Opera / Pop music / Contemporary Dance / Shadown Puppets
Musicians: Mauro Bonfanti , Marco Voleri , Nan Zheng郑楠, Hongling Guo郭虹伶, Mattia Romeo , Gioele Muglialdo[It], Wula Duoen乌拉多恩
Composed between 1850 and 1851, Verdi’s Rigoletto is a twisted tale of lust, desire, love and deceit. “As in all other operas” one may say. Yes, but yet there is something making Rigoletto distinctly modern for those times. In the vast majority of operas before this one, and in general, evil characters are repulsive and good characters are attractive. In Verdi’s opera, however, there are none who are either completely good or evil.Rigoletto, a hunchback with questionable virtues, loves his daughter and wants to protect her but takes every stab he can at the nobles. The Duke is physically attractive but goes from woman to woman enjoying his decadent lifestyle. Gilda, the daughter that Rigoletto so loved, killed herself to save the life of the Duke, even after she saw that he was not loyal to her.
This sort of moral ambiguity is perhaps more realistic but was not ordinary in art of that time period, making Rigoletto one of the first truly modern works. More than 150 years have passed and we still face the same dilemmas. Our society requires of us to keep striving forward, ever moving in order to get something ultimately unattainable: the realization of our dreams. And in this pursuit we face moral issues as well. This is when a dream becomes a nightmare.
Follow the modern story of a dreaming dancer and a dream-maker as their actions are closely intertwined with the characters from the opera.
But remember.
Maybe everything is just what it is: a dream.
And maybe you are not reading this.