By GILBERT WONG
Ask anyone to name an opera and chances are they will reply: "Aida." Even the most tone deaf shower-singer can hum Verdi's Grand March. But in Auckland the opera comes with a unique burden.
Think back to January 1997 and the Global Entertainments production of Aida at Ericcson Stadium. This was grand spectacle, 1000 performers on stage, including 200 soldiers, 100 priests, 300 in the chorus, plus horses, goats, sheep — and even some singers.
The trouble was that many of the 30,000 punters who had paid up to $190 for a seat could not see much of the stage.
Critical headlines were followed by legal action. Refunds were made. The idea of spectacular outdoor opera survived, as entrepreneur Alan Smythe discovered, but the curse of Aida remained.
The Herald's critics, in their summary of the year's cultural events, dubbed the production the "most disappointing failure."
That raises the question of why NBR New Zealand Opera chose Aida for their second effort of the year. Was it to test the short-term memories of Aucklanders?
NBR New Zealand Opera artistic director Jonathan Alver says: "It's a big concern to us. Yes, that production should have got bad press. But unfortunately the word "Aida" has become tainted.
"There is a resistance. That's a shame because there shouldn't be any resistance to Aida — there should be a resistance to going to Aida in the outdoors. This is brand new, designed for here."
In several ways, Aida is Alver's first real test. Opera audiences in this country have become accustomedto their companies teetering on the brink.
Last year's amalgamation of the National Opera, based in Wellington, and Auckland's Opera New Zealand was only the latest attempt to create a sustainable opera company. Costs and staff were cut.
It has been a painful process for some. The new company's first production, Madama Butterfly, was inherited from National Opera's schedule. Aida is Alver's chance to show his stuff and, if possible, bring a sense of confidence where previously there has been uncertainty.
This is the make-or-break year and fortunes must be turned around now.
"A younger audience has to come along and that's partly why we've gone with Aida. We want to move into less well-known work, but this is about getting the audience to trust us first.
"This is the first year of a trust cycle where three times a year audiences can know that there's going to be something interesting, whether they know the opera or not."
So what is opera according to Alver?
In a phrase, it's "designer opera." No, nothing about 80s jeans, but about opera that borrows from cinema and cutting-edge theatre. Alver's models are American opera companies that pioneer high design and technology.
"These companies are using the latest technology and we have to accept that opera is about spectacle. And we have to accept that the most spectacular medium today is film and take our lead from that."
So we can expect laser lights, aluminium and wire pyramids and obelisks for Aida 2000. From trade exhibitions, Alver has hired a device called a glass gobo, that allows shadows to be cast and refocused. Aida's backdrops look burnished. Naked flame will burst from the stage.
"I don't mind the high-tech stuff," Alver says. "I think it's important that what you saw at the cinema last week is available on the stage. That's what we're up against. The heart of opera is the voices and emotions — and that shouldn't change. But the package you put it into has to always look forward."
This, he hastens to add, is not high-tech for high-tech's sake.
"The expectation is for a lot of gold and sandstone, but the piece is about a harsh and cold society. What I wanted to suggest was that the Egyptians were frigid and the Ethiopians quite warm."
It took 1000 years to recreate the science and architecture of Egyptian civilisation after it fell and Alver says there are lessons in that. "To me that suggests a society pushing so hard that it loses control of the basic things of life and that can be compared to today when we are so reliant on our computers and yet most of us haven't a clue how they work.
"It's an emotional statement rather than a modern statement. I am trying to say that the society was running fast. Maybe too fast."
For the company's own future, the best news may be yet to come. Under the Government's cultural recovery package, New Zealand Opera has been told it will receive three years' funding.
"Three years' commitment is the beginning of starting to plan," Alver says… "It's hard to develop a repertoire when you don't know your funding. We can behave as a company that will be here for some time."
Last year the company received $670,000, which Alver finds low compared to $4 million to the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Arguably, with live orchestra and chorus, principals, set costs and a troop of technicians, opera is the most expensive art form to stage.
"Opera is a miracle," Alver says. "Opera only exists because people are passionate about it. It defies all logic to have 200 people up on stage. It defies its own existence. But it has to exist because it is so special."
• The NBR New Zealand Opera production of Aida opens at the Aotea Centre in Auckland on July 8.
Opera by design
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