News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Rigoletto show poster

Rigoletto at Century II Concert Hall

Dates: (9/3/2016 )

Theatre:

Century II Concert Hall


225 W. Douglas Ave.
Wichita,KS KS 67202

Phone: 316.262.8054

  1. View All Wichita Shows
  2.  > 
  3. Rigoletto


ACT I. Scene 1: Ballroom of the Duke's Palace



At his palace, the Duke of Mantua light-heartedly boasts to his courtiers of amorous conquests, escorting Countess Ceprano, his latest prize, to a private chamber as his hunchback jester, Rigoletto, makes fun of her husband. Marullo announces that Rigoletto is suspected of keeping a mistress and Ceprano plots with the courtiers to punish the hated buffoon. Attention is diverted when Monterone, an elderly nobleman, enters to denounce the Duke for seducing his daughter. Ridiculed by Rigoletto and placed under arrest, Monterone pronounces a curse on both the Duke and his jester.



ACT I. Scene 2: Rigoletto's home



That evening, Rigoletto broods on Monterone’s curse. Rejecting the services of Sparafucile, a professional assassin, he notes that words can be as deadly as a dagger. Greeted by his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps hidden from the world, he reminisces about his late wife, then warns the governess, Giovanna, to admit no one.



As Rigoletto leaves, the Duke slips into the garden, tossing a purse to Giovanna to keep her quiet. The nobleman declares his love to Gilda, who he noticed on her way to church. He tells her he is a poor student named Gualtier Malde, but at the sound of footsteps he rushes away. Tenderly repeating his name, Gilda retires.



Meanwhile, the courtiers stop Rigoletto outside his house and asks him to help abduct Ceprano’s wife, who lives across the way. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. The courtiers break into his home and carry off Gilda. Rigoletto, hearing her cry for help, tears off his blindfold and rushes into the house, discovering only her scarf. He remembers Monterone’s curse.



ACT II. The Duke's private rooms



In his palace, the Duke is distraught over the disappearance of Gilda. His courtiers return with news that they have abducted Gilda and that she is now in his bedchamber; the Duke joyfully rushes off to the conquest. Soon Rigoletto enters, warily looking for Gilda; the courtiers bar his way, though they are astonished to learn the girl is not his mistress but his daughter. The jester reviles them, then embraces the disheveled Gilda as she runs to tell of her courtship and abduction. As Monterone is led to the dungeon, Rigoletto vows to avenge them both.



ACT III. Sparafucile's inn near the river



At night, outside Sparafucile’s run-down inn on the outskirts of town, Rigoletto and Gilda watch as the Duke flirts with the assassin’s sister and accomplice, Maddalena. Rigoletto sends his daughter off to disguise herself as a boy for her escape to Verona, then pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke. As a storm rages, Gilda returns to hear Maddalena persuade her brother to kill not the Duke, but the next visitor to the inn instead. Resolving to sacrifice herself for the Duke, despite his betrayal, Gilda enters the inn and is stabbed. Rigoletto comes back to claim the body and gloats over the sack Sparafucile gives him, only to hear his supposed victim singing in the distance. Frantically cutting open the sack, he finds Gilda, who dies asking forgiveness. Monterone’s curse is fulfilled.

Cast and Creative team for Rigoletto at Century II Concert Hall

by Giuseppe Verdi
An Opera in Three Acts
Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo

Videos


Sense and Sensibility in Wichita Sense and Sensibility
Theatre Salina (4/5 - 4/21)
Mean Girls in Wichita Mean Girls
Century II Concert Hall (4/19 - 4/21)
THE PROM: The Musical in Wichita THE PROM: The Musical
Theatre Salina (6/7 - 6/23)
I Hate Hamlet in Wichita I Hate Hamlet
Theatre Lawrence (4/19 - 4/28)
VIEW SHOWS  ADD A SHOW  

Recommended For You