Last night my wife and I attended the third production of our Lyric Opera season for 2004-2005: Verdi’s Aida. Although it’s not my personal favorite among Verdi’s operas Aida is certainly one of Verdi’s most popular operas. If you’re looking for Grand Opera Aida is one of the grandest.
For almost twenty years now we’ve been seeing the same production of the opera, a production I’ve come to call “the Smurf production”. The reason I look at it this way is that when the Ethiopian captives are brought on stage in the triumphal victory parade at the end of Act II, they’re wearing blue makeup. Yes, it’s done in blueface. Probably for reasons of political correctness but I, for one, find a bunch of blue Ethiopians running all over the stage somewhat absurd. Instead of the magnificent grand processional
Gloria all’ Egitto, ad Iside che il sacro suol protege!
Al Re che il Delta regge, al Re che il Delta inni festosi alziam!
I expect the chorus to come on warbling “La-LA-la-la-la-la, LA-la-la-la-la”.
We approached this production with some foreboding not just because of the Smurfs but because, for reasons best known to Lyric Opera, although this season’s production of Aida has been underway for some time, there’s been a scheduled mid-season cast change and nearly all of the principals are different than the ones who’ve been appearing. Last night was the premier performance for this new cast and several made their Lyric Opera debuts last night.
I don’t envy Radames, the tenor role. He dashes on stage at the beginning of the opera, has some quick dialog with the High Priest, and launches into his best aria in the whole opera, the one everybody knows, Celeste Aida. Not much room for error there. We were favorably impressed with Salvatore Licitra whom we were hearing for the first time as Radames. A bit pasta fazoul, if you know what I mean, for my tastes but he sang with skill and power. His high notes were strong but not beautiful.
Our foreboding was not much allayed when we heard young Indra Thomas, making her Lyric Opera debut as Aida, sing her first aria, Ritorna vincitor. But, remarkably, as the opera progressed she seemed to gain in confidence and by the end of the evening she was really wonderful.
What is it about the role of Amneris that makes it such a standout? The dramatic conflicts of the character and action? Verdi’s great writing for the part? In nearly every production of Aida I’ve ever seen it might as well be renamed Amneris and last night was no exception. I’m not a great mezzo fan but Dolora Zajick sang Amneris with enormous skill and power and gave the all-round best performance of the evening.
The duets, trios, and other ensemble parts were significantly better, in my opinion, than the solos. Vocally, this was an extremely strong performance of the opera. The staging was the typically lame staging we’ve come to expect from Lyric. Why is it that packing the stage as closely as possible with singers, lining them up in nice neat rows, and having them sing straight out to the audience like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir seems to be the best that Lyric can do for crowd scenes?
The ballets were also, unfortunately, what we’ve come to expect from Lyric Opera. Are there no dancers in Chicago who can count?
Aida is supposed to be really Grand Opera. It’s supposed to be about grandeur, pomp, and spectacle. This particular production continues to be very nearly a pomp-free zone. Not to mention the Smurfs. But the music was gorgeous and I think we’ll probably be seeing more of this rather young cast.
So, here are our rankings for the season so far: Das Rheingold, Aida, and Don Giovanni, in that order. Advantage—Das Rheingold.
