Eliminating with long shears great pieces of libretto, ballets, choruses, recitatives, invocations clouded with Italian melody and Egyptian shamanism, the Hippodrome, Manhattan, last week, presented Verdi's Aïda in tabloid form. The main plot remained, also the most tamed of the arias. The performance lasted 30 minutes instead of 180. As audiences were sucked in, pushed out of the enormous Hippodrome, it was seen that U. S. citizens who read tabloid newspapers, chew tabloid gum, can appreciate grand opera when its glories are compressed.
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