San Francisco War Memorial 1972 I Page 1 of 2 Assn.

Aida I (in Italian)

Opera in four acts by Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni

Conductor CAST Nino Sanzogno Ramfis Malcolm Smith Stage director Radames Matthew Farruggio Amneris Ruza Baldani Designer (10/14) Wolfram Skalicki Aida Teresa Kubiak Lighting The King of Egypt Philip Booth Robert Brand A messenger Erik Townsend Chorus Director A priestess Evelyn Petros Byron Dean Ryan Amonasro Bruce Yarnell Choreographer Solo dancer Cynthia Gregory Michael Smuin Jonas Kage Musical Preparation Vane Vest Monroe Kanouse *Role debut †U.S. opera debut PLACE AND TIME: Memphis and Thebes in the time of the pharaohs

Saturday, September 23 1972, at 8:00 PM Act I, Scene 1 -- The King's Palace at Memphis Friday, September 29 1972, at 8:00 PM Scene 2 -- The Temple of Phtha Wednesday, October 4 1972, at 8:00 PM Act II, Scene 1 -- Amneris's apartment in the Palace Sunday, October 8 1972, at 2:00 PM Scene 2 -- Within the gates of Thebes Saturday, October 14 1972, at 8:00 PM Act III -- The banks of the Nile near the Temple of Isis Act IV, Scene 1 -- The Judgment Hall Scene 2 -- A tomb below the Temple San Francisco War Memorial 1972 Aida I Page 2 of 2 Opera Assn. Opera House

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Notes: Corps de Ballet

Dancers from the Little Swahili Afro-modern Dance Group

Auxiliary chorus in Triumphal Scene rehearsed by CHARLENE ARCHIBEQUE

Live broadcast -- September 29

Something that happened at a past performance of Aida has recently (in 2006) started acquiring a life different from the way things happened, so here is the way it was described by the San Francisco Chronicle on October 16, 1972:

Headline: A STRANGE THING HAPPENED AT AIDA

Part of the text:

Shirley Verrett, golden-voiced American mezzo, who was finally making her debut as Amneris in an Aida repeat on Saturday night, was nearly upstaged by several radical supers.

Just as the curtain rang up after Act II to show off the entire Triumph Scene, three marchers came running down to stage front, unfurling a banner “Dykes and Fags Support the 7 Points.”

Bruce Yarnell, who was six foot five and as visually threatening as King Kong in his Amonasro get-up, ripped off the banner and threw it in the wings.

The irony of this end-the-war display is that seldom has the Opera House had a more straight audience than on [that] Saturday.