"You'll remember you saw these two young stars in Newcastle when they're famous," Opera North General Director Richard Mantle said in a short speech before Rigoletto on Wednesday night at Newcastle's Theatre Royal.
Two years to the day on from the UK's first coronavirus lockdown, hundreds turned out to pack out an almost full house for Opera North's winter season. However, Covid had left its mark on the performance before it even started, with the show's conductor and three of the lead roles testing positive and their places taken by understudies.
The opera debut for British-Nigerian director Femi Elufowoju jr, Verdi's Rigoletto tells the story of a societal outcast, who hides his daughter Gilda away from a corrupt society. She is sexually assaulted by the Duke of Mantua, with the second act focusing on the title character's attempts to take vengeance on said Duke.
