Curtain Call for Rigoletto: Amarillo Opera, April 1, 2023
Amarillo had the rare privilege on April 1, and this is no joke, of indulging in an opera orgy! Not one, but two Verdi operas were performed live: one in HD and the other in-person. Falstaff was shown at the Hollywood 16 in an HD live broadcast by the Metropolitan Opera while Amarillo Opera delighted an in-person audience at the Globe News Center.
The two operas, besides having the same composer, had much in common, as well as much to contrast. Falstaff was Verdi’s last opera. He defended his writing of a comedic work, saying, “After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little!” He also wondered if he’d live long enough to see the opera staged, which perhaps helped him die with a smile on his lips.
Falstaff was much anticipated, whereas Rigoletto, often considered as the first of Verdi’s masterpieces, was shrouded in secrecy, due, in part to the gauntlet of Austrian censors, as Austria still controlled northern Italy. The cast was given all of the music only a few hours before opening. The next morning La Donna e’ mobile was heard from the streets and canals of Venice!
The comparisons proliferate:
One was world-class in every respect, with a world-wide audience of over 350,00. The other, a regional production, played to an audience of around a thousand, with what can only be described as world-class artistry!
Both plots featured male leads: one a fool who thought himself irresistible to women; the other who hid behind a comedic mask by pretending to be a fool. One was set up by others and made to look the fool while the other contrived his own plot of revenge and foolishly lost his only love.
Both operas were staged in performance halls built by Amarillo donors: the Sybil B. Harrington (from Amarillo!) Performance Hall in NYC, for the Met, while the GNC was built from fundraising spearheaded by Caroline Bush Emeny.
And, while local professionals formed the pit orchestra for Rigoletto, at least one Amarillo native helped make music for Falstaff: Katherine Fong as Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin. Artsy Amarillo is happy to help rasie the cultural bar in the Big Apple.
In addition, the connections formed by Mary Jane Johnson, General and Artistic Director of Amarillo Opera from her years singing with the Met would prove critical in the staging of Rigoletto.
Both operas had foreign conductors: Italian Daniele Rustioni conducted the Met; Jorge Parodi led the musicians for Rigoletto, though coming to the High Plains of Texas from La Pampa province in Argentina seems like the same universe. Gauchos and cowboys are just cousins who wear different pants and hats.
One opera had elaborate stage sets, with an army of professional stage hands who choreographed the scene changes with the precision of the Bolshoi Ballet. The other minimalized minimalism, having just two platforms, with risers behind for the chorus.
The directors for the Met chose creative costuming from the 1950’s Betty Crocker feminine ideal: big skirts, big hair and layers of Revlon. And Amarillo Opera? Well, this is cowboy country, so Levi’s topped off with pearl buttons and Stetsons seemd de rigueur for these parts. All of those boot-scootin’ cowboys and cowgirls singing perfect Italian? You just had to be there!
There was method to the Amarillo madness. Mary Jane Johnson wanted a complete audience focus on the music, without the distraction of elaborate sets or period costumes. Director Ellen Schlaeffer concurred, and her decisions on blocking, action/reaction and emotional pitch provided the perfect chemistry and drew the attention of the audience like a magnet and made the stageplay of the singers seem natural.
The leads have interesting back stories. Michael Volle as Sir John Falstaff, is better known as the god Wotan in the Wagnerian operas. Foolish comedy is not his musical metier. Yet he performed with a twinkle in his eye: he laughed at the buffoonery of Falstaff even as he played the character.
Baritone Todd Thomas is one of the most experienced Rigoletto’s in the opera world, and his singing the role at the Globe News Center is pure good fortune. The singer originally cast landed with a cold, then informed Mary Jane Johnson he had Covid. She, went to her extensive Contacts Directory, and dialed up Todd, who said he could arrive the Tuesday before Saturday’s performance! Yet he quickly mastered the blocking and delivered what was surely one of his best performances as he owned the stage!
The other leads complimented Thomas’s Rigoletto. Alisa Jordheim, as Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, transfixed the audience by the ethereal ecstasy of her coluratura, which evoked a particular poignancy as she interacted with her tormented stage father. The pair seemed very real as protective father and sheltered daughter. Thomas related in one interview how being the father of two daughters informed his role, although his anguish at Gilda’s death was especially wrenching.
Local fav Eric Barry played the duke, a character comfortably living at the casual apex of impunity, most revelatory when he kicked back in a chair to declare, with absolute sincerity, La donna e’ mobile, like it was only natural to trifle with women’s hearts. At the conclusion, with Gilda dying in the arms of Rigoletto, the duke’s voice could again be heard from backstage almost flippantly singing the aria: self-indulgence contrasted with self-sacrifice with the innocent paying the ultimate price.
Shout-outs go to locals Sean Milligan as Monterone the “curser” and Chancelor Barbaree as Marullo the kidnapper, along with Colorado-based Griffin Hogan Tracy as Sparafucile the assassin. The strength of their voices will soon see them on bigger stages.
Finally Sarah Saturnino was convincing as a sultry, yet vulnerable Maddalena who goes along with Sparafucile’s plan because of her love for the duke, even thought it brings unintended consequences.
Thus, for one day, Amarillo was the epicenter of the Verdi universe. The Met audience, opera afficionados and habitues saw a dazzling performance whether in-person or via HD, and left comparing this performance with other incredible offerings of the Metropolitan Opera.
The audience at theAmarillo Opera, exited more Italian than when they entered, with Verdi in their hearts and La donna e’ mobile on their lips drawled in a Panhandle patois, that carried from the streets to the open plains beyond.
With profound gratitude to all who made this harmonic Verdi convergence possible in this unlikely place, we say:
Keep Amarillo Artsy!
Keep Austin Weird!
Keep Lubbock in the Rear View Mirror!!!
Keep Amarillo Artsy 