Big emotions and sound ... but no elephants

Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida,” set in ancient Egypt, has a reputation for being the grandest of grand operas. How grand, you ask? Well, some productions feature a parade of live elephants.

Historians debate whether there were elephants onstage when “Aida” first premiered in Cairo in 1871. The premiere had been delayed after Prussian troops laid siege to Paris in 1870, causing the scenery and costumes to get stuck there. The siege went on so long that hungry Parisians ate the zoo elephants — not that those particular elephants were ever destined to be opera stars.

“Everybody who knows opera, the first thing they say to me is, ‘Are you going to have elephants?’” Tony Zancanella, executive director of Opera Southwest, said.

OSW’s production of “Aida,” which opens Sunday, Feb. 22, will not have elephants, but Zancanella thinks it might be better that way. At its core, he said, the opera is an intimate, small-scale character study of a love triangle.

“The funny thing about ‘Aida’ is that if you zoom out just a bit and actually look at the opera itself — take away the ‘Oh yeah, I heard one time there was a scene with elephants’ — it's actually a pretty compact and intimate drama,” Zancanella said. “It's similar to a lot of other Verdi works. In fact, there's only really three leading roles … and there’s not a whole lot of big, complex ensemble numbers.”

The architectural sets by Sean McClelland have a grandeur befitting the Old Kingdom Egyptian setting. But the real focus is on the emotions.

“When you go see it at The Met (The Metropolitan Opera) or another big house, you're in a 4,000 seat house, which is great, but you're really far away from the performers,” Zancanella said. “If you come see it at Opera Southwest, even the worst seat at Opera Southwest — the back row of the balcony — is as close to the stage, probably, as the middle of the mezzanine in Santa Fe … You're just so close to the action, so you can really see the performers acting and emoting. … Doing 'Aida' in this context lets us really explore it in that way, rather than just as a spectacle.”

Michelle Johnson, who will sing the title role, agrees subtle emotions lie at the heart of “Aida.” At times, that even translates to quieter, more understated kinds of singing.

“People think about ‘Aida’ as being this gigantic, bombastic type of show, but, in reality, (apart from) Act Two, the triumphal march … the rest of the show is pretty intimate,” Johnson said. “You have a large orchestra, but there are times when it’s like chamber music, like two violinists and one cello, and they’re barely playing — just a little tremolo here or there. And I really do feel like the voice is part of the chamber ensemble, and not just a standout solo line. Really, the voice is part of the orchestration.”

The Houston-born soprano said she is excited to show off her acting skills, too, because acting was her first love.

“I was acting before I was singing,” she said. “I did a lot of community theater growing up, and a lot of musical theater, and the voice was always like the cherry on top, the secondary thing.”

Although she ended up going to the New England Conservatory of Music for voice and made her career as an opera singer, Johnson said she’s still a “musical theater nut” and attends more Broadway shows than operas. Even with opera, she usually prefers student performances over professional ones.

“Why? I think it’s the rawness. They actually love it, and you can tell they’re giving their all, even if it’s rough,” Johnson said.

Johnson has sung the role of Aida many times, including at the Glimmerglass Festival, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Columbus, among others. She said her understanding of the characters has changed a lot from her first “Aida” until now.

“I am married now, and I have a daughter. And there is a daughter-father relationship in ‘Aida,’ between Aida and her father, Amonasro. At first (years ago), my thoughts were, ‘Oh my goodness, Amonasro is such a bad guy — he’s manipulating his daughter, blah blah blah,’” Johnson said. “But, as I’m older now, I think — yes, there is some manipulation, but at the same time, it’s sort of, ‘I’m doing this because I love you’ or ‘I’m doing this to keep you safe.’ 

“Coming from being a parent now, I can see it from a different point of view.”

Johnson recommends “Aida” to everyone, even those who may not think of themselves as opera fans.

“Come see it, because we hold a mirror up. You might see yourself in some of the characters. You might cry and not know why you’re crying, because you don’t know the language, but the music itself can touch you,” Johnson said. “There’s little intimate parts that will totally break your heart. There’s beautiful costumes, beautiful makeup and hair. There’s a little bit of everything for everybody.”

Just because OSW’s “Aida” is more “intimate” than some productions, that doesn’t mean there’s not still big, strong choral pieces.

“For my money, the consecration scene in the temple, right before they go to war, the ‘Nume, custode e vindice’ (‘God, guardian and avenger’) is just about the most exciting, thunderous and earth-shaking music you could imagine in a small theater. It’s gonna rip you out of our chair,” Zancanella said. “The smallness of the theater actually helps amplify those big sounds and big emotions.”

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at @loganroycebeitmen.