Aida

Old Hollywood Lives
... luckily without Charles Heston

Only the Met can pull off Aida with the full pomp and glory that Egyptian pageantry allows. Aida is an Ethiopian slave who is in love with the Egyptian military leader, Radames. But Amneris, the Egyptian princess, is jealous of Aida and longs to have Radames for her own. Off to war he goes only to triumph against all odds and returns with the prisoners, one of whom is the king of Ethiopia and Aida's father. Aida plans to run away with Radames but before they do, she is able to get him to tell her about army movements and quickly Radames is captured and sentenced to death as a traitor. The opera closes with Aida hiding in the tomb they seal Radames in while Amneris weeps above ground in mourning for the loss of her love.

Kazushi Ono conducted wonderfully, the full richness of music came through beautifully. Franco Farina as Radames took awhile to warm up his voice but by Act II, he was in fine form. The same could also be said for the two sopranos, Angela Brown in the title role and Luciana D'Intino as Amneris. While the Met attracts great talent, the audience was really impressed with the staging. The transition from the Amneris and Aida libretto to the full city square resulted in an audible gasp from the audience. The back wall descended into the floor so the guards standing atop the wall frame the foreground of the brightly lit city behind. The whole stage was filled with regal thrones, servants and guards while the procession of military platoons and treasures parade by. The same wall is used effectively in the final act when it is partially receded into the floor so as to represent the tomb for Aida and Radames. Fantastic production.