'Aida' cancelled at Bristol University over cultural appropriation

Quote:

But the antagonistic themes of Aida seem to have spilled into the wings after a student production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera was cancelled amid a row over suggestions of “cultural appropriation”. A theatre at the University of Bristol said yesterday it had cancelled all showings after a revolt by students. It is understood that there were protests amid fears that white students would be cast as leads and expected to portray Ancient Egyptians and slaves. ... One student commented: “White washing still exists, it’s been done enough in Hollywood, look at Liz Taylor in Cleopatra.” However, critics said the decision by Music Theatre Bristol (MTB), was “laughable” and amounted to “outrageous” censorship. Rupert Christiansen, the Telegraph opera critic, said: “Where will the mealy-mouthed nonsense peddled by ideologues in Bristol stop? If something doesn’t laugh it to extinction, Verdi’s entire oeuvre could fall under the axe.”

Linky.

I would like more information on what the students did, but this isn't very surprising, unfortunately. I hear afterwards the students were triggered by sushi in the cafeteria and retreated to a safe space replete with WiFi access for their Twitter hashtag activism.

Aida had this to say on the matter:

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Oh patria mia, mai più ti rivedrò!	O my country, never more will I see you!
Mai più! mai più ti rivedrò!	Never more, never more will I see you!
O cieli azzurri o dolci aure native	O blue skies, o sweet native breezes,
Dove sereno il mio mattin brillò	where the morning of my life shone peacefully,
_
O verdi colli o profumate rive	o green hills, o fragrant river-banks,
O patria mia, mai più ti rivedrò!	o my country, never more will I see you!
Mai più! no, no, mai più, mai più!	Never more! no, no, never more!
O fresche valli, o queto asil beato	O cool valleys, o calm refuge
Che un di promesso dall'amor mi fu	which one day was promised to me by love,
_
Or che d'amore il sogno è dileguato	now that the dream of love has vanished,
O patria mia, non ti vedrò mai più.	o my country, I will see you never more.
Oh patria mia, mai più ti rivedrò!	O my country, never more will I see you!

I mean, maybe if this was a traditional staging of Turandot or The Mikado I would see an issue. Racial concerns obviously have a history in stories based on racist ideas, or in traditions that desire to cast "for the part". Nowadays I would say the trend is to be colorblind. Nobody cares what race the singers are or if it fits the actual story or even the other actors, so long as they can sing. This article specifically mentions Aida.

I found this article that interviews opera singers about race really insightful:

Quote:

ANNE MIDGETTE: Is it offensive to darken a white singer’s face to sing Otello, or not? ALYSON CAMBRIDGE: [In “Otello,” skin tone] is integral to the plot line and people sing about it throughout the course of the opera, and I think it is different than say, casting a show like “Porgy and Bess” and having it be all white singers in blackface. That I think is an issue, because you have a plethora of singers to choose from to sing that role. Otello is a specific voice type. There may or may not be a person of color to sing that role; regardless, it’s key to the story line, and there is reference made to it in the libretto. So I feel like it’s a costume in some ways.... But if you’re asking me, who is a person of color, am I personally offended by somebody having makeup to make them look darker for the sake of the opera, I personally am not. I don’t know if I’m in the minority in that. DEBORAH NANSTEEL: No, I agree with you. KENNETH KELLOGG: I totally agree with you... I think this whole issue of blackface and the negative connotations of blackface — I wouldn’t consider darkening a white tenor’s skin to be blackface. The historical context of blackface is a mockery of a specific race. CAMBRIDGE: The word itself has been misused. It’s called makeup. If you say, I’m doing a show and it’s in yellowface, it’s implying that there is a mockery of people of yellow skin. Otherwise, I’m sorry, it’s just makeup. RUSSELL THOMAS: Blackface is a [deliberate] caricature, not JUST the darkening of one’s skin. Personally, I find that many of those taking issue with this practice are not fans or supporters of opera. SOLOMAN HOWARD: So do we feel the same about “Aida,” when there’s specifically Egyptian singers, but most of the singers who are hired to sing the show aren’t of an ethnicity that has darker skin, but they are tanned, they are painted to look that specific culture or race? THOMAS: I don’t believe it is offensive at all. I would be more offended if I didn’t see artists on stage with a tan. Those choristers are playing characters. The makeup allows them to realize those characters. HOWARD: We get into the back and forth of [whether] everyone at that particular time was dark. If we start doing that, then we potentially eliminate ourselves from certain types of roles, because now everybody has to be this [or that] particular shade. For me, the majority of opera [roles], if not all — there were few to no blacks around at the time. If everybody started to [say] it has to be this particular color, we would either be in “whiteface” or we wouldn’t be allowed to sing at all. THOMAS: How limiting would it be to tell black, white, Asian, Latino, Spanish artists they could only play roles conceptualized for their skin tones. We will get into what I think is a slippery slope if we begin to start casting “people of the ‘correct’ skin tone.” What is the “correct” skin tone for Hoffmann, for Don Carlos, for Turriddu, Faust, etc? I would have not been allowed to sing so many roles if those administrators that hired me only cast with the “correct” skin tone.

Linky.

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