A revived production of the well-loved Italian opera ‘Rigoletto’ is coming soon to the Sydney Opera House, with a Parramatta resident at the helm.
Local Revival Director Shane Placentino is combining his 17 years of experience as a professional dancer with his love of opera to bring the classic tragedy to the stage this June.
Filled with royalty, devotion, lust and revenge, the opera is about a hunch-backed court jester named Rigoletto, his daughter Gilda and the Duke of Mantua.
Photo: Jennifer Soo.
“[Rigoletto] works for this Duke who befriended him and loves being entertained by him, the Duke is a playboy who goes around philandering with other people’s wives,” Placentino told Parra News.
“He wants to get with Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, and that’s sort of what happens and then the story evolves and it all gets misunderstood.
“It’s quite a fascinating journey all the way through to the end.”
The story plays out on glamorous La Dolce Vita-inspired sets, which even includes a scene-stealing Fiat 500, with music composed by Giuseppe Verdi.
“Verdi is a master. The way he evokes emotion and storytelling is exactly why I love doing his operas,” Placentino said.
“As a director you’ve got to be in love with the story telling and [Verdi] enhances that with all his beautiful lyrics and beautiful melodies.”
Although his passion clearly lies with opera now, Placentino revealed that as a former professional dancer he never anticipated he would have a career as director.
In fact, it wasn’t until he developed an injury in his mid-thirties that the idea of directorial career in opera was even entertained.
“When I was in the Sydney Dance Company it became apparent that my lower back really was not up to scratch anymore,” he said.
“I retired from dance and I happened to be working with Graeme Murphy, who was the director of the Sydney Dance Company, I worked with him for many years, and he was directing Aida for Opera Australia and asked whether if I would be interested in being his assistant.”
From there, Placentino’s career in opera really snowballed.
He’s now been the Revival Director for many well-known operas, including ‘Madama Butterfly’ and ‘Turandot’.
“That’s really what I love, I love theatre, I love the machinations of it how we can we transform this little black box into something really transformative,” he said.
“I encourage everyone to come along.”
‘Rigoletto’ will play at the Sydney Opera House from June 13-26, 2023. To find out more information and to buy tickets head to http://www.opera.org.au.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.