Steppin’ 2 the Nile Side
La Cieca would like to take this opportunity to extend kudos to Francesca Zambello and the Glimmerglass Festival on what looks to be their season’s first smash hit: a glitzy new production of the classic musical Dreamgirls!
La Cieca would like to take this opportunity to extend kudos to Francesca Zambello and the Glimmerglass Festival on what looks to be their season’s first smash hit: a glitzy new production of the classic musical Dreamgirls!
i think wenarto deserves to be credited for the concept of opera singers in combat boots!
yum!
Yes the pics do make the production look like a Broadway musical. I am quite honestly beyond caring very much what productions of Verdi operas look like, it is such an unusual pleasure these days to find a production with a cast who can sing their roles that they could do it in dustbin liners for all I care as long as they can sing the notes and give it a bit of oomph along the way.
Noah Stewart looks great in those pics and he can’t sound worse than the hoarse,grotesque cracking and caterwauling tenor in the Met’s broadcast Aida last season.
What is Daveda doing in there? I was under the impression this production was protected by the Gershwin Trust.
Singing brilliantly as usual…I’m still hoping that Voigt cancels a performance of Troyens so we can hear Karanas as Cassandre.
I see more Elton John’s Aida than Dreamgirls. But for the Motown-ish dresses the female choristers are wearing. I suppose the move to have everyone but Aida be African American is an interesting wink at the tradition of only seeing black sopranos on stage as Aida.
That’s the first thing which came to mind, Elton’s Aïda, as well.
Wish Eric Owens could sing Amonasro at the Met
Am I missing something? Aaron is African American, as is Michelle Johnson. Are you maybe mixing up Aida and Amneris?
You are quite right, my mistake.
With that black sequined gown Amneris had on -- coupled the terrible lighting -- anyone could make the same mistake.
From the production photos, it looked like they were about to waterboard Radames. Since he was caught red-handed and refuses to defend himself, that can’t be right. Maybe he is being sentenced to do the floors.
In which case, he might get talent-spotted by Valery Gergiev.
I’m changing the subject(please,excuse me) but I thought since we are discussing black singers, I found it very perplexing that the great Marian Anderson was not mentioned once in Vivien Schweitzer’s article (Sunday,July 8th, New York Times article on Kathleen Ferrier). I found their careers similar in some ways and was insulted that Marian Anderson was completely ignored. How can you discuss the famous contraltos and not mention her. The great Bruno Walter made quotes re: Ferrier but Toscanni made famous quotes about Marian Anderson.I found the exclusion insulting to her memory.
I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to those who were actually there and believe that the singing wasn’t bad at all (or so it seems from the comments). However, having only seen these few pics, it looks like a grad school production of Aida in terms of set and costumes. Especially costumes. I suppose they spent quite a bit of money to have things that look, for the most part, as if they could have been put together by a church sewing club…
Well,jatm2063, I saw it last night (Friday July 13) and i can tell you that the staging and directing concept was BIZARRE!!! The “waterboarding” scene was very realistic. I asked the director and the tenor if it was in his contract to permit “waterboarding” I am almost certain if this “interpretation” was performed at the Met it would have been, most assuredly booed!!Zambello has an impressive resume and an incredible career but her Aida is too confusing for words.
That said,however, if you want to hear an Aida (Adina Aaron) sing piannissimi like Caballe and hear a young Radames (Noah Stewart) with a beautiful sound which can evoke shades of di Stefano….don’t miss it. Eric Owen’s sojourn into his first Verdi baritone role was adequate. He’s an intelligent singer and knows he has to choose wisely.