Verlander may be gone; but Verdi is back in town. One of his best operas, with a world-famous aria, invigorating not only Westerndom, but Detroit — the great city of Michigan – opened the fall season of the Michigan Opera Theatre this past Saturday, and will be performed thrice more.

Rigoletto was given a bit of a makeover, being set in NYC’s Little Italy, circa The 1950s –and it worked just fine. If I ever see it again, I think I’d like to see it as Verdi saw it: set in a 1500s Italian Dukedom; but it was cool to see a classic opera set in America with hoods with hats, smoking cigarettes, and pounding on jukeboxes — just like The Fonz.