On August 26th, 2021, at 8:00 pm PST, we will be hosting the next Facebook Live performance of Riddle Me Opera. Please visit our current event listing for details and to get notifications of when we go live!

Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto written by Francesco Maria Piave, is based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo.  It has been described a "casually cruel" opera where all the main characters: licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's sheltered daughter Gilda are overtly self-involved; a world where others are nothing more than props for the Duke, with  Rigoletto's role to ruthlessly setup the props for the Duke, and Gilda, so obsessed with her own first love she blows right through all those red flags to make a grand gesture that really only results in misery for Rigoletto.  The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement.  The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by her father. 

 This cast of VTO veterans includes:

 Rigoletto - Ken Sims/Carson Gilmore

 Dunk - James Salazar/Eli Zari/covers Joshua Johnson, Randy Garrou

 Gilda - Natalie Salins/Erica Lazerow/cover Jessica Berns Garner

 Sparafucila - Bill Bartlett/Joel Huanca/William Powell III 

 Maddalena - Stephanie Morgan/Hiroko Yoshinaga/ cover Cynthia Nitrini Stary

 Giovanna - Amita Raj/Chrsty Hoverder 

 Monterone - Sean Hughes/Patrick Hare

 Count Ceprano - Tom Price/Bill Bartlett/William Powell III 

 Countess Ceprano - Amita Raj/Chrsty Hoverder

 Borsa - Joshua Johnson/Randy Garrou

 Marullo - Paul Junger/Robert Coombs/Bill Bartlett 

 Page- Maria Schmidt/Amita Raj/Chrsty Hoverder