On The Town: The tragic tears of Rigoletto could not dampen the sense of occasion in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, this week.
Couples dressed in silks and satins gathered for a black-tie evening at the Merrion Hotel, before travelling the short distance to the theatre to be ushered to their seats for the Verdi opera.
Caroline Kennedy, in an Issey Miyake gown, with her husband, broadcaster Tom McGurk, of RTÉ's The Sunday Show, chatted to the hotel's general manager, Peter MacCann and his wife, Dorothy.
"It's an extremely dark tale," warned David Collopy, chief executive of Opera Ireland, who was at the opera with his wife, Eileen. There would be dead bodies, intrigue, lots of sex, debauchery and rape, he said.
Rigoletto is about "the tears of a clown", he added. The central character "has to deal with the ultimate tragedy - the loss of his daughter, the only thing he loves in life".
Stories in opera, explained Dieter Kaegi, artistic director of Opera Ireland, "are always bigger than life".
James Morrissey, author of the soon-to-be-published A History of the Fastnet Lighthouse, and his wife, Heather, were both enjoying their night at the opera too.
Altogether, 9,000 people will have enjoyed one or both of the two operas - Rigoletto and Orfeo Ed Euridice - that have been produced by Opera Ireland over the past week as part of its winter season. Nine nights of opera costs a total of €1.2 million to produce and involves 250 people, said Collopy.
Rigoletto will be performed again at the Gaiety Theatre tomorrow night, while Gluck's Orfeo Ed Euridice will be performed tonight.