Grand opera is seldom as grand as “Aida.” When it comes to lavish spectacle befitting a royal pageant and full-throated emotional outpourings, few operas pack the wallop of Giuseppe Verdi’s romantic ...

It’s not easy putting together a tidy response to an event that’s part geeky sideshow, part media event, part community theater, part downtown morale booster, part rented menagerie, part barometer of ...

Everything about the melodramatic love story of the Broadway musical “Aida” screams larger than life. The opera, on which the musical is based, was known for using live elephants in its staging. In ...

The set-up: In the 1860s, the Khedive of Egypt was spending his country’s treasury like a drunken pharaoh. Heavily influenced by the West, he wanted to bring medieval Egypt up to speed, so he began an ...

Houston Grand Opera is calling in reinforcements. Twenty-six extras will play soldiers and prisoners. Thirteen dancers will enhance the festive scenes. Sixteen operators will guide a larger-than-life ...

Tamara Wilson and Reggie Smith Jr. in Aida at Houston Grand Opera. The singing is magnificent. Credit: Photo by Lynn Lane Ancient Egypt looks mighty cheesy in Houston Grand Opera’s new production of ...

Big, loud and dazzling, Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida" is a triumph of color, lighting and spectacle. But comparing it to Verdi's opera "Aida" is like comparing glitzy, contemporary Las Vegas to ...

He Sang/She Sang is a new podcast from WQXR for the opera-curious and opera superfans who want to know what all those big voices are really singing about. The podcast follows the radio broadcast ...

Packaged in sleek sets and costumes, glinting with hard-edged light and raggedly split between mythical tragedy and frivolous camp, "Aida" is one weird piece of musical theater. No one's going to come ...

SAN FRANCISCO — Opera should, or can, be a spectacle. It’s what fans have come to expect, especially from big-budget companies such as San Francisco Opera. But it shouldn’t only be a spectacle. And ...

One thing that is certain about the musical “Aida” is that no matter what version you check out, there is plenty happening onstage. The clever use of props and stage design was effective in making the ...

Verdi’s Aida is one of opera’s grandest spectacles. Yet it can be challenging to successfully represent the opera’s sheer scale in the cramped confines of the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Previous Opera ...