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OperaNotes Review
Metropolitan Opera House
February 4, 2004
By Charlene Frank
Rigoletto
Music: Guiseppe Verdi
Conductor:
Marco Armiliato
Libretto: Victor Léon and Leo Stein
Production:
Otto Schenk
Set and Costume Designer: Zack Brown
Stage Director: Sharon Thomas
Cast:
The Duke of Mantua: Frank Lepardo
Rigoletto: Juan Pons
Gilda: Andrea Rost
Borsa: Michael Forest
Countess Ceprano: Reveka Evangelia Mavorovitis
Marullo: Charles Edwin Taylor
Count Ceprano: Patrick Carfizzi
Giovanna: Diane Elias
I saw Rigoletto last summer in a small theater in Clinton, Connecticut. It was wonderful. I couldn't yell "Bravo" enough for the incredible tenor, Marc Heller and for Rigoletto, Scott Bearden. They were absolutely wonderful. Last night at the Met I couldn't yell "Bravo" at all. That's not how it's supposed to be. Nobody was terrible, but if I spend the money to go to the Met I sure don't want to be looking at my watch, and I was.
Frank Lepardo did nothing for me as the Duke. His voice was OK sometimes, but "OK sometimes" doesn't cut it at the Met. I expected more from Juan Pons, and I did get a little more. He was a terrific actor, he captured the role of Rigoletto beautifully. But he was not a terrific baritone. And although Andrea Rost looked like a great Gilda, and she has a sweet voice, if her singing was any more deliberate I would have fallen asleep.
In short, maybe James Levine should give Marc Heller and Scott Bearden a call. They may not be big names like Frank Lepardo and Juan Pons, but they can sing those roles and they will make me yell "Bravo".