[Met Performance] CID:164900



Aida
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, February 13, 1954




Aida (570)
Giuseppe Verdi | Antonio Ghislanzoni
Aida
Zinka Milanov

Radam?s
Kurt Baum

Amneris
Blanche Thebom

Amonasro
Leonard Warren

Ramfis
Jerome Hines

King
Luben Vichey

Messenger
Paul Franke

Priestess
Margaret Roggero

Dance
Marion Horosko


Conductor
Fausto Cleva


Production
Margaret Webster

Designer
Rolf G?rard

Choreographer
Zachary Solov

Stage Director
Dino Yannopoulos





Aida received nine performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Douglas Watt in the Daily News
Colds Knock Out Three Principals in Met ?Aida?

The common cold knocked three principals out of the Met?s lineup for Saturday night?s ?Aida,? the first of the season. Among them was an Italian tenor named Gino Penno, scheduled to make his debut here in the male lead.

Nursing her hubby all Saturday morning, Penno?s wife was finally forced to phone the opera house at 1:30 P.M. with the sad news that Gino was ?finito? for the time being and would have to blow his chance. Scheduled to sing Don Alvaro in next Wednesday?s ?La Forza del Destino,? Penno will probably be in shape to make his debut at that time. Kurt Baum went on for him as Radames.

Double Duty

Fedora Barbieri, scheduled to make her first appearance of the season as Amneris, had to cancel out on Friday. This gave Blanche Thebom, who replaced her, an opportunity to take part in the ?Aida: dress rehearsal, but it also gave Miss Thebom a full day?s work; for she had to sing Fricka in Saturday afternoon?s ?Die Walk?re? as well as Amneris that evening.

The third casualty in the cast was the non-singing Janet Collins, prima ballerina, whose cold had reached the stage where she just didn?t feel springy enough to lope around in the second-act Triumphal ballet solo. Marion Horoski, who did, went on for her.

This has been a banner-season at the Met for the common-cold germ. Among its most spectacular achievements was its double victory over the Swedish tenor, Jussi Bjoerling. After [starting] the season in the title role of the new ?Faust? and going along for a while, Bjoerling developed a beaut of a cold that worked up to laryngitis and finally forced him to take a month off and return home. Two weeks ago, he came back to give a whale of a performance in ?La Boh?me.? But by last week the germs were at him again and he had to forego his part in Friday?s ?Rigoletto.?

As for Saturday night?s ?Aida,? it turned out to be a good rough-and-ready account of the Verdi hit in which most of the principals ? Zinka Milanov in the title role ? sang as loudly as they could. Miss Milanov, with the double advantage of having the soprano part and a voice than can out-yell most others, won hands down in the ensemble passages. Her solo work was beautifully done.


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