Review: RIGOLETTO at Metropolitan Opera

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Viva Las Vegas: A Night at the Opera

I had the great pleasure of seeing Rigoletto at the Metropolitan opera this week. What a treat. While I expected Michael Mayer's modernized version of the plot and scenery to detract from the beauty of this opera, I was pleasantly surprised that it did not. In fact it was extremely entertaining and the traditional Rigoletto arias were sung superbly by a wonderful cast. The story now takes place in Vegas, and it works! The new, updated staging -neon lights, mobsters, slot machines, and a topless pole dancer- along with superb singing and acting make for an incredibly entertaining and pleasurable evening. The casting director did a great job here. The handsome and talented up- and- coming Stephen Costello is excellent as the Duke. He is a "player" and his good looks fit the part. The La Dona e Mobile aria, was one of the great highlights of the evening. The sexy Oksana Volkova as Madalena was another great casting choice. She really spiced thing up in some graphic scenes with the Duke, and she was a perfect counterpart to the Duke's other and more pure victim Gilda, played so well by Olga Peretyatko. Cara Nome is by far one of my favorite opera arias and she did a superb job. Another musical highlight of the evening was the voice of the baritone Andrea Mastroni. t is hard to comprehend how is is even humanly possible to hit some of those low notes that he hits so very well.

All in all, the cast, costumes and set of the Met's more recent production of Rigoletto are well worth seeing. Go there for an evening of pure joy!

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