CULTURE WATCH: One more chance to catch Rigoletto at the Met

A healthy portion of the audience stayed to applaud at the final curtain—a sign that last night’s performance of Rigoletto was special. In this season’s offering of the Verdi classic at the Metropolitan Opera, which tenor you get depends upon which night you see the performance. Tuesday night, Joseph Calleja the young tenor from Malta gave a bravado performance. He almost had you believing his version of the Duke might be able to stick to just one woman—his voice oozed with sincerety.

The biggest cheers at the final curtain were for Sorprano Diana Damrau whose Gilda was especially brilliant when she sang counterpoint to Robert Frontali’s Rigoletto.

While even the occasional opera fan will know much of this score from the opening opera—the strength of Rigoletto is in the way it builds toward the quartet in the final act.

Even the staging in this production seems to get stronger as the show moves to it’s tragic end.

Friday is the final night this season for Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House. (Link to Met Opera: 8:00 pm, Rigoletto )