Jonathan Miller’s mafioso Rigoletto has been running at the Coliseum for almost as long as Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap up at the top of the street. First unveiled in 1982, this is its 14th English National Opera revival, surely some kind of record. With ENO still so threatened, there must be qualms about the wisdom of yet another run-out, but this iconic show proved worth it: it remains a very clear, insightful and stylish setting for Verdi’s ever-popular breakthrough masterpiece.
True, the updating to 1950s New York no longer tingles with spooky recognition as it did back in the era of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather movies. Some of the sharp details at which Miller’s best productions excelled have been lost along the way in Elaine Tyler-Hall’s revival, too – though the famous jukebox gag remains. By modern standards, this Rigoletto also skirts some of the brutal sexual cruelty and othering that today’s productions emphasise more.
Musically, the opera is in the most trustworthy of hands. From the start, Richard Farnes again showcased his credentials as one of this country’s best operatic conductors. The sombre brass prelude alone tells you that here is someone who knows exactly what he wants. The crisp idiomatic vigour of the playing he secures repeatedly highlighted the freshness of Verdi’s scoring, but Farnes never swamps the singers in more lyrical moments.
Not for the first time, the excellence of the ENO orchestra felt like two fingers to the destructiveness of the Arts Council England barbarians. So, even more so, did the dramatic qualities of the ENO chorus, so threatening and so crucial in the unfolding of the first two acts, as Rigoletto strives unsuccessfully to protect his daughter Gilda from the predators who surround them.
Robyn Allegra Parton’s Gilda was the most notable of the principals. Her light soprano captured the role’s pathos, strikingly so in the unshowy delicacy she brought to her Caro nome aria. But she has the steel, too, with ringing top notes, and there was impressive control in the final act quartet. Vocally, she could be a work in progress, but you don’t often hear this role so interestingly sung.
The US baritone Weston Hurt, also making an ENO debut, was a gritty Rigoletto, bringing warm sympathetic vocal colour to everything he did, along with natural stage presence that the role requires. His denunciation of the mafia hangers-on was terrific.
The Chinese tenor Yongzhao Yu was less satisfactory as the devil-may-care Duke. There is a ringing tenor sound in there, but far too many phrases were marked by a mannered vocal catch that he needs to control more carefully. Among the smaller roles, William Thomas was a creepily impressive Sparafucile, and Sarah-Jane Lewis caught the ear as Giovanna, Gilda’s untrustworthy guardian.
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