All is set for Ditmar's opera party tonight for the premier of Aida.

The most striking thing to me about going to see the premier of Aida at the premier of the new Opera Center is that the joke is that the Opera Center took longer to complete than the Great Pyramid. Outrageously over-budget and long after several booked divas had passed away already, it opens in a glittering performance of an opera written by Verdi to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.

It was a great original premier. It was 1871 and the Egyptian Khedive and the French were flush with success at the joint venture to open the canal and staged the opera with the Pyramids as the backdrop. Slaves were easy to come by, as were elephants.
Elephants have always been one of the main players, but since the Miami Opera Center has no parking, they surely have no dressing rooms for elephants. (They wouldn't even try it anymore; PETA is just a call away.)

Anyway, I've seen Aida before and ANY story that ends in a tomb is fine with me. 1871, by the way, was the tomb for the French. It marked the year that one of the most glittering courts in Europe, Napolean III and his glamorous wife, Eugenie were sent into exile in the Franco-Prussian War, a prelude of two more, very more horrible wars to come.

The opera on the Suez was actually postponed because the war delayed the shipment of the costumes. How rude.