Yes, my son and I went to Manhattan last night and saw Verdi's "Rigoletto." It was my first opera in man years, and it was my son's first opera ever. It was the second show this year that we went to at the beautiful Lincoln Center in New York City. Surprisingly, this was the third Victor Hugo play or show that we have seen this year. During the summer, we had seen "Notre Dame de Paris," which is based on Hugo's famous "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," also at the Lincoln Center. In November in Philadelphia, we saw Hugo's also very famous "Les Misérables." And now yesterday, during the first weekend in December, we saw "Rigoletto," which is based on the 1832 play "Le Roi S'amuse," which is also by Victor Hugo.
The most famous song from this play is "La donna è mobile," which loosely translates to "Woman is fickle." Perhaps the most famous version of that was performed by the late great Luciano Pavarotti, when he played the Duke in the 1987 movie version of this story.
In this version, the setting is the early 20th century, during the interwar years in the short-lived and unpopular Weimar Republic of Germany, somewhere after Germany's defeat in World War I late in 1918, and before the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the early 1930's. Evidently, there are some parallels between early 20th century, post-Great War Germany and 16th century Italy.
As a story, it is moving, as pretty much all of Hugo's great works tend to be moving. Originally, the title was supposed to be "La Maledizione," which translates literally to "The Curse." Without giving away any spoilers specifically, it is indeed a play about revenge gone very bad. As such, it is a tragedy.
Personally, I very much enjoyed this play. Admittedly, I am not as familiar with operas, although this one was a prize. Both my son and I enjoyed it, despite neither of us being especially acclimated with opera music beforehand. There have been a few opera shows and musicians that I have seen in the past, and some have been enjoyable. Still, this was a relative novelty for me, since it had been many years (well over one full decade) since the last time I had personally seen one.
Also, just thought that this was worth mentioning, since I also was wondering about this before the play. It felt like a mixture of people who came seriously dressed up for a night at the opera, and people who were dressed a bit more casually (which was admittedly the case with both my son and I). So while you are certainly welcome to dress very nicely and put on your best outfit for a night out on town, it certainly is not a requirement. As for dining, most of the choices in the immediate area were packed, as well as quite ritzy and pricy, just to be forewarned. My son and I arrived a bit too late for any sit down meal at a restaurant, although we opted for a bit cheaper and quicker with gyros from one of those sidewalk vendors that help to make New York City such a special place.
If you are into opera and/or plays/musicals/operas by noted author Victor Hugo, this one comes highly recommended!
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