GRAND OPERA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 453, 7 September 1928, Page 15

GRAND OPERA

“ RIGOLETTO ” Characterisation is the keynote of “Rigoletto," as compared with the other great midde-period operas of Verdi. “Rigoletto,” the deformed jester, has been made the subject of one of the greatest dramatic studies by both Victor Hugo, from whose drama the story comes, and Verdi, who wrote a musical masterpiece to match the theme of the master dramatist. The immortol jesters of Shakespeare have their counterparts in Jack Point, the sadness of whose life was so touchingly depicted in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, “The Yeoman of the Guard,” and in the “Rigoletto” of Verdi’s opera. The. latter’s story is much more cruel, and the suffering richly deserved by the heartless way in which the jester helped his master the duke in his infamies. That those infamies turned on Rigoletto himself, in the ’catastrophe to his own daughter, was the factor that gave to Verdi the opportunity to make his opera what it is to-day—a dramatic musical masterpiece of the first order. The character gives to Signor Franco Izal, the first baritone of the company, full scope for his superb acting, which, added to his vocal mastery, has aroused every audience to a “high pitch of enthusiasm. Signor Izal, who arrived in Auckland this morning, is the finest Rigoletto ever seen in Australia or Mew Zealand. The remainder of the cast is very strong. The Gilda is taken by the Russian star, Signorina ,M ariu Henkina, a coloratura soprano of high rank, and the duke is played by the brilliant young tenor, Brandisio Vannucci, who took Florence by storm in this opera. The Maddalena, - Signorina Matilda Pfrimmer, is also very good, her singing and acting in the famous quartet being notable. The part of. the hired assassin, Sparafucile, is in the hands of the basso, Antonio Alfieri, and a most thorough murderer he looks. His work, too, is of the best.

Leslie Fenton at last appears in a role in keeping with his adventurous spirit—a- young mining engineer in “The Gateway of the Moon,” a Fox production, starring Dolores Del Rio. Before entering pictures Mr. Fenton had decided to travel to far corners of the earth in quest of unusual adventures. However, he only travelled as tar as Mew York, where he became interested in theatrical work. “The Gateway of the Moon” is a story *of railway building in tropical American jungles. It is a vivid romance of a half-caste girl, played by Miss Del Rio, and a young English engineer, played by Walter Fidgeon.