Rigoletto really grabs you by the guts
This opera is so important because of this relationship between a father and his daughter
This is one of those pieces that really hits it pretty hard
The contrast of sentiments and characters and scenes
It's gripping
Rigoletto is about a corrupt man and a man who chooses vendetta over pardon
The Duke is not a person who forgives Rigoletto is not a person who forgives
Therein lies the story
The Duke is a man of love and lust
His court is filled with beautiful women and it's filled with beautiful things
but it's also dark and it's heavy
Rigoletto is the court jester and a spokesman for the duke
The Duke is bad news because he's conceited, he's corrupt
He's very powerful, he's good-looking It's all the bad things that could happen
to Rigoletto's daughter
He's torn apart between these worlds
The one protecting his daughter The other one being part of this horrible
this horrible and corrupt man and his courtiers
The love for his only daughter
It's the only way to keep him alive
Gilda has actually been away in a convent for many years
She lost her mother at a very young age and when we first see her in the opera
she's been with her father for about three months but she actually doesn't know his name
She doesn't know him very well at all
Rigoletto's soul is screwed and he's in touch with a hell of a lot of venom
But on the other hand he is a person who is sensitive to that
And keeps his daughter Gilda in an absolute cocoon
Throw away without travelling too far, you can physically stop and
just grab her by the hand - you'll only get a step away from her
...and then you close in on her again
It's absolute luxury to have a very sophisticated group of performers in front of us
With whom one can say 'okay we're going in this direction with this kind of thing'
and immediately that speaks to them
I love Justin, we work very much together
He's a very energetic director
He has Rigoletto so much in his fingertips and his knowledge of the role is so thorough
that it's very easy for him to access that
Dimitri is an incredible actor. Even in the rehearsals he's with his sticks
and he's making these crazy noises and I remember thinking
'What's going on? Is he OK?'
That's when magic is made on stage
When you forget who you are and you become your characters
This is one of Verdi's most quintessential operas
he was exploring a number of new types of themes
even some through-composed sections of music
that he didn't really do in pieces before
Verdi allows you to sing so many amazing beautiful lines. It's a gift of a role
but it's also incredibly exposed so that's quite frightening
I love the music, I love the dramatic parts There's constant coming and going
of these themes and everything
Apart from being challenging, it's beautiful music
There's real drama in this opera it's so brilliantly written
The production connects with people. They understand the deepness of the characters
There's a bit of the Duke and Rigoletto and Gilda in all of us
and so we learn something from it as to how to live our lives
I think it's the most interesting production I've ever done, Rigoletto
The grandeur, the drama
And the music, of course