The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

The performance was good, it wasn’t quite as good as I expected, but then again my expectations were rather high. The story is one that I like, because its like an Operatic version of Romeo and Juliet. There were a few things that I didn’t really like, okay more than just a few.

The first thing I didn’t really like was the first half. There were only a few things in the first half that actually kept me on the edge of my seat. The two best examples were Amneris’ first appearance, where the jealousy theme was played. Whenever that theme begins the accompanying song always sounds better. I loved her voice and how it combined with the instrumental; it literally made me tingle, however weird that sounds. The other thing that I really enjoyed was the dance that was performed as part of the victory scene. I liked the choreography a lot, and when the dances slammed down, I could actually hear them and it even seemed as though I could feel the thuds. Someone said that they seemed out of sync, but I’m pretty sure that they were meant to be that way. It made it seem a little more real. Other than those two moments I feel that the first half of the performance was a bit dull. The only good singer, who expressed emotions well was Amneris.

The second half of the performance was great, though. Once it started, it had me glued to the performance. I liked it so much I turned on the italian subtitles so I could sing along in my head like a geek. I feel like that in the second half the pace just picked up so much that it couldn’t not draw your attention in. I was a little disappointed when it got to the scene between Aida and her father because of how weak the singing and acting seemed compared to the clips we saw in class. other than that and the very last five minutes of the performance, I was enthralled for the last half of the performance. My only problem with the ending is that they drew  it out for so long. They just kept repeating the same thing over and over again, and every time it seems like they are about to end it they start it again! By then Damla and I just gave each other a look, saying, “Oh my god they want us to stay here forever.”

All in all the experience was great. Especially since we had the chance to connect with each other more before and during the performance. I couple of us just hung out for the day before the opera and even grabbed dinner together, while also continuously judging each other.