Verdi - Rigoletto / Marcelo Alvarez, Roberto Servile, Inva Mula, Andrea Silvestrelli, Svetlana Serdar, Keri Lynn Wilson, Siena Opera
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$29.95
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$26.99
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Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Marcelo Alvarez, Roberto Servile
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9781404989481
Format: AC-3
ISBN: 140498948X
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2005-09-06
Running Time: 130
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Editorial Reviews:
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Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece RIGOLETTO is brilliantly brought to life in this unique production of the beloved opera, performed under the stars of Siena, Italy, by Roberto Servile, Inva Mula (The Fifth Element), Marcelo Alvarez and the Toscanini Foundation Orchestra, conducted by Keri Lynn Wilson and costumes by renowned fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood. In the 1550's Mantua, the Duke (Alvarez), a celebrated ladies man, seduces Gilda (Mula), the beautiful daughter of his sharp-tongued jester, Rigoletto (Servile). Vowing revenge, her furious father hires Sparafucile, a notorious assassin, to avenge his family's honor, a decision that will end in tragedy for all.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good Rigoletto in the bargain bin
Comment: I was lucky to stumble across this at a Big Lots (of all places) and for a few bucks I have a perfectly fine "Rigoletto" on DVD. Sure it doesn't have the star quality of some of the competing versions, but sometimes that's just as well. The production itself seemed to be idomatic Verdi; the costumes were fine and we get the pluses but very few minuses of an outdoor presentation. Yeah, the editing is a bit herky-jerky at times but
I did not find it obstrusive at all and, on occasion, it was quite effective (like when Gilda is stabbed by Sparafucile.)
Inva Mula, who I'd never heard of, is an excellent Gilda, pulling
off an almost flawless "Caro Nome." Marcelo Alvarez is a near-ideal Duke, with a ringing tenor voice that is a nice alternative to the usual
Pavarotti or Domingo (both great, nonetheless.) The few extra pounds
actually suit this amoral character. Roberto Servile is no Tito Gobbi
(the Rigoletto I grew up with on record.) As someone who's not real fond of a lot of vibrato, I got a little nervous when Servile's voice was
first heard. But he improves as the performance goes on, his acting is good enough and overall he is not a liability. Andrea Silvestrelli is a Sparafucile you wouldn't want to mess with and Svetlana Serdar is almost
as good as his sister (and certainly looks the part.) The Monterone
and Ceprano both sport excellent basso voices. Keri Lynn Wilson conducts well, although the opening courtier scene has a tad too much adrenaline.
As a good, lower priced "Rigoletto," coming from someone who has listened to opera for some forty years, I'd recommend this for the budget-
minded.
Customer Rating:
Summary: look at that wart!... or is it a mic?
Comment: As my fellow reviewers already mentioned, this video has many flaws. The sound is very bad. At moments you can scarcely hear the orchestra; sometime sound and image are not really in sync; the voices are not well balanced. And you can see the mic! At first I thought that Servile/Rigoletto had a huge, ugly wart on his forehead, then I realized it was a microphone, and if you check you'll see one on almost every singer, on the forehead, at the hair line. Sparafucile has one on his check, poorly covered by his bart. Now, the problem with opera singer having this kind of micro, is that the voice comes out muffled or - on the contrary - too loud and ugly (like in Sparafucile's case). It was very annoying to see and hear this DVD, for this reason.
Then the staging. Quite boring and without fantasy. It may seem unconventional if you are used to the old-fashioned, dusty Met stagings à la Otto Schenk. Otherwise, everything is just as the libretto describes it. No hint, no attempt to suggest something more or something other than the plain story.
The singing. Mula is very good. Álvarez is good too, but with some small imperfections in the high notes (saliva in his throat?). Servile sings loud the whole time, no nuance, no real mezzavoce. Sparafucile's voice is distorted by the micro.
It's difficult to judge the conducting when - as I said - you scarcely hear the orchestra.
Really disappointing...
Customer Rating:
Summary: A DIFFERENT Rigoletto
Comment: There's little I care to add to the very astute comments by my fellow reviewers, as I fully concur with almost everything that has thus far been noted.
I will say that I was not at odds with the production. True, this is not, by any means, a very "traditional" adaptation of the opera, but that's what I like about it.
I enjoyed the still effects, the slow motion overlays and the sometimes bizzare lighting effects.
What I didn't care for was the make-up work.
Some of the characters, Rigoletto in particular, looked like participants in a CHINESE opera, not a Verdi opera.
You can look at the DVD cover art to see my point.
Also not a fan of the costumes....eccentric fashion designs only work with a minimalist or abstract setting such as those employed in many modern operas. They don't work in a traditional setting.
Roberto Serville didn't impress me with his vocal chops. I thought his to be a finely acted perfromance, but vocally his voice lacks the power and sheer volume needed to really make this part work to its best effect.
Inva Mula did a very nice job both vocally and acting wise.
Marcello Alvarez turned also turned in a characteristically fine performance on all levels. The only problem with him these days is that he's getting..well...fat! Apparently there is some unwritten rule in opera lore that mandates that, as a tenors voice grows larger and heavier, so must the tenor himself.
The one perfromer who really impressed me was Andrea Silvestrelli. Hearing a good Basso in grand opera is almost as rare as hearing a good tenore. This is a big man, with a huge bass voice, who can also act quite convincingly.
Only one word of caution. The title of the DVD can be misleading because from looking at the cover and reading the title, some may think this to be a movie version of the opera.
This is a full scale operatic perfromance. Why the producers decided to call it the "Rigoletto Story" is not clear.
If you want to see a new, and slightly off color version of this classic opera then you'll enjoy this. If you want Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa doing "Live at Covent Garden" then this is not your thing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 'Rigoletto' Under the Stars in Siena, Italy
Comment: For all the technical flaws in this DVD release of a live performance of Verdi's time-honored "Rigoletto' in the piazza of Siena, Italy, the overall production values are very fine and the music is well served. Opera requires suspension of belief even in the finest opera houses of the world, so larger-than-life are the stories and characters who sing over a full pit orchestra, overcoming technical vocal hurdles imposed on them by composers, making credibility of acting at a premium. So it is with filmed opera in live performance where stage makeup, photographed relentlessly in close-ups usually at times when the singers are adjusting their deportment in order to make the sounds required to carry their arias and ensembles, makes everyone look like a caricature. Few cameramen understand how to keep the veil of distance that preserves the magic of what is happening on a stage far away from the viewer. Constant close-ups and fancy superimposed images of faces over long shots of a stage do not help the drama of an opera.
But given those problematic flaws, this is a very finely sung and performed 'Rigoletto'. In the title role Roberto Servile has a lovely baritone voice, if not rich enough to muster the anguish of this court jester deformed by a hunchback. As the Duke of Mantua Marcelo Alvarez is blessed with a ringing Verdian tenor voice and acts very well: one is saddened by the fact that this once handsome, lithe young singer is beginning to 'weigh in' with the big tenors! As Gilda, Albanian soprano Inva Mula is lovely to look at, acts convincingly and sings with a easily flowing, seamless, gorgeous soprano sound. Her ornamentation is excellent and her 'Cara nome' is a lovely as any on recordings.
The costumes by Vivienne Westwood are iconoclastic, apparently the idea was to make all of the members of the court resemble the colors and patterns usually found in the traditional wild uniforms of court jesters (Rigoletto's costume is on the other hand strangely bland). Perhaps from the audience seats they work, but the camera is cruel to them. The stage direction is routine and Keri Lynn Wilson's conducting is in keeping with the pace of the opera: the dynamics and subtleties are impossible to evaluate due to the overmiking of the singers and the generalized miking of the orchestra.
But in all this is a fine performance and certainly one I would recommend to those whose musical tastes have yet to include opera. Grady Harp, November 05
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Comment: The good: Verdi's opera about revenge turning back on the one who seeks it, in the form of the worst possible fate, is one of my favorites. The intense drama includes murder and self-sacrificing love, as the hunchback jester Rigoletto, in trying to protect his daughter from the licentious Duke of Mantua, loses everything. The score is marvelous, and it is beautifully sung, especially by Inva Mula (who will be remembered as the singing voice of the Diva Plavalaguna in the film "The Fifth Element") as Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. She does a magnificent job in this part, and also excellent are Roberto Servile as Rigoletto, Marcelo Alvarez as the Duke, Andrea Silvestrelli as Sparafucile, and Svetlana Serdar as Maddalena.
The bad: The audio balance between the singers and orchestra is appalling. Performed live outdoors in Siena, the setting is lovely, but the sound at times is as if the singers are in your living room, and the musicians are in the bathroom, with the door closed. There is a moment when you see Keri Lynn Wilson conducting an orchestral portion of the opera...and hardly a sound can be heard.
The ugly: The costumes by fashion designer Vivienne Westwood are often just that, ugly, and usually ill fitting. The lighting is dreadful, with the singers often in a dim blue spotlight, with the rest of the stage dark. This makes an interesting rental for avid opera fans, and those who would like to hear the wonderful singers, but as an example of a good Rigoletto on DVD, look elsewhere. I have a preference for opera filmed in a live performance rather than the "movie" type of presentation, but this one was a disappointment, and I also missed the curtain calls, which are not included on this DVD. Total playing time is 130 minutes.
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