Rigoletto at the ENO: A look at the iconic production through the years

Jonathan Miller struck gold in 1982 when he transformed Verdi's masterpiece: now it is back for the thirteenth time at the Coliseum
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David Ellis @dvh_ellis1 February 2017

The English National Opera are proud of their Rigoletto: since the debut of Jonathan Miller’s production in 1982, Verdi’s tale of love, kidnap, murder and betrayal has lit up the Coliseum a dozen times – with the forthcoming run marking its thirteenth staging by the company.

As a result, the show is something on an impossibility: it simultaneously manages to be both a staple of the ENO’s repertoire and a symbol of the company’s forward-minded approach to opera, classical, and new audiences.

Flick through the gallery above to see Rigoletto through the years at the ENO.

The ENO have long identified as the home of accessible opera – something current artistic director Daniel Kramer was keen to reaffirm in a recent interview with the Standard – and Miller’s Rigoletto has proved the perfect vehicle for this: it transports the action of Verdi’s masterpiece, originally set in the 16th century, to 1950s Little Italy, New York. Here is a world of menace and mobsters, one that over the years has become well known and well loved, but is yet to become a dinosaur.

Far from cheapening Verdi, Miller stuck gold by making everything a little more familiar: the early laughs are funnier, the lust stronger, the vengeance colder and the sacrifices more acutely aching. This version was last performed in 2009, inspiring an audience as loyal as ever. Such loyalty to the Miller piece may have been why Christopher Alden’s 2014 version, placed in a Victorian gentlemen’s club, was greeted with a decidedly tepid reaction. This would seem a little ironic, perhaps, as Miller had a similar idea first time around: in 1975, he too took Rigoletto to the 19th century, before skipping forward a few decades later on.

Now ‘Miller’s Mobera’ is making its return. With some of the most well known music in opera and a story based on Victor Hugo’s Le roi s'amuse, there is much to recognise, so it manages to be a piece for newcomers and seasoned buffs alike. This year, Nicholas Pallesen will take the lead as the hunchback Rigoletto, a bartender, while American Joshua Guerrero makes his UK debut as the Duke of Mantua, a Mafia capo. Sydney Mancasola will play Gilda, Rigoletto’s beautiful daughter, who falls for the Duke.

The English National Opera’s Rigoletto opens at the Coliseum on February 2, running until February 28. Tickets from £12. More information can be found at eno.org

Follow David Ellis on Twitter @dvh_ellis

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