Victor Hugo's tortured court jester became Italian Opera's Rigoletto through the genius of Giuseppe Verdi and Francesco Piave. Surviving the turbulence of 16th Century Italy, the Mediterranean, and the Levant, he seeks escape from personal demons and curses that claimed his family and friends. Aided by monks from the doomed Humiliati brotherhood and a family of traveling players, he bonds with little Maria, so like his lost daughter. Confronting machinations...