Hawaii Opera Theater Presents Rigoletto

My opera knowledge is so bleak that when I first heard we were going to Rigoletto I thought we were going out for pasta. No such luck. We went to the opera. I’ve seen five operas. Here’s the interesting part: all of them have been in Honolulu. The Hawaii Opera Theater (HOT) puts on a season here. One year we went to three in one month. That is, the entire HOT season. I don’t have much appreciation for opera unlike brother Bart who goes to New York usually once a year to see a few. I can enjoy the voices, though, and there were some good ones in Rigoletto. There was even some music that I recognized. Here’s the plot: Rigoletto is a hunchbacked court jester who works for a randy duke. The duke and Rigoletto are cursed by the father of a duke-despoiled daughter. The duke blows off the curse but Rigoletto takes it seriously. Rigoletto’s daughter is kidnapped by the duke’s men, who thinks she’s Rigoletto’s mistress, and seduced by the duke. Rigoletto swears revenge and hires an assassin to kill the duke. The daughter, who loves that darn duke, learns he has cheated on her but decides, nevertheless, to take his place as the assassin’s victim. She is stabbed and rolled up in a blanket for delivery to Rigoletto. He takes a look, discovers his cherished daughter. She sings. He sings. It’s the curse, stupid! Curtain.
Earlier in the month we had attended a one-woman performance by opera diva Julia Migenes. This was a funny, entertaining show with catty comments about opera interspersed with great performance. Julia gave us some insight into the over the top art form that is opera. Her take on a soprano dying but repeatedly coming to life to sing an earsplitting aria was pretty funny. So, because of her I was in a better frame of mind to watch Rigoletto which was pretty good although I would have preferred to see Oklahoma. I am never too excited to go to any kind of concert or show. The performance is often enjoyable but the audience can drive you mad. At movies there is the constant talking and eating of large meals of nachos, popcorn in a bucket with gigantic sugary drinks. At musical concerts the younger audiences seem restless and want to dance or wave their arms or even light cigarette lighters. At opera and musicals where you have an older crowd there is chronic disease. I wondered, entering the Blaisdell Concert Hall which section I would find myself in: the TB ward, the bronchial chorus, or the collection of throat clearers. Bart says that at Carnegie Hall they hand out foil wrapped mints. I wanted to hand out surgical masks when I found myself in front of the bronchial chorus. This audience member’s near death experience prepared us for Gilda’s death aria.
The best part of attending HOT is watching the audience. There was a guy in a red zoot suit with matching red hat and red and white shoes. Seriously.  A lot of fellows were sporting the shaved head look. In Hawaii there are many mixed race couples in every combination and an unusual number of old guys with young gals.The clothing choices are also many and varied: gowns, very low cut cocktail dresses displaying butterfly tattos, bellybutton revealing tops (to showcase the piercing of the navel), flip flops, suits, saris, Chinese silks, fancy Hawaiian shirts, Filipino dress shirts, wool coats, heavy wraps, strappy heels and flower tiaras. And, lotsa leis. (It was Valentine’s Day). Much to watch during intermissions. But nothing to eat and not a cough drop or mint to be had. Special clothing note: To properly meet Honolulu society I wore underpants...and socks, trousers, black Seibel sandals and a black silk Hawaiian shirt (black is very slimming).