Rigoletto, Royal Opera House review ★★★★★

The seductive Venus of Urbino was painted by Titian for a Medici cardinal, whose death allowed the Duke of Urbino to acquire it. The same artist’s Rape of Europa was painted for Philip II of Spain. One is now in Florence, the other in Boston.

But both fall into the hands of the Duke of Mantua in Oliver Mears’ production of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House. Courtiers applaud as he unveils the Venus. Later, she is ignominiously tipped onto her side in favour of the Europa. In his life, as well in art choices, he treats women like that.

These giant canvases dominate a production of Verdi’s tragic opera that plays fast and loose with time and place. (In reality, Mantua owned a vast art collection, much of it later acquired by Charles I, but not these two works.) Costumes are from across the centuries and dance moves are more disco than coranto. The message is clear: women are exploited by powerful men everywhere, and always have been.

Pretty Yende as Gilda, who dresses as a man in Act III of Rigoletto. Photo: Tristram Kenton

First staged in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein trial, this production opened the 2021-22 season at Covent Garden, and made a second appearance a few months later. Its musical scale and lavish if debauched court life were a great escape from the silenced, dressed-down Covid years. Second time around, it feels clumsier, but there are performances to relish.

All eyes and ears on first night were on soprano Pretty Yende singing the role of innocent Gilda for the first time at Covent Garden. Gilda has become infatuated with the duke at church, on the only outings she is allowed by her protective father, the duke’s jester, Rigoletto. The duke is interested too, but only in another conquest.

Yende’s Gilda is brimming over with warmth and love, so that her inevitable betrayal feels especially cruel. That passion translates into a tendency to sweep luxuriously through the vocal lines, generously scooping up extra notes on the way, but as the evening unfolds, her silvery high notes ring true, sparkling like stars over a murky scene.

Gianluca Buratto and Ramona Zaharia as Sparafucile and sister, Maddalena. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Real love comes from misshapen Rigoletto, not from her lying ‘student’ admirer, and the great duets are between father and daughter. Rigoletto is sung by Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat, defying his character’s physical limitations with an expansive range of emotions. Romanian tenor Stefan Pop is a brute. Poor Gilda fell for the first man she saw, and in this she is the victim of her father’s overprotectiveness. The layers of reponsibility are complex.

There are star turns from Italian bass Gianluca Buratto as Rigoletto's hired assassin, Sparafucile; from Romanian mezzo-soprano Ramona Zaharia returning as ducal bait and plaything, sexy Maddalena; and from Italian bass Fabrizio Beggi making an impressive Royal Opera House debut as vengeful Monterone, another father whose daughter has been abused by the duke.

Gilda admits to Rigoletto her church service crush on the duke in ‘Tutte le feste al tempio’, most beautifully accompanied by the oboe. Elsewhere there was some raw and ragged playing from the orchestra of the Royal Opera, singers and players parting company from time to time, perhaps perplexed by conductor Julia Jones’s erratic tempi.

Stefan Pop as Rigoletto and Amartuvshin Enkhbat as the Duke of Mantua. Photo: Tristram Kenton

Even the male-only chorus of the Royal Opera, normally a formidable force, felt a little underpowered, and underused by revival director Danielle Urbas.

But the highlights of this production are still here: spectacular costumes by Ilona Karas, wonderfully atmospheric lighting of Simon Lima Holdsworth's painterly set by Fabiana Piccioli and, yes, those Titians. You can’t take your eyes off them. Whether that’s a good thing when you're mostly here for the music is every audience member’s own decision.

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Rigoletto is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Further performances are on 18, 21 (matinee), 24, 27 and 31 Oct. A new cast that includes baritone Simon Keenlyside in the title role sings on 4, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23 and 28 Nov. Click here for booking