacking some critical piece of information, and, as a result, are disenfranchised.

They’re also treated as objects, even by the men who claim to love them. Rigoletto treats Gilda like a china doll, telling her nothing about her late mother and refusing to even reveal their family name. She exists only to give him comfort in his self-loathing and despair. No wonder she is such easy prey for the Duke when, disguised as a poor student, he sends smoldering looks her way during church services.

L-R:  Igor Golovatenko Soloman Howard Photo: Todd Rosenberg

On paper, then, Gilda looks like the classic Innocent Victim and is usually presented as such. But could there be a more rounded character lurking the subtext? “What if,” Birnbaum asks, “Gilda was a partial agent rather than a victim? What if she has been thinking of other ways to escape the perpetual and suffocating nameless present that her father has trapped her in?”

What if, in short, she wants “a life with a name of her own” even if the price is surrendering to the Duke’s advances and choosing to die in his place at the hands of Sparafucile?

Impressively, Birnbuam manages to suggest all of this without significantly changing the staging or introducing heavy-handed visual gimmicks—almost. In the first two acts we see Gilda searching a hidden cache of family documents during orchestral interludes. In her scenes with Rigoletto the blocking suggests her ambivalence about her situation.

I bought it all until the very end, when her decision to let Sparafucile kill her inexplicably turned into a swordfight (where, exactly, did she pick up that skill?). And I was ready to demand a refund when Gilda’s dying vision of her late mother as an angel welcoming her to heaven becomes an actual actress in an angel costume, neatly stealing focus from Rigoletto’s final tragic despair.

L-R:  Javier Camarena ,Zoie Reams Mané Galoyan, Igor Golovatenko Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Oh, well. Up to that point this is a powerful, dark, and often horrifying “Rigoletto.” Verdi described the jester as a character “worthy of Shakespeare,” and baritone Igor Golovatenko’s powerful voice and riveting stage presence fully live up to that description. His snarling sarcasm in Act I is as compelling as his tearful attempts to appeal to the courtiers for help in finding Gilda ("Cortigiani, vil razza dannata"). And there is real tenderness in his scenes with Gilda.

Speaking of whom, soprano Mané Galoyan finds the kind of self-assertion in Gilda that director Birnbaum sees in the character. Verdi has given Gilda a musical arc, moving from the juvenile infatuation of the coloratura classic “Caro nome” to the fierce determination of the trio in which she resolves to sacrifice herself for the Duke (“Se pria ch'abbia il mezzo la notte toccato"). Galoyan brings an enchanting naivete to the former and puts steel in her voice for the latter.

Verdi illustrates the Duke’s charm by giving him some of the best tunes in the opera, including the excessively famous “Donne a’ mobile.” Attractive but superficial, they perfectly fit the Duke’s shallow personality. A bel canto specialist, tenor Javier Camarena is possibly the perfect fit for the role, with a light, flexible voice and character that is credibly charismatic.

Javier Camarena and the Company Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Bass Soloman Howard’s bold voice rumbles with menace as the selectively honorable assassin Sparafucile and mezzo Zoie Reams is Sparafucile’s sister Maddelena, easily seduced by the Duke despite her worldly wisdom. Baritone Andrew Manea makes a fine Lyric debut as an imposing Monterone, whose curse is the musical and dramatic backbone of the opera.

Sets and costumes by, respectively, Robert Innes Hopkins and Jane Greenwood are perfect matches for the dark, violent, and morally rotten world of the Court of Mantua. The contrast between the colorful vulgarity of the court scenes and the drab look of everything else works quite well. Duane Schuler’s lighting is dark as well—possibly more than it needs to be.

Andrew Manea and the Company Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Lyric Opera’s Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads the orchestra in a dramatic and gripping reading of Verdi’s score, from the thundering brass statements of the “curse” motif at the beginning right through to Rigoletto's final despairing howl of "La maledizione" ("the curse") at the end. The first act’s court scenes with the stage band and the pit orchestra were well coordinated.

If you’re willing to forgive a bit of directorial overkill at the very end (which, upon reflection, I am), this is a very persuasive and original take on an operatic favorite. In the final analysis, it’s good to see Gilda given more agency and depth than she has on the printed page.

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s “Rigoletto” runs through October 1st, alternating with the company’s new production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” Ticket information on this and other operas in the company’s current season is available at their web site.