You are no doubt aware of the devastation caused by flooding in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest, but you may not have heard about its impact on local opera. According to newspaper reports, more than 600 people came out to a local high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the other night to attend the opening performance of “Aida,” presented by Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre.
As raging floodwaters swept through the company’s downtown home, the costumes were rescued but the scenery was entirely lost. Yet, in the best show-business tradition, the production went on.
Tenor Allan Glassman, a Dallas Opera favorite who last appeared here singing the role of King Herod in “Salome,” according to published reports “tore through his battle cries and internal strife with soaring high tenor passages that cut like a knife as his Radames dreamed of (leading) the Egyptian armies to victory and winning Aida’s heart.”
We can only imagine what it meant to Allan and the rest of the cast, chorus and orchestra, to perform for people who had lost so much and still took the time and made the effort to show their support for opera. A standing ovation for all!
Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera
