The directors at the Lyric had a better insight in writing that Rigoletto is a nightmare about an all-powerful and irresponsible ruler. Accurate as long as you throw out the jester and his daughter. Otherwise, one-third true. Victor Hugo, who wrote the original story, certainly thought so. The courtiers dare not raise a voice in protest, at least not until they are faced by personal ruin, by which time they have nothing left but a curse.
Assassination is the jester s only chance at revenge.
But there is also the directors cynicism, especially their assumption that no woman would ever choose to die for love, something that generations of opera lovers, male and female, have chosen to believe. Fortunately, in America as at the Lyric, the music and the singers are much better than the directors. I would love to hear the same artists again, but with staging that made sense and directors who are willing to follow the composer s text and directions. Less soap opera and less soft-soap. Monmouth College Courier , Nov. 17, 2000.