The "priests" crack jokes as they wait for make-up. Bill Pickersgill (right) says the hardest part of Aida is "crossing the bridge."<span class='em small'><br/>Credit: Russel Daniels</span> Frederick Matthews (right) plays an Egyptian minister.<span class='em small'><br/>Credit: Russel Daniels</span> Matthews, a native North Carolinian, has played a variety of solo roles, from "Jake" in Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" to "Fiorello" in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville." But none of them have required eye shadow quite this blue.<span class='em small'><br/>Credit: Russel Daniels</span> "C'mon baby, do the twist!" sings one priest, swishing his skirt. Another inches up his skirt and says, "It's the Marliyn Monroe look!"<span class='em small'><br/>Credit: Russel Daniels</span>