Because of the virus, it could never be presented to the public. As with many European houses, Paris decided to produce the show anyway and perform it once to an empty house and some TV cameras, the thought being that at least the public could see it on TV at home and that the production would be available for future use.

Then, the culture wars set in: De Beer’s work was derided by fascists and their friends as a woke attack on all we hold dear and will never be performed again in Paris or anywhere else. Sure, the idea of making Aida a marionette, a statue in a 19th century ethnological museum who Radames falls in love with, is out of left field: but isn’t it also an accurate representation of the character? Isn’t the Triumphal Scene supposed to sound hollow and square and terrifying in comparison to the urgent beauty of the music detailing the characters’ emotional lives? Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to stage it as a series of tableaux vivants in vitrines? (Wasn’t the end of the Frisell Aïda already such a tableaux vivant, plus Amneris’ pleated 1980s poly-sateen baby blue prom dress?) After seeing it, I agree with De Beer that most productions of Aida are “boring, but…also offensive.”