Aida
Tamara Wilson in Graeme Murphy's production of Aida.
Photo: Tamara Dean
Opera Australia
Opera House, July 7
PRODUCTIONS of Aida risk falling into a colossal self-parody. Graeme Murphy's deft new creation sidesteps this with grace and humour, reinforcing Verdi's singular musical and dramatic structure rather than capriciously undermining it.
Roger Kirk's design, based on a concept of Murphy's and beautifully lit by Damien Cooper, is a simple sloping stage. In front are two moving strips on which the characters walk without moving their legs, as though cut out of an ancient frieze. Nowhere is this exploited with more charm and impact than in the triumphal march of Act 2 which, sans elephants, is a two-dimensional, subtly animated parade of characters doomed eternally, as in Egyptian art, to stand in profile with elbows crooked.
At the very front, the Nile is a slim lap pool in which monarchs parade, holy people wash and naked lovers frolic. The whole is animated by a vocabulary of Egyptian images, hieroglyphs, eagles, sphinxes and other totems, which are projected, flown in and, most importantly, danced with gloriously imaginative choreography (an apparent collaboration between Murphy and Janet Vernon).
At the end of Act 1 dancers with mythical wings enact the priestess's melismatic lines (evocatively sung by Amy Wilkinson), punctuated between verses by a dazzlingly lit, smooth-toned male chorus so that myth, drama, music and dance reinforce each other in structure, comeliness and significance.
With the subtlety that increasingly characterised his late operas, Verdi introduces the character of Aida in a trio that establishes the dramatic and musical tensions of the principal characters, rather than in a set-piece aria, but that did not prevent Tamara Wilson's voice from asserting its distinctiveness and strength from the start. Dongwon Shin as Radames took a little longer to establish a vocal presence but by Act 3 had overcome an unsettled opening to project with firm persuasive expressiveness.
Similarly, Milijana Nikolic was best in her Act 3 tour-de-force of tragic power, while earlier her vibrato had crazed the surface of the sound as though not quite warmed up.
Jud Arthur was strong and implacable as Ramfis the High Priest, and David Parkin showed there is life after Operatunity with a solid performance as Amneris's father. Michael Lewis sang Amonasro, the fierce Ethiopian king, with flashing eyes, floating hair and focused intensity.
With a strong chorus, large forces, onstage trumpets and plenty of straightforwardly appealing tunes, it is difficult for the score not to have moments of splendour, although conductor Richard Armstrong tended not to highlight or energise textural changes to bring out Verdi's carefully crafted contrast.
