BY KAREN BOSSICK

Complimentary mimosas and muffins will greet those who show up for the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” on Saturday, Jan. 29.

 The live simulcast—the first in the Met Opera’s Met HD Live season—will be screened at 10:55 a.m. at the Big Wood 4 Cinema in Hailey. Tickets are $20, available at the door. Doors open at 10 a.m.

 Guiseppe Verdi’s gripping tragedy, simulcast as it’s staged live at the Metropolitan Opera, is being directed by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, one of the most praised Broadway directors in recent years.

He has reset the opera in 1920s Europe with Art Deco sets by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by Catherine Zuber, who have 11 Tony Awards between them.

Baritone Quinn Kelsey will play the title role.

The story, based on a controversial 1832 play by “Les Miserables” author Victor Hugo, tells of a hunchbacked jester who struggles to balance the dueling elements of beauty and evil that exist in his life.

 Sun Valley Opera Co-Founder Frank Meyer said this is not one to miss.

“If ‘Rigoletto’ isn’t a sad story about love, arrogance and privilege, I don’t know what is,” he said. “This is  the perfect show for someone who has not been to  opera but is interested in giving it a try. No matter what one's favorite music is, the tunes from solos to quartets are outstanding in anybody's book.”

But there is a spoiler alert, Meyer added: “Just like you would not want to know the ending of the recent movie ‘House of Gucci,’ it would be best to not read the ending of  ‘Rigoletto.’ "