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A joke leads to murder at the entertainment park Macerata
Sferisterio Arena
07/19/2025 - & July 25, August 3, 8*, 2025
Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Ivan Magrì (Duke), Damiano Salerno (Rigoletto), Ruth Iniesta (Gilda), Carlotta Vichi (Maddalena), Luca Park (Sparafucile), Francesco Pittari (Borsa), Aleksandra Meteleva (Giovanna, Countess Ceprano), Tong Liu (Count Ceprano), Albero Comes (Monterone), Giacomo Medici (Marullo), Laura Esposito (Page of the duchess)
Coro Lirico Marchigiano “Vincenzo Bellini”, Christian Starinieri (chorus master), FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Jordi Bernàcer (conductor)
Federico Grazzini (stage director), Andrea Belli (sets), Valeria Donata Bettella (costumes), Alessandro Verazzi (lighting)
R. Iniesta (© Luna Simoncini)
In addition to his standing as the most prominent opera composer of his time, Verdi had a natural flair for theatre. Of his twenty‑ eight operas, twelve were originally iconic plays by some of the world’s greatest authors. Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff were his takes on Shakespeare; I due Foscari and Il corsaro were after Byron; Giovanna d’Arco, I masnadieri, Luisa Miller and Don Carlos after Schiller, Ernani and Rigoletto after Victor Hugo; and La traviata after Alexandre Dumas fils. His logic was that a successful play had a good chance of being a successful opera.
Rigoletto (1851) was written for Venice’s Teatro La Fenice after Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse (1832), in which the king is substituted for the Duke of Mantua, to suit Austrian censorship. For this production, Italian director Federico Grazzini has further downgraded the serial seducer to a Mafia capo in a contemporary setting in what looks like the United States (Tony Soprano’s New Jersey comes to mind). Instead of a palazzo ducale, the gangster officiates over his acolytes in a louche entertainment park. Rigoletto is a clown on the premises who, given the unsavoury patrons, locks up his daughter Gilda in his caravan wagon.
Count Ceprano is a subordinate Mafioso who endures the humiliation of being cuckolded in public by the “Duke.” Monterone is an older gangster whose terrified daughter is raped by subordinates after being first seduced by the top dog. Grazzini successfully managed to create a disturbing atmosphere that, despite radical changes, is faithful to the essence of Verdi’s opera and Hugo’s play.
Giovanna, Gilda’s nurse, a tomboy out of necessity (her rough surroundings), is easily bribed by a “Duke”, unconvincingly disguised as a student. Her abduction didn’t work well at the circus, as the ladder, which is still used as a prop, is not required to break into a caravan wagon, especially an open one. The courtiers/gangsters’ pretense of breaking into Ceprano’s palace made even less sense on the entertainment park grounds.
As Grazzini’s production of Rigoletto for Macerata was first given in 2015, he’s the source rather than the copier of the final act’s gruesome setting, faithfully reproduced in newcomer Miguel del Arco’s setting for Madrid’s Teatro Real two seasons ago. Assassin-for-hire Sparafucile runs a hot dog stand on the park grounds, which itself seems to be the headquarters for a prostitution ring. Two of its five sex workers are cross‑dressing men. To amuse the public, the five were galavanting on stage during the second intermission, before the start of Act III.
As in del Arco’s Madrid production, the Duke is a greedy omnivore who goes for fish and fowl. Psychologically, his profile is a true rarity: he’s a man who enjoys seducing proper married ladies like Ceprano’s wife, as well as ingénues like Gilda and Monterone’s daughter, but he also appreciates she‑men and professional working girls. Rather out of the ordinary and unconvincing.
The famous quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” is usually performed with Rigoletto and Gilda spying through the window at the Duke and Maddalena’s amorous flirtations. Here it was unconvincingly all’aperto, with Gilda behind a bench and portly Rigoletto behind a lamp post. Things get more surreal when Gilda knocks on the side of Sparafucile’s food wagon to offer herself as a sacrifice in lieu of her seducer, when the front order window hocking sandwiches and beverages is wide open.
Upon hearing the Duke’s characteristic song “La donna è mobile,” Rigoletto becomes aware the villainous seducer is still alive and verifies the content of the sack he was given. It’s his own dying daughter Gilda. Given the difficulty of dropping a human being from the steps of a food wagon, the touching final duet between dying Gilda and Rigoletto is botched. Rigoletto sings to a mannequin and an unbloodied, healthy Gilda, possibly her ghost (though she’s still living), stands, facing the public. This was a major setback for what is normally the opera’s powerful dramatic finale.
Spanish conductor Jordi Bernàcer seemed to truly relish this opera. He was able to bring out the ballabile quality of several passages in the opera, used by the director to block the singers and chorus accordingly. He also was brilliant in the vigorous finale of Act II, “Sì, vendetta,” where he masterfully paced the finale as it built to its magnificent crescendo.
For Rigoletto to be vocally successful, it’s essential to have first‑rate singers interpret Rigoletto, Gilda and the Duke. Italian baritone Damiano Salerno was a late replacement for the scheduled baritone, but did not disappoint. Endowed with a pleasant high baritone, his phrasing was excellent and he was able to nuance his voice to instill the appropriate emotions of sarcasm, pathos, rage and utter despair.
Italy’s Ivan Magrì is a lyric tenor who seems to have performed heavier roles, and in the process damaged his voice. Though still capable of producing pleasant sounds and maintaining his high notes with impressive stamina, his singing could also be described as cautious. Sadly, his bright voice has no squillo, a necessary attribute for the Duke of Mantua. His Act I aria “Questa o quella” was cautiously sung almost sotto voce. His Act II aria “Ella mi fu rapita” was much more accomplished, but its upbeat cabaletta “Possente amor mi chiama” fell flat. One could not tell that the careful tenor was jubilant. His Act III aria, “La donna è mobile,” the opera’s most celebrated tune, was his best. Understandably, he was saving his voice for this popular aria.
Spanish soprano Ruth Iniesta was a vocally appealing Gilda and the cast’s strongest member. Though a woman of forty, she managed to convince as an ingénue. As importantly, the timbre of her voice is pretty and her technique brilliant. Her rendition of the Act II aria “Caro nome” was the musical high point of the evening. The only drawback was the lack of chemistry between the mafioso Duke and Gilda.
The rest of the cast was more than adequate. Despite the change of epoch, the opera staging was intelligent and effective, and accordingly, the public was satisfied.
Ossama el Naggar
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