I am conducting an amusing experiment that is a) amusing to me only and b) not really an experiment at all but rather an adventure in opposites. Today I am wearing the exact opposite of what I wore yesterday – I am rocking a cream double breasted cardigan over a floppy green tank top, whereas yesterday the colours were swapped. Who will notice? No one! Why do I care? Because I don’t get out enough! What we going to get? Several boys!

It’s been several days since Rigoletto, so I’ve had some time to process the evening as a whole. There were a lot of things I wanted to commit to HTML while they were still fresh in my mind, so my efforts that night were dedicated to bringing to moment home to you, the viewer. Now that I’m not on the spot to say something, I can spend a little more time waxing poetic about the experience and also swear more.

My initial opinion of “Rigoletto was fucking awesome” hasn’t changed – it really was amazing. I went into a little detail about how much I loved the set, but I will now say it again – I *loved* the set. Imagine my surprise, then, when one of the recurring themes throughout the night and beyond was that a lot of people thought the performances were incredible, but they hated the set.

How do you figure? From what I gather, a lot of opera traditionalists thought the set was too modern and distracting. One of the things that spoke to me about the set WAS how modern it was – the story is set in the 16th century, but the set had a very industrial feel that spoke volumes to my inner goth punk kid. In particular, the lighting director did some amazing things with fabric and light to indicate mood and weather, and the spooky wind singers in the second act were spectacularly effective. I thought it was an incredibly creative interpretation of the story, but there’s a very clear line separating what we (the opera neophytes) thought and what the traditionalists (cranky old people) are saying. It is interesting.

I applaud the set designer for their gutsy vision. It seems almost too easy to do what’s expected of you and create something that looks like this:

rigoletto set: utah opera

But to add your own stamp to it and actively work to appeal to audiences outside your comfort zone deserves an ovation:

vancouver opera rigoletto: photo by tim matheson

The costumes, too, were great. The hottie that started all the trouble – the count’s wife – was decked out in a bright green wig and saucy corset, and there were punk rock colours all throughout the ladies of the court. Safe and traditional will always have a place, but it’s very encouraging to see something so different from what you were expecting.

The 2-for-1 deal is on until today at 5pm, so if you’d like to check out Rigoletto for yourself, call 604-683-0222 with the promo code 1670 now. Where else are you going to see a silent Greek chorus of clowns in ruffles and pointy hats?

I hesitated mentioning this, but realized I would not be true to myself if I didn’t: the assassin Sparafucile looks like a brunette Legolas, and his costume gave him an enormous package. Now THAT was distracting. I couldn’t stop looking at it and giggling to myself. I am truly surprised they let me outdoors to mingle in polite society at all.