Aida

Chanara Smith-Rookes

Ms. Roundtree

26 September 2017

Opera Assignment: Aida

Love triangle between an enslaved Ethiopian princess, an Egyptian warrior and the Princess of Egypt.

Aida follows the story of a captured Ethiopian princess, Aida, whom is battling between loyalty for her country and love towards a warrior of Egypt, whom is leading the battle against Ethiopia. Aida is held prisoner by the Egyptian army, unknowing that she is Ethiopian’s princess, and her father declared war once he was told about his daughter’s capture. Egyptian General, Radamès, is leading the war against Ethiopia, under the command of Egypt’s King and Radamès is engaged to marry his daughter, Amneris. However, captivated by Aida’s strength, Radamès falls in a forbidden love with her, similar to Aida, unable to resist his charm, she to fell in love. To become closer to her, he gifts Aida to Amneris as a personal handmaid. Amneris senses that Radamès may have feelings for Aida and while he was out at war, Amneris tells Aida that he had died in battle to gauge her reaction, proving that Aida was in love with Radamès as well. 

Once Radamès came back from conquering Ethiopia, Amonasro, the King of Ethiopia and Aida’s father was one of the captives. Radamès and Aida plan to run away so he can escape his fate of marrying Amneris and becoming King of Egypt, never to sail the seas again. Radamès becomes aware of Aida’s true identity as Amonasro appears and Radamès tells them the secret escape route just as Amneris appears to arrest them as betrayers. Amonasro and Aida run off as Radamès serenaders to his death for betraying Egypt and for his love of Aida. 

Refusing to marry Amneris and deny accusations of betrayal by the priests, he cements his death to be buried alive in a tomb. Amneris tries to persuade the priests to spare Radamès but they have made up their minds and she curses them. In a final act of love, Aida returns and sneaks into Radamès’ grave and together they wait in the tomb for death and until they see each other in a different lifetime. 

In the form of an opera, Aida has created thorough set designs, costumes and props that mimics the era and extravagances one might see in the pyramids or palace. The male and female characters of prominence have detailed and heavily accessorized body armor or jewelry that state their wealth and rein true to what Kings or princesses may wear. This creates a sense of authenticity between the production and the audience. It allows them to fully picture what was going on in that moment and what it looked like. 

In the opening scene, the stage has set “marble” pillars and a grand, elaborate door that looks detailed with gold and carvings. One of the male characters, dressed in what looks like traditional garb, is wearing a chest piece decorated with jeweled plates and gold, a staff with an Egyptian symbol, robes and a White Crown Headdress. This shows he has higher power compared to the servant, whom is holding the feather fan. He is wearing what looks similar to a loins cloth and a chest plate. On his head, he is wearing a Nemes Headdress that is blue and gold striped cloth. 

In the second scene, the curtains open more to show the rest of the backdrop, exposing stairs that look like they are mimicking a throne room. The lighting and stage production highlights the main points that the cast wants the audience to focus on. Towards the end of Act 1, they use minimal props, such as no backdrop or only using furniture that the main character sits on in the bedroom. The backdrop becomes more elegant in Act 2 as there are much more people and the storyline becomes serious. The lighting changes from golden hues to muted, dark and dim lights that mimic the sad tone of the characters. 

The scene changes and character movement almost seen robotic in their transitions. They move in big groups and so it is obvious when they are trying to move props or direct the attention to one character, it almost becomes distracting. Their actions are minimal but dramatic so you can tell most of the story telling his happening through the songs. In an intimate scene with only one or two people, motions and reactions are much more fluid and dramatic as they do not have to compete with the other characters on stage. Such as the scene between Amneris and Aida, they were moving up and down the stage, throwing dishes and themselves on the floor. This was their moment to shine and perform for the audience and they delivered. 

Watching the opera, the storyline is not as easy to follow because it is difficult to understand the lyrics they are saying. Whether this is because you have to have a trained ear to listen to opera or they are not speaking English. Even if you cannot under stand what is going on, without knowing the synopsis, you can tell by the music when dramatic, romantic or light moments are occurring. Naturally it will create a sense of anxiety or happiness within you which is a great job to the music department.  

Aida is important in the chronology of Opera because it shows the growth of production skills and techniques used to develop a show. Having used a live band, it allows the actors to connect more with the musician and form a bond in their own style of singing compared to audio being played over a speaker. The singer does not have creative freedom to range with over the speaker because they need to stay on track with the music. Whereas a musician will work with the singer and their bandmates with how the song is going in real time. And so not using technology in this aspect is beneficial to the quality of the show. This production mostly uses lights to support their characters and storytelling. Golden lights on the expensive furniture or dreary, hazy lights surrounding the backdrops help set the mood for the scene. 

If this piece was to be turned into a video game in the 21st century, there would be lots of vivid and rich colors, no singing and a detailed storyline. The characters would reflect the location they are in based on skin color and the settings would rein true to the location as well. The technology used would only affect the making of this video game such as programing softwares and animation coding. It allows the story to remain authentic when you stay true to the timeline of the piece because it is less believable to have Aida texting Radamès about how much she loves him but cant possible be with him. Cell phone were not in their era so it is best to leave them out.