James Karas
Aida
By Giuseppe Verdi (music) and Antonio Ghislanzoni
(libretto)
Amneris Anita Rachvelishvili
Set design Pierre-André Weitz
Costume design Pierre-André Weitz
Lighting design Bertrand Killy
Continues until July 16, 2016 at the Opéra Bastille,
Paris.
***** (out of five)
Olivier Py has directed an unorthodox and
jaw-dropping Aida for the
Paris Opera at the Bastille that combines outstanding singing and stupendous
directing. The modern-dress production starts with flag-waving and a
concentration on burnished gold and ends in debunking war and its “glory”.
Let’s start with the renowned Triumphal March.
The Egyptian army under Radames has defeated the Ethiopians and the victors are
returning with glory, spoils and prisoners. The orchestra led by the trumpets
plays the stirring march as the victorious Egyptians parade triumphantly in front
of cheering crowds. Elephants, horses and practically whole zoos have marched
across the stage in a show of splendour, glory and, one must add, unlimited
opera company budgets.
Py gives us nothing. He takes a vehemently
anti-heroic and ironic view. As the trumpets are blaring the stirring music, we
see a small triumphal arch with a half-naked torso on top waving a machine gun.
Some cleaning ladies are cleaning the gold arch with mops. No victorious soldiers,
no defeated prisoners, no spoils of war, no animals, nothing. A ballerina
dressed in white does some dancing.
As the orchestra continues to play the march,
the stage floor is raised and a subfloor appears. It is full of corpses, and
soldiers wearing masks are tossing more dead bodies on the pile. This is the
Egyptian triumph.
At the end of the triumphal rituals, Amneris
is supposed to put a crown on Radames’s head. She does not. As the celebration
continues, Egyptian soldiers using the butt of their machine guns rough up the Ethiopian
prisoners and one of them is in fact knocked down and kicked. We see a picture
of a bombed city projected on the rear of the stage several times during the
performance. This is the result of the Egyptian victory.
Py and Set and Costume Designer Pierre-André
Weitz use gold insistently for all the sets. But the use is ironic because
there are cleaners on a number of occasions who spend some time cleaning and
burnishing the gold with their mops. It may look like gold and glitter like
gold but it mocks Egypt rather than praise it.
The soldiers wear khaki, frequently only on
the bottom half of their bodies, the King and Radames have officer’s uniforms
and the High Priest is dressed in the full regalia of a pope. Py does not stop
there. When Radames is being tried, there is a burning cross on stage and the
judges appear in Ku Klux Klan hoods. The women are dressed in black.
The singing is simply outstanding. Canadian
soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sings and acts an Aida that does not miss a note. She
owes duty and loyalty to her father Amonasro, the captured Ethiopian King and
her beloved country as well as to Radames the man she is in love with. She
pours out all her feelings in an unforgettable performance.
Tenor Aleksandrs
Antonenko makes a superb
Radames. His light tenor voice serves him well for “Celeste Aida” to the final
duet where the couple finds apotheosis in love.
Antonenko is an impressive and sonorous Amonasro
full of hatred and guile as he convinces his daughter to force Radames to
betray Egypt.
Anita Rachvelishvili is an outstanding Amneris, the princess who hopes to win the hero Radames but cannot defeat the love of Aida.
The Chorus and Orchestra of the National Opera
of Paris are conducted by Daniel Oren with robustness adding to Py’s ironic
approach to the opera.
This is a supremely well-sung production that has
a potent point of view that is brilliantly expressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment