Otello production retells Shakespeare’s tragedy
“I believe in a cruel God who has created me in His image.” These sacrilegious words begin Iago’s aria in composer Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello, characterizing mankind as inherently bitter and wicked. It is in Iago’s dark worldview that director David Alden seems to base his production of the opera, now showing at The Kennedy Center with the Washington National Opera and starring Russell Thomas, George Gagnidze and Leah Crocetto. Otello, based on Shakespeare’s Othello, is considered a crowning achievement of the composer’s late period and also provides a pinnacle role for the dramatic tenor.