"Rigoletto" at the Lyceum The. crowded state of the Lyceum on Boxing night pipyed the popularity of the Italian opera. The tuneful nature of Verdi's "Rigoletto" was very much in evidence, Sig. V. Scamuzzi's jester was the best performance of his we remember and if the two other new tenors can sing as well as Sig. Giletta, who scored a triumph as the dissolute Duke, the company is assured of a warm welcome in Shanghai this time.
One was not greatly impressed with the way the piece was mounted, and there was one more than usually serinus first-night contretemps. For a wonder everybody was seated at 9.15. For 20 minutes they waited in vain for any signs of animation among the orchestra. At last a gentleman anounced in an almost inaudible voice that the conductor had been i]], but would come along in ten minutes. The performance was well under way few minutes before 10. One can forgive a good deal on a first-night, but surely a manager ought to make adequate pravision for such accidents by providing for a deputy at the desk.
Undoubtedly the company are strongest on the vocal side, but Sig. Scamuzzi's acting as Rigoletto has almost as many points to recommend it as his singing. His voice still has all the high qualities that were noted when he first came here, and again his performance stood out with a result very rarely witnessed on any operatic stage.
As the Duke, Sig. Giletta sang with superb richness of tone, displaying also more than one touch of mastery in his portrayal of the part.
Signorina -Delza as Gilda gave evidence on the whole pf much ability. Her vocalization was of a flexible and artistic quality. The efforts of the others also attained to a very high level, in particular the bravo,. Sparalucile, sung by an appippriately masculine gentleman described as Mrs. Manceri on the programme.
One would like to see the right setting for Act III. The scene was identical with that of Rigolette's home instead of Sparafucile's den, but perhaps this had to be done to save time. Altogether there was much to ecmmend about the company's representation, which afforded keen pleasure to the large audience.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.