AIDA in High Schools?

Posted: 8/14/04 at 6:08pm

Now that the show is closing the rights should be available soon/down the road. Once High Schools get their hands on it, it is gonna be butchered. Unless at a Performing Arts High School. Even there things may get hairy. What do you think?

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 6:26pm

No high shcool will be able to do this show right. Not enough young poeple can sing in the style. Some think they can but can't. It pisses me off to see the opera version of Jesus Christ Superstar whenever a high school does it.

[GaLiNdaFied]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 6:27pm

It's sad, but there's nothing we can do to change it. It happens to every show after awhile.

[Broadwaygirl4life]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 6:37pm

yeah thats true. I hope one day I get to take part in this amazing muscial and that it's a positive turn out to prove some people wrong about high school musicals.

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 7:03pm

It was either this or Beauty and the Beast at my school, and we chose BATB. We are a performing arts school, and I would have been fine with either.

[zoran912]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 7:05pm

I would be afraid that my school would cast a white girl as Aida and try to play it off like she's Nubian.

Posted: 8/14/04 at 7:16pm

Once Wicked get to high schools....pray for it. I'd much rather see AIDA than Wicked at a high school.

[timote316]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 8:10pm

It happens to every show, you can't really do anything about it lol.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 8:11pm

okay, high schools doing broadway shows for their school musical is perfectly fine. and yes there are PLENTY of very talented young singers who are versatile and are able to sing the roles of Aida, Amneris, and Radames. sure, the talent pool at a high school is much smaller, but the talent is there. and just because a high school's version wouldn't be as extremed and toned down does not mean it would suck. have an open mind people!

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 8:11pm

And everyone wonders why I laugh at the thought of a 15 year old Ms. Potts!

[zoran912]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 8:13pm

A 15-year-old Ms. Potts is rather hilarious. One must admit.

[Broadwaygirl4life]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 8:28pm

nicely said mywonderwa11.

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:12pm

I guess you are right...Am and Rad could be played, but the big thing is AIDA!YOu need a hell of a young singer...and they would prolly lower it and stuff and thats where the OK show comes into play...I don't know...lol..I guess when I saw Les Mis in a High School that has talent and it was bad, I just realized that Broadway music is hard to sing on such young voices because they havent matured yet( all the way)..So yeah..

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:13pm

"And everyone wonders why I laugh at the thought of a 15 year old Ms. Potts!"

Uncalled for.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:16pm

Sadly enough, my school was chosen by Disney to test the ametuer version of AIDA this year. My directors have confessed they've never seen, nor heard the music to the show. Only the music director has seen and heard this show. I'm scared because I suggested BIG RIVER last year as a possible show for this year, and I was told "we don't have any black people". Hmmm... no problem with doing AIDA, then....

[Broadwaygirl4life]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:28pm

"And everyone wonders why I laugh at the thought of a 15 year old Ms. Potts!"

as mynameinlights said uncalled for.

but hey your not going to get an old lady for the part like there should be. your talking about high school students here who range from the age 15 to 18. some kids that age have good enough talent to play that part.

[zoran912]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:41pm

Much agreed. With make-up, you can make the teenager look older.

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:46pm

It will be no different than any high school production. If people can accept teens doing THE KING AND I - or even FIDDLER ON THE ROOF - which involve themes a little beyond the experience of teens (even in cynical America,) then they can accept this. I actually think AIDA speaks very clearly to teens (witness the fan base,) so it should be fairly acceptable.

Posted: 8/14/04 at 9:50pm

Oh, and as to 'color-blind' casting - I've seen a high-school SOUND OF MUSIC that used black nazis, so ANYTHING is possible (if not entirely believable.) The black mother superior's gospel version of Climb Every Mountain was worth the price of admission, though

[timote316]

Posted: 8/14/04 at 11:52pm

Hate to crack a joke about America's educational system, but I have to lol. Just who exactly knows who the Nubians are? To the average people coming to see the shows (i.e. clueless parents), no body will know Aida is supposed to be black. Agreed, the story is much more powerful when race is addressed, but its ok either way, because the story is THAT GOOD.

[Broadwaygirl4life]

Posted: 8/15/04 at 12:06am

DGrant- yeah schools can't pick and choose like that. it would be discrimination. I remember this came up in my school district once i beleive. also one of the junior highs put on a production of Annie who casted Annie as an African American.

Posted: 8/15/04 at 12:16am

how about the white and asian girls with corn-row wigs on their heads in the Broadway show! And they had some white boys in the camps during Dance of the Robe and the Gods love Nubia...colored blind casting could work for the ensemble, but not Aida... Updated On: 8/15/04 at 12:16 AM

[Broadwaygirl4life]

Posted: 8/15/04 at 12:19am

yes dietcokeplease9 that is true about the ensemble. I did see some white girls in there with corn row wigs. but yes Aida could not be a white person, it just wouldn't work.

[shesings]

Posted: 8/15/04 at 12:23am

it'll be so funny! i hope someone gets ahold of pics when someone does do this (like those hysterical millie jr high photos) and posts them on here! i'm anxiously waiting!

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 8/15/04 at 12:43am

I love the idea of newer stuff being available to high schools. It is often on the stages of cafetoriums and gymnatoriums that teens first discover their dreams of being on Broadway. There is no reason to seem so insulted that high schools would want to perform Aida, certainly there have been 14 year old Harold Hills, 15 year old Tevyes, and 17 year old Dolly Levis - all having a ball and learning to hone their craft. Even if they don't become professional performers perhaps they will develop a lifelong appreciation for live theatre and help keep many of the rest of us gainfully employed.