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Verdi's Rigoletto plays right into the hands of a Silvio fox Verdi's Rigoletto plays right into the hands of a Silvio fox
(6 months later)
“I don’t need to go into office for the power,” said Silvio Berlusconi. “I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats ... beautiful airplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family ... I am making a sacrifice.”“I don’t need to go into office for the power,” said Silvio Berlusconi. “I have houses all over the world, stupendous boats ... beautiful airplanes, a beautiful wife, a beautiful family ... I am making a sacrifice.”
The senses run riot just to think of him. Unimaginable wealth and power; convictions for tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitute; accusations of corruption and abuse of power; spectacular diplomatic gaffes. The life of Italy’s former prime minister has always been a colourful game show and yet, for all the scandal and excess, I have to admit I find the breathtaking shamelessness of the man very entertaining.The senses run riot just to think of him. Unimaginable wealth and power; convictions for tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitute; accusations of corruption and abuse of power; spectacular diplomatic gaffes. The life of Italy’s former prime minister has always been a colourful game show and yet, for all the scandal and excess, I have to admit I find the breathtaking shamelessness of the man very entertaining.
So it was almost too easy to set my production of Verdi’s Rigoletto for Opera Queensland in Berlusconi’s world. Whenever you set the opera – be it in the Renaissance or the ‘50s – the central character of the duke of Mantua will be living the Silvio life. The duke is wealthy, powerful and restless, constantly surrounded by fawning courtiers and party girls, reckless and seemingly oblivious to the consequences of his actions. But his most famous characteristic is his jaunty music – and invariably he’s singing to, or about, women.So it was almost too easy to set my production of Verdi’s Rigoletto for Opera Queensland in Berlusconi’s world. Whenever you set the opera – be it in the Renaissance or the ‘50s – the central character of the duke of Mantua will be living the Silvio life. The duke is wealthy, powerful and restless, constantly surrounded by fawning courtiers and party girls, reckless and seemingly oblivious to the consequences of his actions. But his most famous characteristic is his jaunty music – and invariably he’s singing to, or about, women.
While his music is pretty, his words are anything but. He opens the show with a statement that leaves no one in doubt about his attitude: “This girl or that girl, they’re just the same to me. A woman’s charm is a gift given by destiny to embellish their lives. I’ll love this one today but I’ll probably love someone else tomorrow. I hate fidelity as if it were a cruel plague – jealous husbands and lovers’ woes bore me.”While his music is pretty, his words are anything but. He opens the show with a statement that leaves no one in doubt about his attitude: “This girl or that girl, they’re just the same to me. A woman’s charm is a gift given by destiny to embellish their lives. I’ll love this one today but I’ll probably love someone else tomorrow. I hate fidelity as if it were a cruel plague – jealous husbands and lovers’ woes bore me.”
For the next two hours we watch the duke put his words into devastating action with a series of liaisons that include a countess, two young girls and a prostitute.For the next two hours we watch the duke put his words into devastating action with a series of liaisons that include a countess, two young girls and a prostitute.
Only the very attentive will pick up one short line, delivered in the second act, in which it’s revealed the duke is married. Speaking to courtiers guarding the room where the duke is with one of the aforementioned girls, the page says: “The duchess wants to speak to the duke,” receiving the response: “Are you so stupid that you can’t understand he’s busy?” His wife is not mentioned before or after this moment – a genius stroke by Verdi. It’s yet another parallel with Berlusconi, whose wife was so humiliated by his liaisons that she divorced him. Only the very attentive will pick up one short line, delivered in the second act, in which it’s revealed the duke is married. Speaking to courtiers guarding the room where the duke is with one of the aforementioned girls, the page says: “The duchess wants to speak to the duke,” receiving the response: “Are you so stupid that you can’t understand he’s busy?” His wife is not mentioned before or after this moment – a genius stroke by Verdi. It’s yet another parallel with Berlusconi, whose wife was so humiliated by his liaisons that she divorced him.
In act three the orchestra strikes up the famous introduction to La Donna e Mobile and you can feel the audience smile and lean forward. Just in time for some of the most misogynistic lines ever written for the stage: “Woman is unstable like a feather in the wind, always changing her mind. She might have a cute face, but weeping or smiling, she lies. The man who trusts her is always miserable, yet one never feels fully happy unless drinking love from that bosom!”In act three the orchestra strikes up the famous introduction to La Donna e Mobile and you can feel the audience smile and lean forward. Just in time for some of the most misogynistic lines ever written for the stage: “Woman is unstable like a feather in the wind, always changing her mind. She might have a cute face, but weeping or smiling, she lies. The man who trusts her is always miserable, yet one never feels fully happy unless drinking love from that bosom!”
Verdi didn’t write the top C at the end of the aria, but it’s the traditional tenor flourish that audiences wait for. We’d be disappointed if he didn’t deliver it, as we would if Berlusconi suddenly changed his ways.Verdi didn’t write the top C at the end of the aria, but it’s the traditional tenor flourish that audiences wait for. We’d be disappointed if he didn’t deliver it, as we would if Berlusconi suddenly changed his ways.
Rehearsing for this production in New Zealand in 2012, Berlusconi was a source of endless inspiration. Already ousted from office, he never seemed to be out of the headlines, even in Wellington. It was the time of his “bunga bunga” trial, where his claims that he only hosted “refined dinner parties” and paid cash simply to help out young women in need couldn’t erase the images conjured by female witnesses of strippers dressed as nuns, romps on Vladimir Putin’s bed, even a George Clooney appearance!Rehearsing for this production in New Zealand in 2012, Berlusconi was a source of endless inspiration. Already ousted from office, he never seemed to be out of the headlines, even in Wellington. It was the time of his “bunga bunga” trial, where his claims that he only hosted “refined dinner parties” and paid cash simply to help out young women in need couldn’t erase the images conjured by female witnesses of strippers dressed as nuns, romps on Vladimir Putin’s bed, even a George Clooney appearance!
Our growing noticeboard of Berlusconi quotes and pictures (including Silvio meeting Michelle Obama) kept feeding the production. His “I’m not a saint, you’ve all understood that” charmingly softens most of the duke’s sins.Our growing noticeboard of Berlusconi quotes and pictures (including Silvio meeting Michelle Obama) kept feeding the production. His “I’m not a saint, you’ve all understood that” charmingly softens most of the duke’s sins.
In stark contrast to our production’s duke, who is in the virile prime of his life, at 77 today’s Berlusconi is a strange plastic creation – a parody of the youth he so desperately craves. But despite his grotesquerie he is still a hero to many. He has a 28-year-old fiancée, has relaunched his Forza Italia political party and many refuse to write off the notion of a Berlusconi comeback.In stark contrast to our production’s duke, who is in the virile prime of his life, at 77 today’s Berlusconi is a strange plastic creation – a parody of the youth he so desperately craves. But despite his grotesquerie he is still a hero to many. He has a 28-year-old fiancée, has relaunched his Forza Italia political party and many refuse to write off the notion of a Berlusconi comeback.
In that, too, he is like the duke, who eludes Rigoletto’s attempt at killing him and whose laughing voice can be heard in the distance as the old man wonders whose body is in that sack.In that, too, he is like the duke, who eludes Rigoletto’s attempt at killing him and whose laughing voice can be heard in the distance as the old man wonders whose body is in that sack.
• Lindy Hume is artistic director of Opera Queensland. Rigoletto plays at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC on 22, 25 and 29 March.• Lindy Hume is artistic director of Opera Queensland. Rigoletto plays at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC on 22, 25 and 29 March.