Rigoletto

Mike and I went to our very first opera last week. Rigoletto. It was very different than I expected but I enjoyed it a lot. I have a problem with staying awake during shows. Movies at the theater. Broadways in New York. And yes, I did fall asleep during the first Act of Rigoletto (and we went to the 2 PM show); but once I woke up, I was awake for the rest of the show. :0)

So... the opera was three hours long, had three acts and two intermissions. All the songs were in Italian so it's too bad I don't know Italian. They had a nice white screen running across the top of the curtains and it translated for all of us English-only speakers. We had good seats which were 8 rows back on the floor (orchestra section).

The story was about a court jester who has a hunchback (Rigoletto). His wife died and to protect his only happiness (his daughter), he locked her away in their house and wouldn't let her venture out into the city except to go to church. Well she met the Duke at church (who happened to be a pimp), and he played her. Rigoletto was upset because of the Duke stealing her virtue as well as for the way the Duke always treated Rigoletto, commanding Rigoletto to make him laugh at any given point in time. So Rigoletto sought revenge and would not leave the city until he had gotten his revenge. He paid someone to kill the Duke but the brother/sister duo that was supposed to kill him had a change of heart and chose to kill the next person who entered their place. Rigoletto's daughter loved the Duke, even knowing that he treated her like every other woman he met, and she overheard the plan of his death while spying on him. She chose to die in his place. In the end Rigoletto was left without his revenge and with a dead daughter in his arms.

The music was beautiful, the voices were incredible and the acting was very well done. I enjoyed what the story line taught - revenge isn't worth it, but I hated that his daughter had to die. So many people already made fun of him for his hunchback, why did so much bad have to happen to him?

I think that I would go to an opera again. I'd like to try an English opera, but I'll take what comes my way.

I didn't get any pictures of Mike & I but I absolutely loved the look of the Capital Theater where the opera was held in Salt Lake City.