Aida

I’ve always thought of Aida as one of the better known operas, despite the fact that I only know one piece of music from it. Where I got that idea from, I’m not quite sure, but perhaps it relates to the grandeur of the opera, or at least the grandeur that I saw in the pictures on Wikipedia.

To give a very, very brief outline of the plot, the Egyptians go off to defend their land from the Ethiopians and Radames is chosen to lead the army. He is loved by two women, Amneris, daughter of the Pharoah, and Aida, a slave who has kept secret that she is daughter of Amonasro, the Ethiopian king. Ramades loves Aida and that love eventually leads to his downfall.

Of course, it being the Royal Opera House, I was expecting the set to be reasonably grand. Unfortunately, it was actually very dull and dark. I felt it was a shame that they veered so far from the Ancient Egyptian theme, as I’m a bit of an Egyptologist and a big fan of the era as a whole. I’m not sure the somewhat modernised stone and metal theme really fitted the opera all that well and it lost a lot of the drama through the total lack of colour. Also, the revolving central section of the stage was horrifically overused and was particularly distracting as it was unevenly paved so the lines only matched up every 360 degrees.

Other than the disappointing staging, I also wasn’t overly impressed with the music. For such a well known opera, not a single song stood out for me, except perhaps the final one between Ramades and Aida.

On the plus, I very much enjoyed the various dance routines, particularly the celebrations towards the end of act two. Though I have to say, I was slightly startled by the rather unexpected and random orgy that took place in Amneris’ chamber at the start of that act. The human sacrifices in preparation for battle during act one were horrific, yet strangely compelling. I did rather enjoy the dancing prior to the slaughter, though, so that made up for the ickiness a bit.

The cast were good. Liudmyla Monastryrska played the role of Aida, replacing the pregnant Micaela Carosi and was very enjoyable to listen to. Ramades was played by Carlo Ventre, who seemed to improve as the performance progressed. Olga Borodina was a rather forceful Amneris and again, I enjoyed her performance far more towards the end. She played heartbroken and jealous very well. Special mentions are due to Vitalij Kowaljow who played Ramfis, the Egyptian high priest, and Carlos Almaguer for his portrayal of Amonasro. I thought both were superb.

So, overall, not one of my favourite operas. The next one will be Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, so I very much hope that proves to be a more enjoyable experience.

Anyways, next up is a little show called Hair, which I will be seeing tomorrow night…! TOMORROW!!! I still can’t believe it’s finally happening, after so many months of planning. I don’t feel at all ready and still have no idea what I want to do when I’m not at the theatre, but I don’t much care becuase I shall be seeing Steel in just a few(ish) hours time!

I never did manage to get a post out about my final choices for theatre trips in America, but I can assure you that they’re good’uns! I doubt I’ll be able to post again between now and when I leave, so you shall just have to wait with baited breath for the flood of posts that will appear when I return. (I doubt it will be possible for me to publish anything while I’m away, so I will probably put them all up when I get home and backdate them.)

So, this may well be my last actual post for a while, in which case, keep smiling, glam it up at every opportunity and remember, all you need is loVe!

Peace, loVe, happiness and glitter,

K xx

PS. Was that last paragraph a little too much? Tough! I’m excited! Steeeeeeel!