Rehearsal of Michael Mayer's staging of Verdi's "Rigoletto" on the 22nd of January 2013. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Michael Mayer sets the 16th-century tale of Verdi's opera in 1960s Las Vegas, putting a spin on the licentious Duke's lifestyle in a Russian roulette of power, sex, money and crime on the Metropolitan Opera stage in New York City, and live online in HD
The Tony-award winning producer-director, known for staging snazzy rock musicals, has taken his unabashed style to one of the world's legendary opera houses, transforming the Duke into a cabaret singer in what is being regarded as the "Rat Pack Rigoletto". Mayer's update on a classic story of the trials and tribulations of a womanising man of power is proof that the Met's endeavours to "revitalise" famed operas and make them accessible to new audiences remain in motion. In an interview with the New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini, Mayer says he was prepared for boos at the premiere on the 28th of January, yet there were more cheers from the opening-night house.
Mayer has stated his priority was to remain true to the essence of the opera, telling the New York Times' Charles Isherwood, "Some directors may be satisfied by going for large thematic gestures (...) I wanted to tell Verdi’s story as completely as I could". The same paper's review, by Tomassini, praises the production and Piotr Beczała's "boyishly exuberant" rendition of the Duke while voicing concern that historical significance and complex interpersonal relationships from Renaissance Italy might be compromised by Mayer's broad leap to a recent era.
The flashy staging and unparalleled execution of the cast makes it a show that has grabbed the attention critics and audiences - especially those with a penchant for the Vegas of Sinatra's day. The Wall Street Journal writes, "As the Duke, Piotr Beczala displays a big, beautiful tenor with great presence [and the production] gives a contemporary immediacy to this tale of how power and vice corrupt everything around them… The strong cast of principals carries out the concept with gusto".
Bloomberg reports, "It's impossible not to like the new production. It's wildly entertaining, inventive, strangely funny and yet also deeply sad… Mayer captures both the emotional depth and surface glitter in an audacious staging…. The audience whooped approval at the end". Finally WQXR gives a snappy surmisal, "Rigoletto hits the jackpot".
Tomassini's Times review cites a previous Rigoletto production adapted to more modern times: director Jonathan Miller's successful run at the English National Opera in 1982, which set the Duke at the head of the mob in 1920s Little Italy. The shift toward contemporary renditions of great operas has shaped productions of Carmen, La Bohème and others onstage and in film in recent years.
Last year, Beczała gave a smashing performance as the Chevalier des Grieux in premiereing a new production of Massenet’s Manon. He builds on his acclaim at the Met, with his lead in Rigoletto through the end of March, when Vittorio Grigolo takes over as the Duke. Beczała then takes another sinister role in the Met's production of Faust, set to premiere at the end of March and run through the 5th of April.
Piotr Beczała (born in 1966 in Czechowice-Dziedzice) studied at the Katowice Academy of Music, honing his skills at master courses with Jan Ballarin, Pavel Lisizian and Sena Jurinac, among others. He sang at the Landestheater in Linz and as a guest singer at the Landestheater in Salzburg from 1992 to 1997. His debut at the Opernhaus Zürich came in 1996. He made his Met debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto in 2006, returning to the role with the company in 2009 and 2011, and has sung the role of the Duke with Zürich and Paris Operas. His four other roles at the Met have enjoyed critical acclaim: Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. In March at the Met, he makes his role debut as the lead in Gounod’s Faust.
Rigoletto starring Piotr Beczała is at the Metropolitan Opera on the 16th, 19th and 23rd of February. The production, sung in Italian, has surtitles in English, German and Spanish. Performances will be streamed live in HD or on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, and are accessible via on the Metropolitan Opera's official website: www.metoperafamily.org
Production: Michael Mayer
Set Designer: Christine Jones
Costume Designer: Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer: Kevin Adams
Choreographer: Steven Hoggett
Faust starring Piotr Beczała is on at the Met on the 21st, 25th and 28th of March and the 2nd and 5th of April. The opera, sung in French, also has surtitles in English, German and Spanish, with performances streamed live in HD or on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS XM Channel 74, and accessible via on the Metropolitan Opera's official website: www.metoperafamily.org
Conductor: Alain Altinoglu
Marguerite: Marina Poplavskaya
Siébel: Julie Boulianne
Faust: Piotr Beczala
Valentin: Alexey Markov
Méphistophélès: John Relyea
For more details on performance times and tickets, see the Metropolitan Opera calendar at: www.metoperafamily.org