So Aida is set to open in three weeks, meaning we are halfway through our rehearsal process. (We have five weeks of room rehearsal before we go into tech–a blissful exception to the short rehearsal process rule in opera in America.) The opera is almost fully staged and certain scenes are already in great shape–notably the scenes that are better suited to a chamber approach in Act III. But the one scene that hasn’t been tackled yet in its entirety is the one which makes everyone’s eyebrows raise at the thought of a “chamber Aida”–the enormous ‘triumphal march’ of Act II. It’s been kept off mostly because of scheduling conflicts, but in many ways it’s good to save this deceptive scene for the last. (We finish staging it tomorrow, incidentally.)Why deceptive? First off, you have to wonder what on earth Egypt is celebrating as a triumph when the very next scene has Radames planning for war again, and with the same exact enemy. As I mention in my program notes (which I published last week), isn’t the whole scene a musical iteration of the “Mission Accomplished” sign hanging over George Bush well before anything was accomplished in Iraq?
Tags: aida, berkeley opera
