Howard Hudson / Recenzijas

Bright white neon strip-lighting of the sort found on shop fronts forms a huge frame for the libidinous Duke of Mantua’s wild party as Opera North's new Rigoletto opens, and it is soon apparent that this marks the production's modern relevances. Soon afterwards, a gilded frame (sets by Rae Smith) descends behind the laughing, sneering courtiers, holding a painting of a traditional marriage ceremony, signifying the old values being ignored. Director Femi Elufowoju Jr ensures that Verdi's opera, which originally opened in Austrian-controlled Venice in 1851 after problems with censors who thought it had too many subversive contemporary resonances, has a successful afterlife by doing more of the same. For a start, Rigoletto does not have a hump, an “anatomical anomaly” according to Elufowoju. His otherness comes from his belief that he will never be allowed to fully integrate into society, especially with the startlingly vicious aristocrats he is employed to entertain. He specifically wanted to cast a black singer not only as Rigoletto, but also as Gilda and Monterone, making this a memorable landmark production. The inclusion of very modern references brings a disconcerting jokiness to the first scene, for example a bicycle delivery of pizzas is searched by the Duke’s security, and a spitted roast hog is wheeled in. The contrasts are enormous. In the same scene, Count Monterone, mocked by Rigoletto for his powerlessness after his daughter has been molested by the Duke, delivers his curse. The Count is played by Sir Willard White as a Nigerian chieftain. His authoritative voice was heard again, this time more stentorian, when he reappeared as a spirit at the end of the final act. Russian tenor Roman Arndt emphasised the Duke’s crowd-pleasing qualities particularly well, as well as his arrogance. His subtle interpretations were most evident in “La donna è mobile”, which was well worth waiting for in Act 3. Eric Greene was stunning as Rigoletto, most convincing when he railed against the vile courtiers in Act 2: I found his ragingly passionate “Cortigiani vil razza dannata” to be breathtaking, and he transitioned seemingly effortlessly into caring father and tragic victim of the curse. Habersham blended well with Greene, and was suitably tragic in Act 3, though I was not too sure about the insulated snowsuit she changed into before she was stabbed. Callum Thorpe’s bass voice conveyed plenty of edginess in his role as the murderer Sparafucile, and he peeled an apple with his gleaming knife in a way which prompted the recollection that this opera has been produced in a Mafia context. The set here depicts an out-of-town district of Mantua which is part of a dystopian version of a modern city, with scruffy tents, dismal lighting and an abandoned car. Here, the neon lighting is redeployed to flash for a spectacular storm sequence. Maddalena, Sparafucile's sister, here played by Russian mezzo Alyona Abramova, was played as a slinky sex worker who seduces the Duke, who is slumming it to extremes. He was obviously not fazed by a brothel in a tent, which made his aria about the fickleness of women very poignant. Abramova’s rich, nuanced singing convinced me that she is soon destined for much bigger roles. As usual, the Opera North Chorus impressed, with terrific ensemble singing and tightly choreographed action, and the orchestra was relentlessly on top form under conductor Garry Walker. What worked for Verdi and his librettist Piave, and with the play on which it is based, Victor Hugo's Le Roi s’amuse, can still work today. This Rigoletto is innovatory, provocative... and very connected to the modern world.

Grand theatre, Leeds Underlining the otherness of Verdi’s court jester by making him a black man is a masterstroke by Femi Elufowoju Jr, the leads sung with potency by Eric Greene and Jasmine Habersham Martin Kettle Martin Kettle @martinkettle Sun 23 Jan 2022 12.00 GMT 5 The big idea in Femi Elufowoju Jr’s reading of Rigoletto for Opera North is so powerful and so current and at the same time so true to the artistic force of Verdi’s setting of Victor Hugo that it is somehow surprising that it has taken until now for someone to put it on the stage. Elufowoju Jr’s production rediscovers the otherness of Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda for the 21st century. In Hugo and Verdi, the title role is a 16th-century hunchback court jester, who keeps his daughter hidden away to protect her from philandering aristocrats. Here, however, Rigoletto’s otherness is as a black man with a vulnerable daughter existing on the margins of an entitled bunch of rich white party animals who cannot be trusted around young women. Sound familiar? The political topicality is never explicitly stated, but it gives the idea searing extra credibility.Believe me, this new take on Rigoletto really works. It does so, in the main, because of the two black artists – Eric Greene as Rigoletto and Jasmine Habersham as Gilda – who don’t just inhabit their demanding roles vocally, Habersham in particular, but who constantly convey how everything in their lives is precarious, with danger (and excitement) lurking literally just outside the door. All this is elevated by the luxury casting of Willard White as Count Monterone, dressed in a shining agbada, who curses the corrupt court, and – crucially for the drama that unfolds – curses Rigoletto’s collusive involvement with it. It is important to say that not everything about this conception of Verdi’s opera comes off. The revelatory impulse of this production sometimes struggles to make its point. There is some overly fussy stagecraft. A pantomime setting, in which an infantilised Gilda, guarded by a pistol-packing chaperone, sleeps on a stuffed zebra exemplifies the show’s occasional overstatement. And the final act confirms the rule that sticking a car on the stage is generally more hindrance than help. Overall, though, Opera North achieves its customarily high musical standards. Garry Walker conducts very idiomatically, and the wind writing, in which Verdi achieved such breakthroughs, is particularly well played. Roman Arndt is a stylish Duke of Mantua, delivering his big numbers reliably, and Callum Thorpe a chillingly excellent Sparafucile. Greene is a light-voiced Rigoletto, and his Italian diction could do with more rasp, but the warmth of his singing is beguiling. It’s Habersham, though, who provides most of the special moments, not just in her big scenes but in the ensembles that are such a notable feature of this opera.