by Andrea Gaini<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welsh National Opera is well-known for bold and often politically active productions, and this year’s Autumn Season is especially rich of sensational themes with both Carmen <\/em>and Rigoletto <\/em>carrying powerful messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n James MacDonald’s adaptation of Rigoletto\n<\/em>to the Kennedy’s era embraces the core ideologies and beliefs shared by the\n#MeToo movement in retelling the story of the Duke’s jester, Rigoletto and his\ndaughter, confronting the dangers of unchecked power abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The story follows the adversities of a Duke (David Junghoon Kim) whose morality is blinded by his power to have any women he desires, his fool and entertainer Rigoletto (Mark S Doss), solely concerned with hiding his daughter Gilda (Marina Monz\u251c\u2502) from the dangerous world he lives in, and her love for the Duke that overtakes any rationality in her and leads to a fatal ending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The new setting of the story is\nboldly reflected in the scenography which features elegant and presidential\ndinner parties, a wooden partners desk in the Oval Office and a reproduction of\nthe U.S. Capitol Building which sets the location of the opera from the very\nbeginning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite being more enthusiastic\nabout the concept of this version of Rigoletto <\/em>than the actual\nrealisation of it, the opera is very easy to follow and due to very good\nstaging and acting, it’s quite simple to get a full grasp of what happens,\nwithout getting lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n David Junghoon Kim is a cocky and pretentious Duke and his redemption of “La donna immobile” is divine both in singing and in interpretation. However, I must say, his duets with Gilda are not as smooth as I would have expected, they sometimes feel slightly awkward and we lose a bit of the Duke-like characterisation to give space to a melancholic and washed-down version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark S Doss’ return to the WNO as\nRigoletto is a very memorable one. The character perfectly suits his deep,\ncolourful and naturally scratched voice and his acting reveals a dark sarcasm\nwhich incorporates the suffering and anxious life he conducts behind his\nentertainer fa\u251c\u00baade. The symbiosis he found with Marina Monz\u251c\u2502 (Gilda) reveals a\nfather-daughter relationship which is tender, sweet and also desperate when trying\nto hide his most precious diamond from the cruelty of a world where lesser\npeople can do nothing but watch their world crumble when crossed by powerful\nmen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This frantic, and after all failed attempt to fight the powerful man is what charges this opera with a meaningfulness that works very well with the McDonald’s modern re-adaptation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Andrea Gaini \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 \u00d4\u00ff\u00e0 The Welsh National Opera is well-known for bold and often politically active productions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":562,"featured_media":19443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3925,3,3054,1323,96,3053,1206,19,4809,1407,3114],"class_list":["post-19442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-culture","tag-cardiff","tag-cardiff-student-media","tag-opera","tag-quench","tag-quench-culture","tag-quench-magazine","tag-review","tag-rigoletto","tag-wales-millennium-centre","tag-wno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n