BWW Reviews: Nashville Opera's RIGOLETTO

Rife with corruption and intrigue, teeming with forbidden love and deception, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto is among the most often performed operas in America - and Nashville Opera closes out its 2009-2010 season with a beautifully designed and sumptuously mounted production of the Italian masterpiece in Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Yet, as exquisite as its physical trappings are, Nashville Opera's Rigoletto may be even more impressive in its artful musicality: it is rapturously sung by a deft blending of talented newcomers to the Nashville stage.

Accompanied by the Grammy Award-winning musicians of the Nashville Symphony - under the baton of conductor Joel Revzen, artistic director and principal conductor for Arizona Opera - stage director John Hoomes' expertly chosen singers perform Verdi's lush score in grand style, underscored by their own superb dramatic interpretations of the time-honored characters.

First performed in 1851, Rigoletto features a libretto by Franceso Maria Piave based on Victor Hugo's play Le Ros s'amuse, and while 21^st century audiences might find humor in some of the far-fetched plot devices, it is important to note that both Verdi's opera and Hugo's play were considered highly controversial in their day. What was once considered jaw-droppingly scandalous is today fodder for laughter and amusement; but what remains constant is the delicious theatricality of the story and the lush richness of Verdi's score brought vividly to the stage by the creative collective at Nashville Opera.

Focusing on the travails of - and taking its title from - Rigoletto, a hunchbacked jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua, Verdi's opera tells the story of a devoted father's efforts to shield his beloved and over-protected daughter from the vagaries of a difficult world. Known among the various courtiers for his acid tongue (his outspokenness protected by both his entertainer's costume and his lowly rank), Rigoletto becomes the target for revenge as those same courtiers seek to teach him a lesson for his sometimes vicious remarks, even while the jester contends with a curse hurled at him by a condemned Count Monterone.

Clearly, the plot offers the necessary elements for opera in the grand Italian tradition and Nashville audiences revel in the sheer spectacle of the musical drama unfolding onstage, which is framed by the beautiful scenery on loan from New Orleans Opera Association and with cast members clad in gorgeous costumes from Opera Memphis. Rigoletto provides a stirring climax to Nashville Opera's 29th season, which also included the gloriously opulent season-opening Tosca and the artistically challenging The Fall of the House of Usher, which garnered wide critical acclaim for the company.

Baritone Daniel Sutin sings the role of Rigoletto with anguished emotion, dramatically conveying the father's concern for his chaste daughter. Sutin's "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata," in which he begs the courtiers to help him find his kidnapped daughter, is especially tragic and beautifully sung.

As Gilda, Rigoletto's beautiful child, soprano Megan Monaghan displays her talent to perfection, her expressive voice giving richly colored hues to her arias, particularly in "Tutte le feste al tempio," in which she confesses to Rigoletto her loss of innocence at the hands of the Duke.

Tenor Ryan MacPherson sings the role of the Duke of Mantua with confidence, exuding charm and bravado in his performance. While the Duke is clearly a misogynist, epitomizing the term chauvinist in every way, MacPherson somehow is able to make him appealingly likable. His impressive swagger in the third act performance of the score's best-known aria, "La donna e mobile," is not to be missed.

Mezzo soprano Audrey Babcock, as the manipulative and cunning Maddalena, very nearly steals the show in her third act appearance, giving audiences a mere glimpse of what we can expect from her Carmen, the centerpiece of Nashville Opera's 30^th Anniversary Season: She gives a stunningly full-throated performance of the sexy and sensuous Maddalena and the senses reel in anticipation of her Carmen.

Other cast members contributing mightily to the success of Rigoletto are Seth Mease Carico as the Count of Monterone, Mark McCrory as the supposed assassin Sparafucile, Aaron Grant as Count Ceprano, Michael Foreman as Borsa and Joshua Zink as Marullo, with Stephanie Foley Davis as Gilda's easily bought duenna, Giovanna. Kudos, as well, go to the men of the Nashville Opera ensemble and the supernumeraries who populate the court of the Duke of Mantua.