Akhnaten’s Hymn in praise of Aten, the Sun god, is a highlight of the score and, unimpeded by either a bulky costume or his varying states of nudity, Costanzo mounted a staircase to a large disc of a sun, singing ecstatically of all that Aten created on earth.
The second act was certainly the strongest, allowing Glass’s music to take precedence. Costanzo has the classic countertenor’s eerie, celestial sound well suited to the role, and Bridges’s rich mezzo blended with his voice so well that it felt like listening to the folk tradition of blood harmony – that singular sound of close relatives singing together, which creates a sort of aural shimmer. As in the Libestod from Tristan and Isolde, it became a moment outside time, a mystical glimpse into the beyond. Slowly emerging from the wings in scarlet robes with long trains, Anthony Roth Costanzo, as Akhnaten, and J’Nai Bridges, as Nefertiti, sang elegantly of their love. Particularly affecting, both musically and dramatically, was Akhnaten and Nefertiti’s Act Two duet.
There was a Halloween party campiness to this aspect of the production that entertained in its own curious way, but to get at the heart of the opera, one needed more restful moments, and there were some. A black suit and skull head hat for Aye, Nefertiti’s father, conjured Baron Samedi, a spirit of Haitian Vodou, while Queen Tye’s curly red wig and garish costume made her into a Statue of Liberty with overtones of Wild West saloon girl and Queen Victoria. A dark, industrial three level set was populated by juggling mummies, covered in what appeared to be a pattern of cracked earth patches. The irony of this production was that one had to fight the gaudy, overstocked staging to arrive at the spiritual. In Glass’s mind, Einstein transformed science Gandhi, with his belief in non-violent resistance, expressed the socio-political and the pharaoh Akhnaten, an early believer in monotheism, embodied the role of religion in society. One of Glass’s “portrait operas,” Akhnaten is the third in a series including Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha (a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi).
When Glass’s meditation on the life of Akhnaten was accorded the dignity it deserved, there were moments of true beauty both musically and poetically, but the kitschy, visually distracting costumes and stage business hampered most attempts at contemplation. It was a night to remember, both for its failings and for its strengths. With enough Juggling stunts to rival Cirque du Soleil, Philip Glass’s opera, Akhnaten, tumbled into town from London in a new staging co-produced by English National Opera and LA Opera. By Jane Rosenberg J’Nai Bridges as Nefertiti, Anthony Roth Costanzo as Akhnaten and Stacey Tappan as Queen Tye in Akhnaten.
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