Aida closing?

[Moriah3]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 6:51pm

Can anyone explain why it didn't last very long? I love the show. Was there something wrong with it? Do you think they would do a revival of it?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 7:07pm

It ran for about 4.5 years, so I'm not sure why you would say it didn't last very long. It also did quite well on the road, as I recall, and has been a fairly regular title in regional and educational venues.

[Laurapattifan]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 7:10pm

It ran for 4 years it was a pretty decent run. Although I believe there were issues with the book, despite the score. 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 7:13pm

Didn't run that long? The show ran 4.5 years and made Disney a hefty profit. Are you confusing it with another show?

[Moriah3]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 7:19pm

I thought it was only a year or two. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 11:05pm

Moriah -- a great resource is IBDB.com  (internet broadway database)    There's even an app for  it.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 11:20am

Moriah3 said: "I thought it was only a year or two. "

https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/aida-12485

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 12:10pm

Back to topic tho, was it running out of steam when it closed? or was it because it was getting expensive constantly having a 'name' as the star?

I saw it just before it closed and it seemed as though it was still selling well 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/24/17 at 12:37pm

Michelle T. Williams and Deborah Cox were never able to sell as well as Toni Braxton, who as awful as she was, did boost their box office. The show started the star casting because their numbers were dipping. Near the end of Simone's run, it was starting to look a little dire. The star casting probably extended the life of the show by another year and a half. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 8/25/17 at 12:59am

i loved aida and saw the OBC six times, even though i lived in SF at the time. Heather Headley was extraordinary, the score was fantastic and the book was solid. When they had national awards for national touring shows it won most of the top awards

Aida is the 36th longest running broadway show in history, outrunning better known shows like hair, mame, grease, spamalot, the music man and the king and I

I think the Aida role is very very tough to fill well both acting and singing and stage presence and is onstage most of the show. Heather was incredible Simone was good, merle dandridge was good, and most of the others ive heard or seen in the role were really lacking on one or more dimensions.....

I also believe that if they had changed the ending where Aida and Radames live (like they changed the book ending in wicked) and tossed the reincarnation piece (that most westerners dont believe in) I think the show would have run a lot longer and had a lot more support with younger audiences that are disneys target demographic.

would love a revival of this really fantastic show!!!!

 

[bandit964]

Posted: 8/25/17 at 6:20am

Oh god, if Aida and Radames lived that would have ruined the show.  The reincarnation scene at the end is haunting.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:42am

broadwaysfguy said: "i loved aida and saw the OBC six times, even though i lived in SF at the time. Heather Headley was extraordinary, the score was fantastic and the book was solid. When they had national awards for national touring shows it won most of the top awards

Aida is the 36th longest running broadway show in history, outrunning better known shows like hair, mame, grease, spamalot, the music man and the king and I

I think the Aida role is very very tough to fill well both acting and singing and stage presence and is onstage most of the show. Heather was incredible Simone was good, merle dandridge was good, and most of the others ive heard or seen in the role were really lacking on one or more dimensions.....

I also believe that if they had changed the ending where Aida and Radames live (like they changed the book ending in wicked) and tossed the reincarnation piece (that most westerners dont believe in) I think the show would have run a lot longer and had a lot more support with younger audiences that are disneys target demographic.

would love a revival of this really fantastic show!!!!

 

I enjoyed the show a lot, and saw it many times with all the different casts, but I would hardly call the book "solid" or even "good."  The book, frankly, is pretty awful.  There are some cringeworthy lines in there. At the end of the day, the appeal of the show was that it was a showcase for three outstanding singers, and it had a highly underrated and wonderful design.

I much prefer the bookends to the show than if they had just simply lived.  That would have been really hoaky and stupid. It would have looked like a desperately tacked on "happy ending." The current ending of the show is more "hopeful."

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 8/25/17 at 11:05am

i actually liked the ending and the reincarnation scene and story line

Just sayin if id been a disney producer of the show, and had the mailing list and all the lion king kiddies, and the script called for killing the prince and princess and trying to explain reincarnation to 8-12 year olds and i wanted more 8-13 year old girls to attend over and over like wicked i would have changed the ending  :)  purley a financial not artistic decision

The Aida book/story is essentially the same story line from aida the opera, and i think its fine. The adaptation to the musical stage was fun, had some great scenes especially between Aida and Radames, and Aida and Anmeris, This is not Sondheim or Fun Home, and I would expect the book of a show of this type to be a bit "corny" and have characters like radames father Zozer be a snidely whiplash type of bad guy, especially given its disney and their audience.  I saw it ten times including the tour and a regional production. This is a great and very enjoyable show.....

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 8/25/17 at 11:21am

I think kids can handle it. The problem is that the subject matter wasn't something that would make young kids want to see it, unlike most Disney titles. It's like why Pocahontas wasn't as successful of a film as the others. It was sort of too mature of a love story (but not mature enough for adults and maybe older teens) and kids don't really want to see that, at least as a central theme.

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/26/17 at 4:26am

It had good moments, but a lot were just awful. Like those songs the dad sang - cringe worthy.

A lot people walked out talking about the pool effect instead of the show itself. Headley was very good and Scott was ok. I love Pascal's singing voice but he couldn't act if his life depended on it.

So, yay, pool effect. 

[10086Sundays]

Posted: 8/26/17 at 4:52am

"I'll never take you sailing!"

[Moriah3]

Posted: 8/26/17 at 4:13pm

What pool effect?

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 8/26/17 at 4:34pm

I always found it odd Scott didn't land a nomination 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/26/17 at 5:25pm

adamgreer said: "broadwaysfguy said: "i loved aida and saw the OBC six times, even though i lived in SF at the time. Heather Headley was extraordinary, the score was fantastic and the book was solid. When they had national awards for national touring shows it won most of the top awards

Aida is the 36th longest running broadway show in history, outrunning better known shows like hair, mame, grease, spamalot, the music man and the king and I

I think the Aida role is very very tough to fill well both acting and singing and stage presence and is onstage most of the show. Heather was incredible Simone was good, merle dandridge was good, and most of the others ive heard or seen in the role were really lacking on one or more dimensions.....

I also believe that if they had changed the ending where Aida and Radames live (like they changed the book ending in wicked) and tossed the reincarnation piece (that most westerners dont believe in) I think the show would have run a lot longer and had a lot more support with younger audiences that are disneys target demographic.

would love a revival of this really fantastic show!!!!

 

I enjoyed the show a lot, and saw it many times with all the different casts, but I would hardly call the book "solid" or even "good."  The book, frankly, is pretty awful.  There are some cringeworthy lines in there. At the end of the day, the appeal of the show was that it was a showcase for three outstanding singers, and it had a highly underrated and wonderful design.

I much prefer the bookends to the show than if they had just simply lived.  That would have been really hoaky and stupid. It would have looked like a desperately tacked on "happy ending." The current ending of the show is more "hopeful."

 

I have to take exception with your comments re underrated design.  When the reviews came out, I would venture that Bob Crowley's design for the show received more praise than any other facet of the show, with the POSSIBLE exception of Heather Headley's performance.  He also won the Tony for scenic design and Natasha Katz won for lighting design.  (Kiss Me Kate won for costumes, in what I always thought was an attempt to make sure that AIDA, which was not even nominated for Best Musical, did not win a fifth Tony; as I remember, the score had no competition and the set /lighting designs and Headley were universally praised).

That said, I was always surprised that it ran as long as it did.  The book WAS lousy, the score did not seem very good on first hearing, and some things seemed Summer Stock silly -- I was among those who thought Amneris' shopping-spree number was stupid beyond belief, although it works better on the cast recording, where you can use your imagination as to how it was staged -- which is why I assume it was not nominated for a Best Musical Tony.

 

 

 

[Justin D]

Posted: 8/28/17 at 11:43am

Moriah3 said: "What pool effect?

 

"

the pool was vertical (basically a scrim) with actors in wires 'swimming'

 

I loved the design, possibly the only Bob Crowley design that I do like. There were very minimal areas but it somehow worked better here that with things like Mary Poppins or LND

I also saw Adam as Radames when it closed as well as Cheyanne Jackson (who try as he might, couldnt play straight convincingly) one of my friends always have a chuckle listening to the OBC whenever he and Heather have dialogue and its so so bad. Particularly the never sail again line as well as her line about sympathy from a humble palace slave.