Aida
I walked into the Lincoln Center without biased judgments or negative views of the opera. I have heard people speaking poorly of the opera and about how boring it was. But, there are also people I know who loved the opera and enjoyed sitting through everything. The only logical way for me to see if I liked the opera was to go and see for my self. I made the mistake of thinking that modern ballet at the Complexions was going to be a terrible experience. I walked into Complexions believing that the next three hours were going to be arid and drab. As I sat there in the theater I realized how completely wrong I was. I couldn’t have been more naïve and ignorant. I found the statement “never judge a book by its cover” to be truer than ever.
I walked into Lincoln Center believing that I may like the opera. I didn’t judge it prematurely even though I heard so many negative views about the opera. Turns out that I was wrong about that too. Opera just wasn’t enjoyable for me. I found it all to be drab and bleak. It didn’t take many recitatives and arias for me to figure out that I wasn’t compatible with the Opera.
I know that it was three and a half hours long but it honestly felt like seven hours. I was constantly glancing at my watch hoping that the time had gone by quicker than expected. Unfortunately that never happened. The longest part was definitely after the last intermission, which were the last two acts. Even the couple of seconds in between the two acts weren’t good enough because I couldn’t get up and stretch. I felt as though the second part of the last act was dragged out way too much. We all knew they were going to die since they were sealed off in a tomb to die slowly. However, they couldn’t have just ended it simply. They slowly drew it out.
The room and elbow space for each seat was extremely small. Just by stretching my arms I could touch the person a seat away. Plus, having my book bag in between my legs on the ground was even more annoying because my legs became cramped and uncomfortable.
The singing was bearable since I had the subtitles in front of me. As it commenced I just kept looking back and forth between the stage and the little screen. I think the English translation at the Met is much better than the translated version I read in the libretto, which was quite difficult to comprehend. The translations at the Met were more concise and modern, but as some people have stated it feels as though some things may have been lost when it was translated into English.
The most enjoyable parts were the last part of Act I and the beginning of Act II, which were the ceremonies of Radames becoming the commander-in-chief and then the victory scene. The dancing was entertaining and amusing. When the white horses were on stage, I thought they were on the verge of doing something very reckless, but they were kept under control long enough for them to be lead offstage. The orchestra was also quite pleasant. They sounded in tune most of the time, if not all.
Unlike modern ballet I did not enjoy the opera nearly as much. Maybe in the future I might grow into it, but I don’t see that happing anytime soon.
Posted: December 5th, 2012 under Opera, Reviews.
