The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 2001 Page: 12 of 28
twenty eight pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
12
THE RICE THRESHER ARTS ft ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26,2001
'Rigoletto' is one hunchback you don't wanna mess with
Caroline Shaw
THRESHER STAFF
The French may have mastered
the art of je ne sais quoi, but leave it
to an Italian to wear his heart on his
sleeve.
'rigoletto'
Houston Grand Opera
Rating: -kit-kit
(out of five)
Tomorrow (alternate cast) and
Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. Tomorrow,
Tuesday and Nov. 2 at
7:30 p.m. $10-$225. For more
info, call (713) 277-ARTS.
The music of Giuseppe Verdi is
not known for subtlety and hidden
nuance, but perhaps therein lies the
charm of his operas, which exem-
plify the 19th century Italian style
and continue to tug at American op-
era-goers' heartstrings season after
season. His arias present archetypal
characters in their most vulnerable
states, where no emotion is ex-
pressed half-heartedly. With Verdi,
amore is amore is amore, but not
without a touch of vengeance.
Rigoletto takes place in 16th cen-
tury Mantua, Italy, and the sequence
of events unfolds as a flashback nar-
rated by the title character, who sits
straitjacketed for the attempted
murder of the Duke. Rigoletto is a
hunchback, a master of decadence
and a man with many enemies. The
Duke of Mantua is a Don Juan of
sorts who is openly pursuing the
wife of Count Ceprano.
Rigoletto, a lover of mischief,
suggests to the Duke that he im-
prison Ceprano so as to obtain the
countess for himself; however, the
fuming husband hears of this plot
and seeks revenge upon the schem-
ing hunchback. In the meantime.
Count Monterone too has become
an enemy of Rigoletto and announces
a curse on both Rigoletto and the
Duke. This curse begins to torment
Rigoletto throughout the opera, and
he views the subsequent events as
the consequence of Monterone's
glaring words.
One night, Sparafucile, an assas-
sin, appears with his sister
Maddalena before Rigoletto in or-
der to advertise his services should
Rigoletto ever want to eliminate a
COURTESY HOUSTON GRAND OPERA
The Duke's guards confront the hunchback Rigoletto (Dmitri Hvorostovsky) in the HGO production of Rigoletto.
rival. Rigoletto nervously dismisses
the couple away but does not forget
the offer. He returns home to his
daughter Gilda, a beautiful young
girl whom he has forbidden to asso-
ciate with the outside world for fear
Verdi makes grief
and misery gush
relentlessly from
the weaving lines
in the duet arias.
she will be ridiculed. She longs to
know their family history, but her
father refuses to disclose it.
Meanwhile, the Duke sneaks into
the house once Rigoletto has left
and proclaims his love for Gilda, and
she is swept off her feet by his prom-
ising words. However, as she pre-
pares for bed, a group of courtiers
enters the house and abducts the
girl as a joke, thinking her to be
Rigoletto's mistress and wishing to
present her to the Duke. They take
her back, and the Duke and Gilda
soon realize the mistake and decide
to take advantage of her temporary
freedom from paternal protection.
When Rigoletto hears of the ab-
duction, he rushes to the Duke's
palace to rescue his daughter, only
to be met by a disheveled Gilda who
insists she loves the Duke. She asks
for her father's forgiveness, but he
only swears vengeance against the
Duke.
At night, Rigoletto brings his
daughter to the lair of Sparafucile,
where the heartbroken Gilda spies
the Duke seducing Maddalena.
Rigoletto speaks to Sparafucile and
they strike a deal arranging the
Duke's assassination. A lovesick
Maddalena pleads with Sparafucile
to spare the Duke's life, to which her
brother agrees only if another body
can be found to fool Rigoletto.
Gilda overhears this and resolves
to sacrifice herself to save the Duke,
whom she still loves blindly. After
appearing at the assassin's door dis-
guised as a beggar, she is stabbed
and placed into a sack, presented to
Rigoletto as the body of the Duke.
Rigoletto is about to throw the sack
r
What can you do
to improve our campus's environment?
Attend the
Rice Ally Program
Sunday, October 28
3-6 pm Sammy's in the Student Center
The Rice Ally Program is a student initiative designed to educate
and promote understanding of heterosexism and homophobia
within our campus culture.
The program will include a student panel and discussion with the
intent of raising awareness and defining heterosexism and
homophobia. Interested participants will also learn skills for
becoming allies.
Come talk, listen, and learn—and eat pizza!!!
Questions? E-mail alI vprogram@rice.edu.
into the river and be done with his
rival when he hears the Duke sing-
ing in the distance. He rips the sack
open to find his dying daughter, who
bids him a last farewell. Monterone's
curse has been fulfilled.
The Houston Grand Opera's pro-
duction features a collaboration with
the Dallas Opera Scenery, and the
two-story sets facilitate the scenes
of dramatic irony, where different
actions take place among several
characters scattered around the
stage. Seamless scene changes are
the product of clever staging and
well-constructed backdrops.
In the first act, moving shadow
figures projected onto the back of
the stage cast an eerie light on
Rigoletto's remorseful recollections
of the past. A shift in the color of the
lights announces the entrance and
demeanor of each character as he or
she appears.
The music is distinctively Verdi's,
teeming with rhythms and harmonic
progressions that may seem trite in
With VERDI,
amore is amore is
amore, but not
without a touch of
VENGEANCE.
contrast with more experimental
composers. However, he makes grief
and misery gush relentlessly from
the weaving lines in the duet arias,
especially those between father and
daughter. In the case of Rigoletto,
this passion is not excessive; it is the
drama of opera.
American soprano Laura
Claycomb makes her HGO debut as
Gilda in this production, and hope-
fully she will be in Houston again.
From exquisite tapering to sophisti-
cated cadenzas, she exhibits world
class technique as well as a convinc-
ing sense of musical line. The open-
ing-night audience recognized great-
ness as members leapt to their feet
during her curtain call.
Rigoletto is played by Russian
baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who
in his more vengeful arias pulls a
sense of fury from his deep, broad
lower register. Roberto Aronica, the
tenor portraying the amorous Duke,
proves disappointing both in his thin
tone and unpersuasive stage pres-
ence.
Put the fear of cliches in a drawer
for a few hours and escort yourself
(or your lab partner) to an elegant
night at the opera. By the third act,
Verdi proves his brilliance in the art
of drama and melody.
No Bill and Ted?
DAVID GARNER/THRESHER
Hanszen College senior Carolyn Shulman plays in the fiercely
competitive Battle of the Bands Oct. 19. Sponsored by the
Coffeehouse, the event took place In the Brown Garden outside the
Student Center and ran from 2 p.m. to midnight. Cousin Mary — Wiess
College senior Jeff Gelsinger, Brown College senior Dave Herman,
Wiess sophomore Aaron Keho, Wless senior Jamie Uang and Sid
Richardson college senior Gabriel Rivera — was the winning band.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Liu, Leslie & Reichle, Robert. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 2001, newspaper, October 26, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443159/m1/12/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.