"I was sure there was more to AIDA than elaborate sets and that it was great in every other regard, too. Anyway, if a show needs fancy sets to make it fly I don't want to see it at all."
insomniak -- as someone who didn't completely fall in love with the show on first viewing, I can tell you that still, without the big sets, AIDA would have connected with many people. A show is always the cumulative effects of all its components: the score, book, musicians, performers, choreography, sets, and lighting. When I saw it the first time, what really knocked me out was Heather Headley's performance, so much so that I didn't actually pay much attention to the set (except the pool which was very much 'in your face'

). When I returned to see the show multiple times, it was because of Heather and Adam, and because I enjoyed the score. And despite some of the weakness that I thought were present in the book, I thought the story was beautiful overall. I did have a friend who thought the sets were excessive -- and she made that comment only because for some reason she just hates shows with elaborate sets -- but even then she didn't discount the fact that the overall story is beautiful. My suggestion would be to actually see it if you can and decide for yourself -- keeping in mind that differences in performers and lighting and sets
may impact perception on the show as a whole.
And yes, Adam did do a lot of concerts to promote MP. Btw... someone might know this (Undiscovered?

) But I know Adam used to do some songs in those concerts that were not in Model Prisoner (I'm not referring to cover versions, of course). From the title list, can you tell if those songs are in Civilian? I only recognize 'tomorrow and the sun'. I was hoping 'mesmerized' or 'apology' would somehow make it, although I realize these were done a couple of years ago, so with all he might have written in the last couple of years, he would have had to make choices on which goes on record, etc. But, still... would have been nice to have those recorded...
Updated On: 9/25/04 at 07:07 PM