Rigoletto May 12, 2011

Verdi considered Victor Hugo's play 'Le Roi s'amuse' "one of the greatest creations of the modern theatre," and jumped at the opportunity to adapt it for Venice in 1851. The local censors took great exception to "the disgusting immorality and obscene triviality" of the plot and to the depiction of the hunchback Rigoletto. But Verdi refused to make the changes they demanded, and the opera (including 'Caro nome' and 'La donna e mobile') has remained firmly at the top of the list of popular operas since then - not just with audiences, but even more so with the greatest singers.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/production.aspx?id=11059