Choreographer
Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda...
Choreographer
Mexican tenor Francisco Araiza stars as Faust, and Erich Binder conducts the Vienna State Opera and Chorus in this 1985 production of Charles Gounod's five-act opera based on Goethe's poem. In an epic tale of good versus evil, Faust sells his soul to the devil (played by Italian bass Ruggero Raimondi) and tries to save Marguerite (Slovakian soprano Gabriela Benackova) from an eternity in hell. Walton Gronroos and Alfred Sramek co-star.
