The Fendig Children's Summer Theater production of Aida had its second and last showing Friday night. It had a cast of dozens as these photos show. (It has always had more girls in the cast than boys, and that tradition continued this year.)
This production was the Elton John/Tim Rice version of the story, not the Verdi opera. Its plot is typical of the plots of many operas, rather silly. It involves a love triangle with lots of drama and fatal results.
As most Fendig Theater productions, the play had a lot of crowd scenes with interesting costuming, choreography, and spectacle. This was the 36th summer of Children's Summer Theater--it is really quite remarkable that this community group has thrived the way it has. It and summer swim team were the two summer activities that make growing up in Rensselaer a bit different from growing up in most other small cities.
The first production was way back in 1976. If there were 14-year-olds in that production, they would be 50 this year. There were some children of past performers in this production; I wonder if there have been any grandchildren of past performers yet.
Update: The Fendig Summer Theater's Facebook page is
here.
Rensselaer is quite lucky to have the Fendig Summer Theatre program. It is a spectacular experience for our children. The quality of production, talent, and costuming continues to be wonderful.
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