Operatic Casanova

If you’re sick of manufactured scandals, such as a nation freaking out over PG-13 cell-phone photos of a congressman’s package, you might appreciate a look back at real controversy. Consider, for instance, a womanizing monarch who imprisoned or killed the husbands of his mistresses. Victor Hugo’s 19th-century novel Le Roi...

By Gabriela Garcia

June 16, 2011

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If you’re sick of manufactured scandals, such as a nation freaking out over PG-13 cell-phone photos of a congressman’s package, you might appreciate a look back at real controversy. Consider, for instance, a womanizing monarch who imprisoned or killed the husbands of his mistresses. Victor Hugo’s 19th-century novel Le Roi s’Amuse (The King’s Fool) was allegedly modeled on just such exploits, those of France’s King Louis-Philippe. The book was banned for more than 50 years. And when Verdi staged an Italian opera, Rigoletto, based on Hugo’s work, he was subjected to censorship and forced to move the production out of certain parts of that country. This Thursday, see what a real scandal looks like when Miami Lyric Opera stages the classic Rigoletto at the Colony Theatre. The production runs through Sunday.
June 23-26, 8 p.m., 2011

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