Modern update

Verdi's staggering masterpiece of vengeance and tragedy gets a mafioso update from the Michigan Opera Theatre who transform the womanizing Duke into an imposing Mafia boss in 1950s Little Italy. Far from his court clown, Rigoletto becomes his mean and scheming bartender who's beloved daughter is caught in their deadly crossfire.

Tongue of Malice - What is Rigoletto About?

Rigoletto stands with his master the Duke of Mantua in revelry and seduction, urging him on in his quest to have any woman he chooses, taking no mind to their cuckolded husbands. When the Duke ensnares an elderly man's cherished daughter, the old man curses both the Duke and Rigoletto for his part.

Afraid of the curse, Rigoletto moves to protect his own secret at all costs; his own beautiful daughter Gilda. Cosseted and allowed out only for church he is sure she will be safe from harm. But little does he know that the Duke's eye has fallen on the mysterious girl. Devastation rains solidly when the pitiful bartender realises that the course of the curse is set on Gilda's and not his own actions.