The Lyric Opera is going topless. Again.
The company has sent out a casting call for its winter production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and among the supernumerary roles are parts for 11 women, several of whom are to appear “topless” or “scantily clad” onstage, in keeping with director Stefano Vizioli’s French Renaissance setting.
Five female supers will play “courtesan types,” and two more courtesans must walk on tall platform shoes–buskins, as they were called during the period. All should be in their “mid-20s to mid-30s.”
Auditions will be 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 10 backstage at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Call the Lyric Opera hot line at 312-827-3538 for updates and further information.
The last time any featured singer appeared topless in a Lyric production was “Salome” in 1988, when soprano Maria Ewing took it all off for Salome’s dance of the seven veils.
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The Personals page was compiled by Emily Rosenbaum from Tribune news services and staff reports.
