Rigoletto

Nick and I went to see our sister in law Kresha sing in an Opera called "Rigoletto". Kresha did an amazing job singing and acting...and our front row seats made it easy to really "get into it"! It was a small venue, so under 100 people were there. Just a simple stage with only one or two props and all the singers wearing black except Kresha, who was the main female character, Gilda. She wore white. Apparently this is the 9th most performed opera. It is estimated that Rigoletto is being performed somewhere in the world every single day! The opera was in Italian, so a bit challenging to follow, but the acting and expressions were so good you could figure out the gist of the story.
Here's a bit of info:
"Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851."
Can you believe it?! Performed every day since 1851?!
Anyway, we really enjoyed it, and I know that I have said in the past that I didn't care for opera, but I think I've changed my mind! (:
Near the end, the Duke sings a piece that we both recognized! Maybe you do, too. "La Donna E Mobile". I know it from cartoons...whenever a character pretends to be an opera singer, he sings the first bar of this song.
And Kresha got to sing "Caro Nome" which I had a link to awhile back because it is on her website, so we knew that one, too.
Kresha has always wanted to sing the part of Gilda, so it was very exciting for her to do this. Even her parents came out from Spokane to hear her!
Anyway, I think Nick liked it enough to go to an opera again one day. He just said that next time he'd prefer it to either be in English or have a translation to follow along with (:
If anyone is interested, this company is performing another opera in October!