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An Aida That Tries to Apologize for Itself
“Michael Mayer’s new staging for the Met had me wondering how soon someone would roll the stone slab back and let my people go home.”
There’s a sepulchral vibe to Michael Mayer’s new staging for the Metropolitan Opera, a dutiful splendor that at times had me wondering how soon someone would roll the stone slab back and let my people go home. The pacing ranges from static to stately — except for one bizarrely antic dance sequence in which a troupe of shirtless men in skirts, boots, and leather helmets lets loose, stomping, dabbing, and twerking. Baek treated the role as an athletic challenge: His voice rang, his high notes pealed, and his diction was clear, but even in the aria “Celeste Aida” it was difficult to detect much tenderness for his supposed beloved.
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