Verdi's Aida is an opera in which a bourgeois love triangle is set amidst the pomp and patriotism of war.
The larger the theatre, the more tempting it is to do a Cecil B. DeMille and indulge in the splendour.
But the flag-waving triumphalism could be taken as read if the composer’s music for it weren’t so irresistible.
The new production for WNO by director John Caird and his team avoids the excess and substitutes instead a continuously stunning visual experience and vocal tour de force.
For the Egyptians' celebration of victory over the Ethiopians in act two, the company draws on its community choir, made up of amateurs in the places where it tours as well as from Wales, and includes some elastic choreography by Denni Sayers.
This alone would have been justification for a populous production, yet it takes little away from the meatier business of how the principals interweave.
If the priestly invocations in act one will always resemble the proceedings of some flamboyant Masonic lodge, Andrew Gangestad rightly makes David Soar's King seem ineffectual, despite the unwavering bass lines of both.
The laurels go to Zvetelina Vassileva in the title role, vocally steadfast and ably supported by Margaret Jane Wray (Amneris) and Dennis O'Neill (Radames) except where the voices are pushing for their effects, and Philip Joll 's Amonasro as an imposing schemer.
Carlo Rizzi and the orchestra allow the complexities of the protagonists to emerge clearly in a tableau that in almost all respects is praiseworthy. |
