The making of a classic

The Royal Opera has assembled a starry cast for this revival of David McVicar’s 2001 production of Rigoletto. This is a traditional take on Verdi's opera, but one carried out with sufficient imagination and flair to ensure that even the most revolutionary opera-goer should leave feeling that their view of the piece has been refreshed. Indeed, some might even feel provoked, as the rather explicit orgy at the beginning of the opera unfailingly makes two or three people storm out before ten minutes have passed. What makes this production hugely successful, and indeed a classic of the House (like Richard Eyre’s La Traviata and McVicar’s own Le nozze di Figaro) is how economically it presents the drama. McVicar focuses on how the characters relate to each other, physically or through stares, in the context of an intelligently designed…