Rigoletto e la sua tragedia

I remember hearing a story of a TV showing of the musical comedy "The Sound of Music" in Japan.It seems that they didn't budget enough time for the entire film,so,in order to meet time constraints,they cut out all of the songs and dances.This film reminds me somewhat of that anecdote.They do the story of Verdi's early masterpiece"Rigoletto",do it as a straight play,add the music for background and incidentals,and make some minor cuts to tighten it up.Ok,so we can see how an operatic libretto,and plot can be pretty corny.And we can see how that same plot and libretto can be made magical by the music.But I think that this can be a valuable tool for providing someone unfamiliar with this medium with an introduction to opera.And given the proper groundwork,it just might work.

Netflix offers this movie on DVD, dubbed with English dialog. There are a few arias in Italian thrown in, but the quartet is done with only the Duke's opening lines. The video quality is poor and was evidently done from scratched film - there are a lot of flecks and artifacts in each frame. The audio is pretty poor and the actors ability to lip sync the singing is almost non-existent. It does have Caruso singing three arias in the extras and that was better quality than the movie arias. Since this is a movie rendition not a stage production, the scenes and story are enjoyable to watch and easy to follow, especially since it is dubbed in English.

This is pretty good, but it's more a musical than an opera. Characters speak in dubbed English and only occasionally break into song, in dubbed Italian.

It's got colorful costumes and sets and some attractive location photography of old buildings and the countryside. There are moments when you really feel as though you've stepped into the past.

I liked it. You may, too, as long as you're not expecting an opera.

Current minimum line requirements promote verbosity and devalue concision.

DVD Bonus: Three enjoyable, well-restored audio performances from Caruso.

I must admit to being left somewhat dissatisfied after seeing this version of "Rigoletto" as it seemed to lack music! The voices of Gobbi and del Monaco are heard sparingly enough unfortunately.

It is valuable in presenting the visual setting of the story, no question of that, but was rather patchy at times and most noticeably very short on musical moments. One is taken into the time and place of the tale, the original atmosphere, and that is useful for picturing the scenes of the opera and how it unfolds, yet one longs for the glories of singing to reveal the story.

I believe there is a 1947 "Rigoletto" with Filippesehi, Gobbi, Neri, and Pagliughi; conducted by Serafin, which can be acquired from the Bel Canto society, so I might get that if possible. Even a good CD version would have been more satisfactory. Obviously to me the drawing card is the music!

Rigoletto E La Sua Tragedia is interesting if not brilliant. The story is still tragic, powerful and touching, and while it disappointingly doesn't have enough of Verdi's superb music the acting is good without being too stilted particularly that of Rigoletto.

The picture quality is grainy and the audio rather scratchy. However the costumes and sets are stunning and very evocative, also the locations are sumptuous and the photography itself is not too dated either. The ending is very moving as well. While one would wish for more of their voices, Tito Gobbi's intelligent and musical baritone and Mario Del Monaco's thrilling tenor are a delight to hear.

Overall, interesting if not a complete success. 5/10 Bethany Cox