CNJS - Boheme Opera

A grand Aida
Hold the elephants
Sunday, November 6, 2005
By Dr. Mary Morse

Boheme Opera, Joseph Pucciatti (cond.). Othalie Graham (soprano, Aida), Grace Echauri (mezzo-soprano, Amneris), Thomas Roche (tenor, Radames). Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, Trenton.

Boheme Opera's production of Aida didn't have elephants but it still felt like opera on a grand scale. Othalie Graham delivered a diva-in-the-making performance as Aida, ably supported by Grace Echauri as Amneris. To make up for the lack of elephants, their antithesis, sinuous American Repertory Ballet dancers, added colorful flourishes to the first two acts.

Any company that puts on Aida has to come to terms with its over-the-top libretto-the enslaved Ethiopian princess, her haughty Egyptian princess-mistress, the heroic Egyptian captain chained by his secret love for Aida, an evil priest of Isis, and a father who demands that his daughter sacrifice love for honor. Without elephants, big-name stars and lavish sets, Verdi's sumptuous and demanding score takes precedence. And Graham, a recent graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, possesses the kind of powerhouse voice that makes stage trappings irrelevant. In every scene, Graham's richly nuanced soprano and compelling dramatic presence elicited our empathy.

With almost as much stage time as Aida, Amneris is a coveted mezzo-soprano role. Echauri, who has performed extensively on the Mexican operatic stage, convincingly portrayed the transition from imperious princess to heartbroken supplicant for Radames' life. At first she seemed a bit mechanical and had some trouble adjusting to the orchestra in her early scenes, but she soon found her pace. In the second-act duet between Aida and Amneris, she experienced some difficulty holding her own against Graham. But as she sang through the intensely demanding third act, Echauri's displayed impressive stamina.

Thomas Roche, a Boheme Opera regular with a light but supple voice, played Radames, the man caught between two women. Ironically, he was caught vocally too. While he certainly displayed vocal agility, he was unable to muster the necessary volume to equal either woman. Unfortunately, that disparity made his character less comprehensible. Nevertheless, Roche brought genuine pathos to his final scene declaration of love in the tomb where both he and Aida will die. The memory of his aria, "La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse," resonated long after the curtain fell.