Glittering and spectacular, full of love, power, passion, treachery and revenge, this is definitely Grand Opera and can lend itself to excess – which is perhaps why it is associated with arena and outdoor spectaculars, with masses of extras swelling the chorus. While this isn’t really an option for this revival of Graeme Murphy’s production for Opera Australia, it still has plenty of glorious singing and exciting visuals.
Set in ancient Egypt, AIDA premiered in Cairo in 1871. It tells the tangled love story of the eponymous Ethiopian princess, now an Egyptian slave, and her secret lover Radames, rising star in Pharaoh’s army, who is also loved by Princess Amneris, Pharaoh’s daughter.
Radames struggles to choose between his love for Aida and his allegiance to Egypt and Pharaoh . Further complicating this is that he does not return Amneris’ feelings.
From the beginning there is a dreamlike, ancient Egyptian fairytale feel about this show. This is a revival of Murphy’s production, first performed in 2008, and it still dazzles .
Roger Kirk’s sumptuous costumes are amazing. There is plenty of glittering gold, especially for Pharaoh , the priests and Amneris . The male chorus are generally in black, the female in white.
The Brothers Gruchy have created projections that enhance and add to the complexity of the sparse set of large white two dimensional shapes ( for example the pyramid for the main backdrop) .There is also cartoon like use of Egyptian friezes/designs, particularly in the triumphal parade in Act2 and the trees in Act 3.
Other Egyptian motifs used include hieroglyphs, papyrus, lotus flowers, boats, camels, columns with capitals, the ominous use of masked falcons and wings and a huge Udjat eye of Horus.
Sometimes symbolic elements (for example, the Great Sword of Egypt) are flown in from the flies. At certain points the Phillipe Genty like billowing floor cover is reminiscent of either water or a sandstorm.
Water is a repeated motif,- both in the water trough at the front of the set and in Murphy’s rippling choreography. Scene changes are also indicated by use of a travellator near the front of the set .While yes, it can be very effective at times when used sparingly – especially for the triumphal scene in Act 2 with the trumpeters for example – but overall its repeated use was annoying.
When used as part of the choreography, with the dancers able to strike marvellously sculptural tableaux, was great. But, as one of my colleagues said, it was less successful when used by the singers when surely the onstage drama suggested minimal movement in the blocking.
Musically the Opera and Ballet Orchestra was vibrant with dramatic flexibility under conductor Arvo Volmer and the singing was glorious.
As Aida, Latonia Moore is superb, singing with glorious, soaring warmth and colour .She is torn between her love for Radames and her country and her solo arias are magnificent (especially ‘O Patria Mia’ for example) . Her duets with Amneris and Radames are extremely impressive as are her duets with her father.
Young general Radames is brilliantly sung by dashing, hulking Rosario La Spina .In glorious voice he has Egypt (and the audience) cheering him on. His ‘Celeste Aida ‘, the musical testing point and soliloquy , was magnificent as was the final duet for him and Aida , ‘ O Terra Addio’. He was also excellent in the triumphal scenes in Act2 .
As Amneris , Milijian Nikolic is excellent – she can be vixen like and kittenish but is mostly a cold ,elegant regal Princess , seemingly sneering with joy in her stunning burnt gold costume when offered to Radames in marriage in Act 2 yet sadly weeping with her ‘peace’ in the finale .
As Aida’s father Amonasro ,Warwick Fyfe is in fine form with his rumbling baritone. He is wild eyed and dreadlocked, concerned for his people who are now prisoners , stern and unflinching when he curses Aida if she won’t help in finding out military intelligence about the next Egyptian invasion in Act 3 .
As Pharaoh, Jud Arthur is magnificent every inch a golden, authoritative king. Ramfis the High Priest was brilliantly sung by tall, thin Paul Whelan who is a terrific basso.
Murphy’s choreography is stunning and possibly represents the Nile- mostly light, bubbling and fluid. If you know his work you can pick allusions to his ‘Scheherazade’. The upside down lifts are amazing. There are some fun, rippling bits in Act2 with some of Amneris’ handmaidens: a sultry, exotic ,shimmering pas de deux to open Act 3 and very skillful handling of the GIANT crowd scenes with rippling ,pulsating , waving chorus particularly in Act 2 .
This was an excellent revival of this magnificent epic opera . The show ran 3 hours 20m minutes with 2 intervals.
AIDA, sung in Italian with English surtitles, is playing at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House on various dates in rep from Tuesday July 17 to Saturday October 13, 2012.
© Lynne Lancaster
19th July, 2012
Tags: Sydney Opera Reviews- AIDA, Sydney Opera House, Graeme Murphy, Sydney Arts Guide, Lynne Lancaster