Verdi’s A Masked Ball – Festival Theatre
As the Edinburgh International Festival draws to a close, Zurich Opera has their final performance of Verdi’s A Masked Ball at the Festival Theatre.
Based on preexisting libretto, Giuseppe Verdi adapted and added the love triangle aspect we see in this production. Given the assassination in the opera (originally written as the murder of a King) Verdi had to combat numerous censorship attempts. Despite several setting changes, with Verdi eventually settling on 17th century Boston as the location, each adaptation was followed by real-life assassination attempts and political unrest which called for Verdi to keep adjusting details of the opera so it would seem a little less close to reality.
Director Adele Thomas has kept the Boston setting but moved the timeline sligh...