Aida the Musical

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 12:12pm

Just saw Aida performed under the stars in a redwood park by woodminster theatre in the Oakland hills(SF bay area)

It exceeded all my expectations for a regional show. It plays until next sunday sept 13 for those in the area.

eight of 10 of the top roles were by equity actors

The star of the show was clearly Majesty Scott, as Aida, I recent theatre grad from UC Berkeley.

I thought her performance and singing was better than Simone, who was a replacement lead on broadway and on the US tour. She played Aida a bit softer and sweeter than Heather Headley did, and it worked really well.

Also surprising for a regional show was how good the supporting casts vocals were

The Gods Love Nubia was absolutely spectacular

Dance of the Robes also very strong

 

Who are the other Aida lovers on this board, and what do you love most about the show????

 

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 9:01pm

I've always loved this show. It's a great drama score and a classic story.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 9:12pm

I love the score. I love almost every song.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 9:22pm

I saw it twice when it first opened on Broadway with the Original Broadway Cast and loved it both times!

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 9:58pm

I wish Disney would make a film version

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 10:21pm

To each their own. I hated the show and thought Elton John's score was laughably bad.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 11:05pm

Love the score, hate the book. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/6/15 at 11:41pm

there's some of my Aida brothers and sisters!!!

respect your opinion southflmarc (I will never get Cats)

Aida WON the grammy for best musical cast recording and also won the tony equivalent for best national touring show in 2003, and Written in the Stars was a number 2 billboard single in US and #1 in Canada, and is one of a rare group of cast recordings EVER to achieve Gold Record status

so it has some strong outside validation for the score....

I do wish they would change the ending like they did on the book with wicked, so they 

escape somehow and have a happily ever after (much pore disney-like)

I think these are all Incredibly good songs:

The Gods love Nubia

Written in the stars

A Step too Far

Elaborate lives

Not me

My strongest suit

 

Aida revival, please,,,,,

[Dave19]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 7:10am

I think "I know the truth" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

[letyourfreakflagwave]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 7:27am

broadwaysfguy said: "I do wish they would change the ending like they did on the book with wicked, so they escape somehow and have a happily ever after (much pore disney-like)"

I  love Aida, but I always felt like the ending made the show complete in the first place. It is so beautifully tragic that they both die in the tomb and meet each other many lifetimes later in the museum (this might vary depending on the production, but it is the "official" ending). I thought it was very brave for Disney to not let them have their escape and live happily ever after. Works for Wicked which is more of a family show, but I always saw Aida as an adult show.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 8:18am

I always viewed the bookending of the show in the museum as their kind of "happy ending." They do end up together, finding each other ("There's another world waiting for us out there Aida" "Will you find me in that world?" "If I have to search through a thousand lifetimes I will find you in that world." .) many years later. 

Updated On: 9/7/15 at 08:18 AM

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:12am

i guess i should have been clearer

i do love the ending too and it works for me given my belief system, but part of me would like to have seen them escape

I also think the show would have played A LOT longer if they had escaped and had a happily

ever after.....

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:15am

But that would have entirely changed the central theme of the show, which was that "true love is eternal" (which they used in some of their ads). 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:22am

The reincarnation plot replaced a darker ending, closer to the original opera, in which the two lovers end up in a quasi-suicide pact, singing "The Messenger," a song about how death is the truest love and the greatest peace. It's a beautiful song, but much darker than the rest of the show, so they replaced it with the promise of meeting in another life, and the happy ending, thousands of years later, in the museum.

[rjm516]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:33am

Yeah too many people know the story of Aida at least from the opera and babying the ending would have led to outrage, or at least mockery. I think it would be nonsense to have them escape. That's the entire point of the story. 

 

I do love this show and the score. Such a great score. 

[metropolis10111]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 11:03am

I saw this twice in it's Chicago previews and just loved it. The staging I thought was perfect to the story and really hope that we see a revival 

[Justin D]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 11:23am

I'm a  huge Aida fan. Can't understand why it hasn't played London as yet.

Saw it first on tour and later on Broadway. My issue at the time was the celeb casting. ON one hand it was good because it presumably brought in numbers and it was always a kick to hear someone else's take on those songs. on the other hand, without a celeb I am not sure how popular it would be. Basically for me it started to rely too much on a name, like what happened with Sunset Blvd.

 

I also loved the set, simple and worked well, usually I am not a fan of Bob Crowley's minimalism but for me it worked well in Aida. I like to describe it as "music video" staging.

Also I can easily see this being done as a TV musical if ABC / Disney ever decided to gt on that band wagon. and if a movie is ever done, I would prefer it to stick with that "music video" aspect and cast the movie with pop stars.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 12:17pm

I listen to "Dance of the Robe", "Easy as Life", & "I Know the Truth" everyday. Heather Headley, Adam Pascall, & Sherrie Renee Scott have AMAZING VOICES!

[trentsketch]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 1:43pm

I music directed a production of this a few years ago. The score is great. The book is ok. It works well enough. If you have the right trio of leads, you have a great show. 

I loved it on Broadway. I saw it (I think) 4 times. Michelle Williams was my favorite Aida. She just went for it.

I also really like the museum framing. Audiences go nuts for it. The final moments in the tomb before the Every Story reprise are so damn sad that the museum ending feels like the happiest finale in the world by comparison.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 3:00pm

jose lee

if you listen to those three great songs every day, we are at least musical second cousins.....

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 4:10pm

I adore this show. (Check out my name)  

The OBC was amazing, but Idina made an amazing Amneris. MY STRONGEST SUIT is so much fun. The WRITTEN IN THE STARS/I KNOW THE TRUTH scene gets me every time.

No man ever played Radames as well as Adam.

I saw it three times on Broadway and once on tour.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 4:23pm

I had the misfortune of seeing Menzel. Scott was leagues better.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 4:38pm

broadwaysfguy: haha love ya

I love Idina so much, but the clips on youtube of her in this show aren't her "strongest suit" :p Sherrie Renee Scott hits those high notes like nothing. So does Heather Headley. From the youtube clips I've seen, the only 2 Aidas that could compete with Heather were Michelle Williams and Deborah Cox.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 11:06pm

heather headly imo was so fierce in this role,

i didnt love any of the other aidas i saw

(more accepted them)

Simone

Michelle Williams

and whoever the obc understudy was in 2000

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 11:17pm

Headley was never going to be topped. 

Toni Braxton and her lowered keys were a disaster, as was Michelle Williams, whose voice was thin and whose acting was horrendous. Of the celebrities they brought in, Deborah Cox, unsurprisingly, was the best. 

Simone was a fierce vocalist (in a lot of ways the best), but she was a terrible actress. And she looked like Grandma Moses up there. 

I enjoyed Maya Days a great deal, but she didn't have the "big" voice some of the others did. 

Of the understudies I saw, Schele Williams was awful. Saycon Sengbloh and Nikki Renee Daniels were both very good.