IN REVIEW: Metropolitan Opera – Aida

Aida
Giuseppe Verdi

CAST:
Conductor: Kazushi Ono
Aida: Angela M. Brown
Amneris: Dolora Zajick
Radamès: Marco Berti
Amonasro: Andrzej Dobber
Ramfis: Carlo Colombara
The King: Dimitri Kavrakos

PRODUCION TEAM:
Production: Sonja Frisell
Set Designer: Gianni Quaranta
Costume Designer: Dada Saligeri
Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler
Choreographer: Rodney Griffin
Stage Director: Stephen Pickover

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (September 29, 2007) – When one goes to see an Aida one expects spectacle. When one goes to the Metropolitan Opera House, one expects the best opera has to offer. This Aida was a pile of shit. The singing was good…some of it…but the production, I have seen better productions in high schools.

From the beginning, everything looked like Halloween. In the opening scene tenor Marco Berti’s Radames sounded strained to my ear. His “Celeste Aida” drew a few bravos, but was not to my liking.

Angela Brown’s Aida was as wonderful as I remembered, and as she sang her first Aria (“Ritorna vincitor!”) the opera took a turn for the better. I nearly forgot about the fact that she was standing in a place where I could hardly see her from my box as she floated out the last notes wonderfully. As the performance progressed I had my first experience hearing Dolora Zajick who was Amneris. She was stunning…just amazing!

The triumphant scene was a joke. I had just been a part of the chorus for a production in Cincinnati and I noticed quickly as they removed several choral parts from the scene. What a waste of time, we laughed out loud as the Ethiopian prisoners entered. Andrzej Dobber, the baritone who sang the part of Amonasro, wasn’t a good singer, and he couldn’t act either. His costume had him looking something like a Klingon, the alien race from Star Treck, and it was just awful.

Conductor Kazushi Ono’s tempo was too fast throughout the evening and he ruined one of the opera’s most personal moments Aida’s aria “O patria mio”. Angela Browns radiant soprano sounded like something out of I Puritani as the aria went so fast that Verdi’s gentle phrases came at coloratura speeds. Maybe it wasn’t that bad….maybe…but none the less it was just awful.

Peter Gelb should be ashamed of himself as he puts this third rate production on stage. If this were my first time at the Met, I would be very disappointed and may never have returned.