Coenraad Visser
Opera as unashamed extravaganza. That is what the audience can expect when Operama’s production of Verdi’s Aida is presented at the Minolta Loftus Superstadium on Saturday night.
Verdi’s moving love triangle is set in ancient Egypt. It tells the simple story of the love of Aida, daughter of the Ethiopian king and prisoner of the Egyptians, for Radames, captain of the Egyptian guard.
The snag, of course, is that he is also loved by Amneris, the Egyptian princess.
With these basic elements, Verdi has written an opera which sets the conflicts of human emotions against the larger canvas of the war between Egypt and its neighbours. The scene of triumph finds Verdi at his most extrovert, with the marches and ballet giving producers the chance to mount sheer spectacle.
And spectacular this production promises to be. On a massive stage (70m wide and 26m deep) 60 different screen images will be projected on to a screen 18m high. These projections replace the usual sets. In the triumphal march, which may be the only music known to every member of the audience, a monumental pyramid is seen splitting in two. This scene alone will see more than 600 people on stage.
Where are all these people from? At the auditions for the crowd scene, they arrived in droves. Opera fanatics desperate for a chance to take their turn on stage, information technology students who love acting and see Aida as the first step towards a stage career, matrons longing to tell their grandchildren about their 15 minutes of fame, and mothers clutching their daughters’ matric dance pictures to thrust at the casting director.
For an opera public which still applauds the sets at productions at the State Theatre, it will make sense that the spectacle far outshines the singing. Of the imported cast, few have any career to get excited about.
All eyes will, of course, be on the title role, taken here by Wilhelmenia Fernandez, who these days sings little else of consequence.
Fernandez is best known as the opera singer who refused to let her voice be recorded in Jean-Jacques Beineix’s cult film Diva. In Diva, she rescued from obscurity Ebben? Ne andrano lontana from Catalani’s otherwise forgettable opera La Wally. Fernandez is an accomplished actress who once received the Laurence Olivier award for her exuberant performance in the title role of Carmen Jones at London’s Old Vic.
Love object Radames will be sung by Piero Giuliacci, who also sings this role in small American houses this year, while Maurizio Graziani, who actually sings Radames in important venues like Verona, will cover for Giuliacci. Roberta Mattelli is Amneris, the princess who loses her man, and Anna Valdaterra the priestess.
Perhaps it is a further comment on the musical aspect of this production that the only South African, Pierre du Toit as the messenger, has had no opera career to speak of, while established singers like Elizabeth Lombard, Mauri Mostert and Kaizer Nkosi merely understudy.
But, frankly, when the spectacle starts, who cares about the singing?