Raffa’s Jumbo ‘Aida’ Will Make U.S. Debut in Football Stadium

The largest, most expensive production of the opera “Aida” will have its U.S. premiere this summer on a football field, the International Opera Festival announced Thursday.

The $7-million production will have a cast of more than 1,000 and use a 36,000-square-foot stage at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Performances are scheduled Aug. 24 and 26.

“We believe it will be the largest opera production ever presented in this country,” said Bruce Rossley, Boston’s commissioner of arts and humanities.

Composer Guiseppe Verdi first staged his opera in 1871 at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. The story, set in Pharaoh’s Egypt, is about a love triangle involving a young army captain, Radames; an Ethiopian slave, Aida, and the Pharoah’s daughter, Amneris.

Guiseppe Raffa, artistic director and conductor of the International Opera Festival, has taken his production of “Aida” to three continents. The Sullivan Stadium performances will mark “Aida’s” sixth presentation around the world, he said.

“Nobody’s said ‘Give us our money back’ yet,” Raffa joked during a lavish news conference with costumed cast members and replicas of the Egyptian Sphinx at Boston City Hall. “Hopefully, the weather will be nice to us and if not, we’ll just postpone until the next day.”

The opera, which takes 9 days to set up, features about 1,500 costumes designed in Italy and worth about $1 million. The 5,000 props include live elephants, camels, a lion, a tiger, a python and a 55-foot-tall replica of the mysterious Sphinx along with the fabled pyramids.

The production’s cast includes eight principals, 850 extras, a chorus of 140 and a ballet corps of 100. A full 100-piece orchestra provides the music.

The production will use a $1-million sound system designed by the Philips Corp. in the Netherlands especially for stadium usage.

David Kelly of Sullivan Stadium said it is the largest production ever held in the home of the New England Patriots football team. The stadium regularly plays host to rock concerts and can hold 33,764 people.

Tickets for “Aida” were scheduled to go on sale today, ranging in price from $35 to a high of $150 for a limited number of seats.

Raffa’s “Aida” was first staged against a backdrop of the actual Sphinx and pyramids in Giza, Egypt, and has traveled to the Canadian cities of Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver and the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Productions are scheduled in Tokyo in July.