(Credit: Jennifer Taylor / Met Opera)

The Metropolitan Opera is reviving “Rigoletto” for the second time this season. Following a run in the fall, the Met has enlisted a new star cast featuring a promising young tenor and one of the best baritones in the world.

The result was a solid evening of music and drama.

Hyperactive turntable

But before I get to the positives, I must mention the most negative aspect of the evening: Bartlett Sher’s production. When this production opened, I was not a fan as it was a hyperactive showcase that spun on its turntable for no reason. Now seeing it for the second time, I dislike it even more.

Sher’s interpretation of the work is full of distractions. The confrontation with Count and Countess Ceprano in Act one, scene one was cringe-inducing as it had them moving, around distracting from the music. Monterone’s fight with the soldiers at the end of Act two was also poorly coordinated. Then, at the end of the chorus of Act one, scene one, the turntable started to spin without the chorus even finishing its passage. You could not hear the end of the chorus because they were already taken off the stage.

Worse was the turntable moving while Rigoletto moved Gilda’s body in Act three. We see a bunch of old sets that distract from the dramatic moment only to leave us with a brick wall that is reminiscent of Luc Bondy’s controversial “Tosca.” The only good thing about this ugly set is the acoustics. Ultimately, we are left questioning why the turntable needed to move so much. Why did we need to change the set? What did it add to the production or the dramatic moment? It often felt like it was moving for the sake of moving.

The quartet is also poorly staged, as the audience is forced to look up and down and cannot concentrate on the entire action. It also causes acoustic issues and imbalance.  The trio in Act three still boggles my mind as Sher creates a supernatural element that he never introduces, and damages the drama of the moment. Why does Gilda randomly go into the tavern without entering or exiting the door as she has done throughout the act? Why is there a red light dominating the scene? Sher never answers the questions nor does it seem like he cares to.

And finally, the costumes are utterly unflattering especially Rigoletto’s and Maddalena’s. But I could go on forever about this production and it’s not worth the time. Just read the review from the 2021-22 season.

What I will leave you with is the Met needs a new production of “Rigoletto” and it should come as soon as possible.

So let’s turn to the positives of this evening.

Living Verdi

It’s always boggled my mind why Luca Salsi has only performed 54 times at the Met since his debut in 2007. His appearances have been infrequent and he has always been featured in the second casts. He has never had any type of promotion for his appearances. I say this because Salsi is one of the great baritones of his generation. He has opened the Teatro alla Scala on numerous occasions and has created memorable portrayals of Posa, Macbeth, Carlo Gerard, and recently Simon Boccanegra in Rome. Now he is returning to the Met in the title role of Rigoletto for the second time in this production. In my opinion, he is the best Rigoletto the Met has had in years. Salsi lives and breathes Verdi’s music like no other baritone. He has a clear understanding of the text and each phrase and, what is more impressive, is that he does not interpolate a single high note nor use any special effects to express Verdi’s music.

From the opening of the opera, Salsi was Rigoletto. He started as the comic jester moving about the stage taunting the court. His opening lines were sung with irony and grit. He also played into the sarcasm and awkwardness of Rigoletto through his body language, making it hard to look away from him. His exchange with Monetrone, “Ch’io gli parli. Voi congiuraste contro noi, signore,” had an edgy but suave approach, but that eventually evolved to a darker tone as he repeated “Che sento! orrore!”

In the opening of Act one, scene two, his “Quel vecchio maledivami!” was sung with a whisper as he questioned himself and whether he was really cursed. Then in his monologue “Pari siamo!…,” Salsi mixed that whispering tone in such lines as “Quel vecchio maledivami!…Tal pensiero” with a booming baritone sound on “O rabbia! esser difforme, esser buffone!” You could sense the confusion and torment in this Rigoletto. But there were also moments moments of legato lines, especially at the end in “Ma in altr’uomo qui mi cangio…” Salsi unusually ended the final “Mi coglierà sventura?… Ah no, è follia!” with a whispering tone that emphasized Rigoletto’s haunted state.

In the duet with Gilda, the baritone went for a smooth legato line filled with passion and tenderness as he sang the text “Deh, non parlare al misero.” You could sense the tenderness he felt for his Gilda, but also the distraught emotions of his character. His “Ah, veglia, o donna, questo fiore” showcased a gorgeous timbre that melded beautifully with Erin Morley’s sweet tone.

But it was in Act two that Salsi’s performance became something special. Once he arrived on the scene, his “La ra, la ra, la la…” were sung with a mix of sarcasm and playfulness but as he continuously repeated the lines, you could sense anger bubbling to the surface. The emotions continued to rise until he arrived at “Sì, la mia figlia! d’una tal vittoria…” and “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata.” Here Salsi’s voice was full of rage, the line potent with staccato phrasing. That eventually calmed down into “Ah! voi tutti a me contro venite…,” interpreted as a lament. The ensuing “Miei signori… perdono, pietate…” was Salsi at his most expressive legato singing, each line unforgettable.

In his duet with Morley, “Tutte le feste al tempio,” Salsi’s voice began with a furious “Ah! Solo per me l’infamia” with the voice booming out into the auditorium before it quieted down to a gentle and comforting “Ah! piangi, fanciulla, scorrer.” The repetition of each “Piangi” was accented to emphasize the emotions of Salsi’s weeping Rigoletto. But that was immediately contrasted in “Si, Vendetta” where the baritone  delivered a rousing vengeful tone. It contrasted incredibly with Morley’s gentler sound. It was an incredible finale to the act as the two singers poured everything out.

His vengeful character was fully shown during the opening of the third act in his exchanges with Sparafucile and the quartet. You could see how Salsi relish each moment; at the end, as he sang his final monologue “Della vendetta alfin giunge l’istante!,” there was a bright timbre that illuminated his middle voice. But that soon changed in the final duet “Lassù, in cielo.” Here Salsi sang as if weeping through each phrase. Each “Non morir, mio tesoro, pietate…” was more accented and cut shorter. And then final, “Ah, la maledizione!” was sung with dramatic punch, reminding us of the lost Rigoletto from the beginning of the opera.

It was, without a doubt, a masterclass of a performance.

Delicacy & Technical Prowess

In the role of Gilda, Erin Morley reprised her acclaimed turn. Morley has become well-known at the Met for her Strauss turns and her incredible Olympia. With Gilda, the soprano is taking on a heavier lyric role with a bigger orchestra that can sometimes overpower her slender instrument, and the lower notes especially in “E il sol dell’anima” often went missing amid the musical texture. But that does not take away from how Morley shapes her Gilda with virtuosic prowess and expressive phrasing.

As she entered the stage, Morley displayed a girlish innocence prancing about the stage and singing her first lines “Mio padre!” with a sweet timbre. In the duet with Salsi, her “Oh quanto dolor! che spremere” displayed a nostalgic quality as she articulated the notes with a legato phrase and smoothly into her higher range. Then “O veglia, o donna, questo fiore,” the brightness of the instrument returned as she sang the stacatt phrases with precision contrasting them with Salsi’s more legato line.

In “E Il Sol dell’Anima,” Morley’s Gilda returned to that innocence as she ran from the Duke but quickly gave into him as she began, “Ah, de’ miei vergini sogni son queste,” singing with a tender gleam. Morley shaped each phrase with impeccable control and expressed an awakening in her character.

In her “Caro Nome,” Morley developed these feelings, showcasing a young woman fully experiencing first love. The faster tempo helped shape this character’s unpredictable and youthful energy. But it also gave Morley time to shape her aria with smooth legato lines and accurate trills that you hardly hear anymore. When Morley wanted to rallentando and hold out a note, she did so as was heard in “A te sempre volerà,” where she took her time ascending to the higher reaches of her voice. In her second “Caro nome, tuo sarà,” she took her time to interpolate a cadenza showcasing the delicacy of her voice. The rhythmic coloratura was also sung with ease, each one more silky and rich. What was astonishing was the flexibility with which Morley moved about her range, never missing one note. In her cadenza, Morley sang with rich high notes and smoothness eventually descending to her rich middle voice that diminuendoed with a gorgeous trill.

In Act three, her “Tutte le feste al tempio” opened with a nostalgic quality as she recounted her story. She opened with a piano sound that slowly built to a forte in her higher range. The voice always kept a nimble sound that emphasized the innocent weeping girl. And she was well accompanied by Salsi’s weightier and noble tone. In “Si, Vendetta” she contrasted with Salsi’s furious outbursts always keeping a lighter color while maintaining a defiant force to each phrase; she capped it off with an incredible, ringing high note.

Morley carried the quartet in Act four with her crisp coloratura runs and glimmering higher register and during the trio, although the orchestra and her scene partners threatened to drown her out, her scenic demeanor captured a fearful yet feisty Gilda. Once again Morley interpolated a final high note in the trio that rang through the stormy orchestra.

The final duet with Salsi, “Lassù, in cielo,” saw Morley opening the passage with a glimmer of brightness. She sustained each phrase and connected them with delicacy. Her final “Lassù, in cielo, In eterno per voi pregherò” saw Morley hold one final line before disconnecting the final notes and slowly faded into nothing. It was heartbreaking.

Promising

In the role of the Duke, Pene Pati was making his Met debut this season. The Samoan tenor has been compared to that of Luciano Pavarotti because of the similarities in timbre. And the voices are indeed similar. But Pati is his own tenor and he has a charismatic stage quality that makes him win over the audience. On the second night of this run, he showcased a gorgeous tone that he could easily phrase. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing as his upper register didn’t always shine, sometimes skidding into a granular and wobbly color.

His opening “Questo o Quella” was sung with a suave tone that emphasized the Duke’s womanizing qualities while the second repeat, “La costanza, tiranna del core,” was sung with a piano sound that was equally intoxicating and flirtatious. That all came to a crescendo into the duet with Countess Ceprano as he sang the lines “Partite? … Crudele!” with a lustful intensity.

In his duet with Morley, Pati began “E il sol dell’anima” with an ardent tone that beautifully melded with Morley in the final cadenza. However, the balance between the two voices wasn’t often even. In “Addio Addio,” there was a playfulness between the two as they ran in and out of the house, emphasized by staccato phrasing. Here his High D Flat at the end rang beautifully with Morley’s.

But in Act two, Pati saw mixed results. His “Parmi veder le Lagrime” had a swift tempo that allowed him space to rallentando and hold out certain notes. He was particularly impressive in “Ned ci potea soccorrerti,” as he was able to sing with a piano sound that almost convinced one of the love this Duke had for Gilda. And he ended the aria with a cadenza that showcased the flexibility of his voice. But in the cabaletta, “Possente amor mi chiama,” where the Duke is back to his pompousness, Pati fell short in his characterization, the singing delicate but with forced high notes. There was something lovable about him in this cabaletta that didn’t convince me he was the Duke. The final high note he interpolated also didn’t quite ring into the auditorium. It was fearless but unnecessary.

In Act three, Pati’s “La donna è mobile” was sung with the same suave timbre as his “Questa o Quella” especially during the second repeat “È sempre misero.” The burnished and pure quality of his voice was quite impressive but I was missing the domineering force of the character. The repetition of the aria before he goes to bed, was perhaps one of the most interesting moments of his performance. As he repeated the melody, he sang it almost as if he was yawning. There was bravura in how he gave the line a mezza di voce, with a very slow diminuendo to nothing.

 Swift Drama

In the supporting roles, Soloman Howard and Rihab Chaeib performed Sparafucile and Maddalena. Howard sang with a dark timbre in his first entrance in the second scene of Act one and went to the lower depths of his voice with demonic quality. Then in the trio with Chaeib, both singers created one of the most tense scenes of the evening, both releasing booming power. Chaeib created a gutsy Maddalena capable of overtaking her domineering brother. But in the quartet, she was seductive by emphasizing the rhythmic qualities of Verdi’s lines.

Blake Denson sang Monterone with a grainy but forceful voice and took every moment on stage to dig into his suffering character. Tessa McQueen showcased a lush voice as Countess Ceprano, while Christopher Job and Yeongtaek Yang relished their characters Count Ceprano and Marullo.

Daniele Callegari conducted Verdi’s masterpieces with such quick energetic tempos that the evening ended 15 minutes before it was supposed to. That said, those swift tempi worked for many parts of the opera especially the tempestuous and dramatic moments like “Cortigiani vil razza,” the Act three trio, “Si, Vendetta,” and “Addio Addio.” It was also effective for the storm in Act three. Callegari’s choices created unpredictable and exciting experiences as he crescendoed passages to their fullest potential and emphasized the rhythmic nuances of Verdi’s scores. String runs were clean and clear, adding to the excitement. I was impressed that even the “slower” moments like “Parmi veder le lagrime,” “Tutte le feste al tempio,” and “Lassù, in cielo” were taken at a quicker tempo that allowed the “omm pah pah” accompaniment to ring out. However, Callegari did give time to the singers to rallentando phrases and hold out sections. That said, the tempi didn’t always work, especially during the famed quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” where it almost fell apart towards the end. The soloists seemed somewhat tentative in their entrances with the tempo moving so swiftly.

All in all, this was one of the best casts that the Met has showcased in this opera in quite some time.