Jonathan Miller’s mafioso Rigoletto has been running at the Coliseum for almost as long as Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap up at the top of the street. First unveiled in 1982, this is its 14th English National Opera revival, surely some kind of record. With ENO still so threatened, there must be qualms about the wisdom of yet another run-out, but this iconic show proved worth it: it remains a very clear, insightful and stylish setting for Verdi’s ever-popular breakthrough masterpiece.
True, the updating to 1950s New York no longer tingles with spooky recognition as it did back in the era of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather movies. Some of the sharp details at which Miller’s best productions excelled have been lost along the way in Elaine Tyler-Hall’s revival, too – though the famous jukebox gag remains. By modern standards, this Rigoletto also skirts some of the brutal sexual cruelty and othering that today’s productions emphasise more.
