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This film is available commercially on a PAL DVD from ROHShop.org (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); an NTSC DVD of the original Dutch TV broadcast is available from PremiereOpera.com in a homemade recording converted from PAL to NTSC; the color, the look of the production, and the sound are so important that I found the NTSC DVD markedly less enjoyable than the commercial PAL DVD.To my taste, this is a very successful updating of Rigoletto into the present day (plot summary says 1960's, exemplified by the furnishings and clothing, but the casual cocaine use looks more present day to me). It is very carefully and vividly produced as a feature film by the Dutch company Opera Spanga. There are some flashes of humor in the film--most notably in the unexpected parody of Leo the Lion at the beginning of the film. There is a significant amount of frontal female and male nudity and simulated sex. I found these extremely effective because Rigoletto really is quite a rough story with a large sexual component.(I would say the story of the opera is actually about sex and sexual attraction.) The final act with the quartet and the killing of Gilda is riveting. Verdi considered the Victor Hugo play on which Rigoletto was based to be "one of the greatest creations of the modern theater" (it was removed from the Paris stage after one performance in 1832 for political and moral reasons). Performance of the initial libretto was banned by the Venice police censors, citing the "disgusting immorality and obscene triviality" of the libretto. The first re-write was rejected by Verdi because it eliminated "everything that was original and powerful". The second re-write made the politically crucial change of setting and eliminated some of the more flagrantly libertine passages of the original. Other reviewers here have condemned the vulgarity and inappropriateness of this production. To me, this production seems much closer to what Verdi would have wanted if it had been possible at the time. For a laughably innocuous production see the 2001 Arena di Verona (TDK DVD). The 2000 Royal Opera production (Opus Arte DVD) would be an excellent choice for someone squeamish about so much sex on the screen (though there is still brief full frontal female and male nudity in the first act). The production is the thing here, but the quality of the singing, the acting, the orchestral playing and the conducting are completely satisfactory and enjoyable. Dolby 5.1 audio and widescreen-only video quality are very high.
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