Verdi: Rigoletto
Nobody steals the spotlight when Maria Callas is onstage, but Tito Gobbi  never lets us forget that this show is calledRigoletto, notGilda. Neither singer has one of the century's prettiest voices; both  have  dramatic presence, impact, and subtlety--based as much on their control of  verbal nuance as on musicianship--that make their characters three-dimensional,  the story meaningful, the emotions real, varied, and intense. His role is bigger  and more complex than hers is. He is almost constantly onstage, and his music  runs the whole gamut from fatherly tenderness, to regret at a life gone wrong,  to explosive rage. Sparks fly when they sing together, and Tullio Serafin  conducts with an exemplary grasp of the opera and a detailed knowledge of his  cast's capabilities.--Joe McLellan