At this point, I’m not spilling any secrets when I write that our 2012 AIDA production has neither pachyderms nor pyramids. I don’t much mind that these expected elements don’t appear onstage: I know I can enjoy Elizabeth Schoonmaker’s spectacular elephants every time I drive up to the opera house. And my inner Egyptophile will be satisfied tomorrow, when Dr. Christopher Tadgell presents a fascinating exploration of Egyptian tombs as part of our ShowTalk series.
Dr. Tadgell’s presentation will be followed by a live discussion among the composers of three of our 2012 shows. No, we haven’t found a way to raise the dead. But luckily, each of these men immortalized himself not only through his music, but through the written word. Working from letters, memoirs, articles and transcripts, I’ve shaped some of their stories and thoughts about writing for the stage into a radio play, which will be performed by Elizabeth Futral, Cindy Gold, Wynn Harmon, Ryan J MacConnell and Phillip Gay.
“It is one of the hardest things for a composer to talk about his own work,” wrote Kurt Weill. Hard, maybe, but it didn’t stop him from trying, any more than it stopped Giuseppe Verdi or Meredith Willson. Come on out to the Fenimore Art Museum at 10:00 tomorrow morning and hear these fascinating figures talk shop!