Central City Opera Offers Outdoor "Rigoletto"

Alisa Jordheim [Gilda] and Aleksey Bogdanov [Rigoletto]

Following a disrupted 2020 festival season, Central City Opera (CCO) has re-emerged from its pandemic-truncated year with two full-length musical productions for the summer of 2021. Given the uncertainty of providing indoor entertainment—the year’s planning took place well before the broad effectiveness of a COVID vaccine could be relied upon—General/Artistic Director “Pat” Pelham and his team elected to move the festival from its Central City Opera House venue to Hudson Gardens, an idyllic outdoor setting in southwest Denver. On July 3, the company began this year’s festival with the Rogers & Hammerstein musical, Carousel. A week later saw the opening of Rigoletto, one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most appreciated operas. This is the fifth time CCO has presented Rigoletto, most recently in 1996.

THE VENUE: Hudson Gardens, located on South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton, is a compact wooded parkland adjacent to the South Platte River. An open-sided pavilion served as the stage, located at the base of a sloping lawn where ticket-holders sat on folding chairs brought from home, or on padded seats provided by the company in the premium section. Sightlines were good, mostly because the orchestra was unconventionally placed behind the stage. This had the effect of muting the music a bit, but not negatively so.

THE STORY: Traditionally, Rigoletto is employed as a court jester to the Duke of Mantua. The royal personage is a known womanizer and the opera opens at a party, where the Duke and his courtiers are entertaining a cross-section of Mantua’s elite. Rigoletto’s skill in mocking others invites a curse from Count Monterone, whose daughter was one of the Duke’s victims. The threat of this maledizione hangs over the balance of the opera and is the motivating factor for all that follows. The Duke seduces Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, initially believing her to be the jester’s lover. In turn, Rigoletto hires the assassin Sparafucile to kill the Duke in an act of revenge. The tables are turned, however, when Gilda offers herself up as the victim in order to save the Duke’s life, with whom she has fallen in love. Rigoletto recognizes the switch only in the final minutes of the opera; Gilda dies in his arms, and her father recognizes that the curse has indeed come to fruition.

THE PRODUCTION: The relative timelessness of the opera’s storyline lends itself to temporal manipulation somewhat better than Verdi’s other works. For example, a few years ago the Metropolitan Opera famously recast this piece as sung by members of the 1950s-era Las Vegas Rat Pack. This CCO production introduced the character of Rigoletto attired as a caddy, with the Duke seemingly taking on the role of the club’s golf pro—while his entourage presumably consisted of wealthy club members. Beyond the opening scene, however, that element is seemingly abandoned and has no further effect on the action. That’s of little consequence, however, since it’s really all about the music.

Galeano Salas [Duke, in disguise] and Alisa Jordheim

THE SINGERS: The Duke was quite credibly sung by tenor Galeano Salas, a former CCO apprentice artist who has also performed this role with the Hungarian State Opera. In a world where a production’s tenor is often “the weakest link,” Salas ably proved the exception. Alisa Jordheim as Gilda dominated the spotlight whenever she was onstage. Among all the principals, she was the most skilled in overcoming the non-modulating sound emitted by her wireless microphone. Jordheim’s rendition of the famous aria, “Caro Nome,” thrilled the audience with its appropriately girlish glee that is often missing from more mature sopranos. As the title character, baritone Aleksey Bogdanov proved an adequate Rigoletto, gradually warming to his role as the opera moved toward its tragic conclusion, although he seemed least able among the ensemble to overcome the vocal challenges of microphone projection. Bass John Paul Huckle was the villain, Sparafucile, who sang his parts well but could have shown more menace in his voice. Michelle Monroe appeared as the temptress Maddelena; her warm mezzo voice blended well with the others in the famous quartet that precedes the final onstage action.

THE ORCHESTRA: Down through the years, conductor and music director John Baril has consistently led the Central City Opera Orchestra in one fine performance after another. Given the challenge of conducting the ensemble from behind the stage, Baril provided strong guidance and timely synchronicity with his singers.

THE PLUSES: With the requirement of having a single set serve all four acts and its vastly different locales—separate rooms in a palace, Rigoletto’s quarters, and a roadhouse on the edge of the city—the multi-layered stage design by Steven Kemp was one of the highlights of the evening. The opera was given without intermissions, thereby heightening its dramatic scope, and what is typically a three-hour investment in time was converted to a brisk one-and-three-quarters hours’ entertainment.

THE MINUSES: While the concern for ensuring the performers can be heard in this outdoor setting is clear, it was disappointing to discover each of the singers was “miked.” This resulted in overlaying the performance with a volumetric sameness—a sort of pervasive mezzoforte—that tended to wring the emotion out of many of the vocal passages. It was less annoying as the performance wore on but still grated on the ear. Also, a few passages were cut, including a brief duet during the opening party scene , much of the plotting that takes place between Rigoletto and Sparafucile, and the male chorus preceding Gilda’s abduction—in part to presumably reduce the number of required singers.

IF YOU GO: Parking is ample and free. Be sure to bring a hat, since the audience faces west into the setting sun. This production of Rigoletto appears eight more times throughout the month of July, including a family matinee on Tuesday, July 27. Tickets and additional information can be found on the organization’s website, or by calling 303-292-6500.

Photo credits: Amanda Tipton [CCO]