LA DONNA E MOBILE*

* I'm not sure that The Old Girl agrees.

Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851.

The work, Verdi's sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by the Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by her father.

OK, I guess that you might have guessed that we are going to see Rigoletto tomorrow in Auckland. I'm looking forward to this as we love opera and Verdi's Rigoletto is a good one.

We'll drive down late morning, visit a sick friend and then check in to our hotel. The performance is at 7.30 but we'll grab a quick bite earlier at one of our favourite eating places - The Federal Delicatessen which is in the same street as our hotel.

It's crappy weather up here but hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow. I hate driving in the rain and, with heavy downpours there would likely be slips and delays on The Brynderwn Hills road. We'll leave early just in case.

I'll have to pack tonight as I'll have to wear my 'grown-up clothes' as The Old Girl won't like attending the opera with me weraing shorts and T-shirt. There's always a downside. Heigh-ho.