Rigoletto reimagined as a powerful tale of racial oppression
Rigoletto reimagined as a powerful tale of racial oppression
Nicholas KenyonMon, October 19, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Blake Denson as Rigoletto and Raven McMillon as Gilda - Richard H Smith
First seen in 2022, Femi Elufowoju Jr’s account of the jester Rigoletto’s oppression by the Duke of Mantua gives Verdi’s opera a fiercely contemporary edge. Its masterstroke is to abandon the traditional idea of Rigoletto as a hunchback, and instead show him and his daughter, Gilda, as belonging to a black minority in an overwhelmingly white society. Opera North delivers this revival with total professionalism and, under their incoming music director Patrick Lange, Verdi’s score crackles with tension and power.
Elufowoju’s bold conceit might not work so well were the two performances that dominate the opera not so powerfully drawn: Blake Denson’s Rigoletto may sometimes be over-assertive vocally, but his protective love for his daughter, which leads him to hide her away, is evident in his finely acted, firmly sung desperation. Raven McMillon makes a diminutive, touching Gilda, always perfectly precise of line and lovely of tone, if not quite developing, as the character must, finally to collude in her own death.
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Willard White as Count Monterone - Richard H Smith
There remain problems in making this opera a simple metaphor for black oppression. Some twists are effective: when Gilda is abducted by the courtiers, the police instead assume Rigoletto is guilty of taking her, apparently because of the colour of his skin. But the character of the venerable Count Monterone, who curses Rigoletto in the first act, is also cast as black (played by the tremendous bass Willard White), muddling the idea that it is only white people who are against Rigoletto and his daughter.
Mexican tenor Leonardo Sánchez as the Duke of Mantua - Richard H Smith
Indeed the one winner in this story is the loathsome Duke of Mantua, performed by the Mexican tenor Leonardo Sánchez, who has all the best tunes and tosses them off here with resonant aplomb. Although his supporters take the form of an eccentrically camp chorus, and Rae Smith’s designs are exceptionally vivid, at all times the discipline of this production is taut, and the music-making has a tight, sharp edge under Lange. Verdi’s disturbing vision is supported rather than undermined by this bold rethinking.
Touring to Nov 20, including a ‘Pay what you can’ performance on Oct 28
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
