Verdi Meets the Cinema

Opera Pacific opened its season Tuesday with “Rigoletto,” updated to modern times. The production comes from Australia and takes its inspiration from the movies. The chorus wears dark glasses.

It might seem, at first thought, that only the most provincial (or desperate) opera administrator would buy so stale a notion. Two seasons ago, Los Angeles Opera tried a similar approach with its heavily hyped, Hollywoodized update of one of Verdi’s most popular operas, the brainchild of Australian film director Bruce Beresford (a production that will, incidentally, open San Diego Opera’s season in January).

But, in fact, Opera Pacific’s production, first created by the British director, Elijah Moshinsky, for Opera Australia and staged at the Orange County Performing Arts Center by Julie Edwardson, proved just the compelling theater that the vulgar Los Angeles production was not.

Beresford saw in the story of a callous, womanizing Duke and his angry jester a present-day movie director and a sleazy agent. Moshinsky looks instead to older movies. The Duke’s court comes out of Fellini--within the first few moments there are allusions to “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2.”

Rigoletto does his nasty business with the assassin, Sparafucile, in a dressing room and alleyway that looks like ‘30s Hitchcock. Rigoletto’s house appears more like Rossellini (was that Anna Magnani cooking for Rigoletto and his daughter, Gilda?). The inn on a deserted riverbank in Act 3 transports us, curiously but effectively, to “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

There is certainly an aspect of trying-too-hard in all this. Some of the Fellini bits are forced and a couple of moments of gratuitous tastelessness stand out. But these are exceptions. The sets by Michael Yeargan (who also designed the costumes) are evocative and cleverly made on a turntable that allows for a cinematic flow. Most importantly, the characters have an authenticity and life of their own, convincingly animated and motivated by Verdi’s music. A great deal of attention is paid to small details, especially characters reacting in the background, which adds telling depth to the drama.

Crucial to the production’s success is the effective way the music controls the drama. This is thanks to a fine ensemble of singing actors, but even more so to John DeMain, who conducted. Using the recent critical edition of the score, which is the aural equivalent of cleaning away the years of grime from an old painting, he emphasized transparency and theatrical focus. L.A. Opera also used this score, but DeMain’s conducting gave it more vividness and immediacy.

He also appeared to work hard to encourage his singers to avoid the kind of grandstanding to which this opera has so often been subjected. The audience was asked to be forgiving of Christopher Robertson, the Rigoletto, who was singing through a cold.

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Rigolettos range from the brutish to the slyly sinister to the victimized. Robertson’s Rigoletto, hobbling on two canes, was victim, but more sympathetic than most, the clown who laughs through tears, whose mockery of others masks his own vulnerability. His cold showed when he pushed his baritone too hard; but this was not a production appropriate for pushing and he was able to keep within a mostly comfortable dynamic while exploring the inner recesses of this fascinating character.

Andrew Richards, who is an engaging stage presence, brought a rare charm to the usually coarse character of the Duke. He has a light, lyrical tenor and might think, in the future, of treating that as an attribute rather than trying to belt the money high notes, which simply are not his.

Elena Kelessidi, as Gilda, was more unpredictable. She has a powerful soprano that sometimes had a mind of its own--her millisecond preparations for climaxes could make them sound like glorious hiccups, some with strange intonation.

But by the last act, she was fully integrated into the music and she became very moving. Angela Horn was a lusty Maddalena.

Opera Pacific gets better with almost every new production, and a sign of that Tuesday was how well all the smaller roles were sung and acted. Of special note was the young baritone, Andrew Fernando (Marullo), who is a singer to watch. The chorus was outstanding as well.

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“Rigoletto” continues with the first cast tonight and Saturday at 7:30 and with the second cast (featuring Louis Otey as Rigoletto, Jane Giering-De Haan as Gilda and Raul Hernandez as the Duke) Friday, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m., $25-$175, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, (800) 346-7372.