BWW Preview: Berkshire Opera's RIGOLETTO for a #MeToo Era

"In Rigoletto we're dealing with abuse of women, male power, rape, murder. Obviously, the stories carry an unbelievable weight to them," says Jonathan Loy, who's not only the stage director of the Berkshire Opera Festival's RIGOLETTO, opening on August 25 at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA, but also the company's General director.

"In this #MeToo time, I need to communicate why the opera is so relevant to today's audiences, young and old--and why everyone will relate to what's going on."

Loy and Artistic Director Brian Garman, co-founders of the company, chose to produce this particular work for its third season because of their shared love of the opera, its innovative and gorgeous music, and rich dramatic material. As Loy began working through his ideas, the poignancy of how in-tune these themes were to some of today's issues was impossible to ignore.

"The idea of revisiting classics and discovering that what we consider modern issues are actually age-old helps show that opera is not a museum but a living art form. Keeping opera alive and relevant demands this kind of vision," asserts Loy.

Acknowledging those clear parallels, however, did not lead him to present a particular viewpoint that deviated from the opera that Verdi wrote. The director knew that he wanted to do a black-and-white production that would help bring the strong dramatic themes into sharp focus; but make no mistake, the presentation is traditional in the sense that it is set in the period in which it was written and 100% true to the text. At the same time, the production is abstract and minimal.

A three-walled, white muslin background suggesting a shadow box, while the stage pieces include a large, black throne for the Duke (Jonathan Tetelman), and just the minimum of elements to suggest the settings where the tale of the court jester, Rigoletto (Sebastian Catana) and his daughter Gilda (Maria Valdes) unfolds. This allows the story to come to the forefront, also sending the message, says Loy, that, "Sometimes things really are just black and white".

And that includes the costumes, which have been built from scratch and, the director believes has true impact. The few women in the cast are all outfitted in white-on-white brocade, while the male chorus will be wearing black-on-black brocade. The male leads will be dressed in 'fifty shades of grey'. There are two additions to the cast of characters, though they don't have lines to say or music to sing: Two dancers. A male dancer has a double meaning: something of an incarnation of the Duke while really implying everyman. Likewise, a female dancer implies everywoman.

"The most important thing to me in creating a production," Loy concludes, "is presenting something that is aesthetically beautiful--and not only visually but musically as well. I want people to feel the unamplified voice wrap itself around them. It has to be a visceral experience in a way that is unlike what recorded music on Spotify or YouTube can possibly offer.

"I want the audience to sit down and have these amazing voices sweep over them for two-and-a-half hours, while looking at the stage. They will go on this journey with the characters and being able to take away whatever it means to them. It should be a beautiful, out of body experience."

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For more information and tickets, visit the Berkshire Opera Festival's website.