ACT ONE
Lights up on the Egyptian wing of a Modern Art Museum. A contemporary crowd, chic and beautifully dressed, is gathered around various artifacts, all under glass: a small boat, a model of a soldier with a bow and arrow, a mannequin of AMNERIS, ancient female Pharaoh of Egypt. The crowd moves appreciatively around the exhibits. In the center of the room, also behind glass, is a mysterious object — an ancient burial chamber, a tomb. A man and a woman also dressed in the fashions of today approach the tomb from different sides. They are both drawn to it. They circle it, intrigued as if they have seen it before. The man is RADAMES; the woman is AIDA. In a musical moment, they look up. Their eyes meet and all the action in the room freezes as AMNERIS, wearing a royal headdress, emerges from the glass encasement. As she sings, the cast of the modern museumgoers leaves the stage.