AIDA 1998 Pyramid Set?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:01pm

So when AIDA had its trial run in Atllanta, there was some technology-filled pyramid that never worked that dominated the set. I have tried Google and have not found any pictures. Does anyone out there have pictures?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:15pm

I've looked for them too, and could never find them.

It's as if Disney wants to eradicate any evidence of this production.
Updated On: 6/15/09 at 05:15 PM

[jagfkb]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:31pm

Wasn't there some set which collapsed, sending Adam Pascal and Heather Headley to the hospital?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:34pm

Whoa, it's like life imitating art with them getting buried alive!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:38pm

That was in Chicago, during the out of town tryout (after it was Aida, and no longer Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida). Back then, the tomb they were buried in used to rise above the stage (for no particular reason). One night, the chain broke, and they fell a good 10 feet to the floor. If I remember correctly at least one of them broke a couple of ribs.

Needless to say after that, the tomb remained stationary.
Updated On: 6/15/09 at 05:38 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 5:44pm

I know this is extremely unhelpful, but there were a NUMBER of pictures of the set on the internet at the time, as I followed the show's development very closely as I was a huge Tim Rice fan at the time (to think 10 years later I would be holding a CHESS IN CONCERT DVD in my hands is a little mindblowing) and a big fan of the concept album (and wish more shows would do them).

I think the ELABORATE LIVES website also had some designs for a few of the backdrops and costumes as well, in addition to a picture of the main problematic pyramid made from triangular prisms.

Crowley probably could've pulled it off had he had the time to work out the kinks, but Disney was notoriously overly involved with this, their first original stage musical not based on a hit property of theirs.

Now as far as Disney is concerned ELABORATE LIVES does not exist. Just like some of their more racist films no longer exist except in the giftshop at Euro Disney. I still prefer the orchestrations (particularly the techno "Strongest Suit" that Elton abhorred so much he ran up the aisle and out of the theatre upon hearing it for the first time (why wasn't that in rehearsals? Oh yeah, 'cuz Elton doesn't "do" rehearsals, as his f*ck-up at the Tonys this year proves is still the cast 3 shows later).

I preferred much of ELBORATE LIVES, script-wise to AIDA, but most of the improvements made were for the better. I will say, Pascal as Radames was the best choice they couldve made (no offense to Hank Stratton, though made nothing of a much superior opening number than "Fortune Favors The Brave").

P

P.S. The tomb did NOT remain stationary after the accident, not in Chicago or Broadway... a new set was devised for NY and the tomb still rose much as it had before but much slower and there was a blackout shortly after it began rising so it got less mileage. Once the modern-day museum bookends were (::coughSHOE-HORNEDcough::) implemented, the neccessity of seeing Aida and Radames ascend to the heavens was less neccessary than it had been with the re-incarnation element introduced. I still say they just did that whole sequence so Crowley could build a cool opening set and Sherie could have a fabulous reveal unlike any before (or since).
Updated On: 6/15/09 at 05:44 PM

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 9:27pm

"I still prefer the orchestrations (particularly the techno "Strongest Suit" that Elton abhorred so much he ran up the aisle and out of the theatre upon hearing it for the first time"

The techno fashion show wasn't part of the Atlanta "Elaborate Lives of Aida" production. It was created during the Chicago pre-Broadway "Aida" run, and as you detailed lost forever after Elton and his entourage walked out of one of the Broadway previews.

[Muhlethaler]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 9:45pm

Updated On: 7/20/18 at 09:45 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 9:50pm

I will say, Pascal as Radames was the best choice they couldve made (no offense to Hank Stratton, though made nothing of a much superior opening number than "Fortune Favors The Brave"

I agree; Our Nation Holds Sway (though awkwardly titled) was a much better song than Fortune Favors the Brave.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 10:08pm

Thanks SO much for those images, Muh!

WOW! That last pic has haunted me for years, though I don't think I have seen it this century... LOOK at sherie's FACE.

WOW.

"The Messenger" was my favorite song on the concept album... along with "The Letter", both of which did not make it to Broadway. And no, "Radames Letter" just wasn't the same thing.

I think they made a BIG mistake by cutting "The Messenger" and had it stayed I think the critics would have been a little kinder.

The show was closer than any other Disney show, or EJ show, to being a true, mature, adult piece of musical theatre. (And I'm including LESTAT which may have SET OUT to do that... but ultimately didn't.)

I still say Tim Rice is only person who can get EJ to write theatrically. TLK, LESTAT and BE all are just pop songs stuck into a book, really.

AIDA has a SCORE... as un-theatrical or un-character-specific as many may find it, it is certainly more on one piece than any of EJ's other stage pieces.

P
Updated On: 6/15/09 at 10:08 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 10:10pm

Lestat wasn't a Disney show...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 10:14pm

Crowley probably could've pulled it off had he had the time to work out the kinks, but Disney was notoriously overly involved with this, their first original stage musical not based on a hit property of theirs.

Being a huge Bob Crowley fan, I would just like to point out that he had nothing to do with the disastrous set design of Elaborate Lives. It wasn't until after the production in Atlanta that Robert Falls was brought in as the new director, and Bob Crowley agreed to create new sets and costumes. The Atlanta tryout is discussed in great detail in the Aida book so I wouldn't go so far as to say that Disney pretends that the production never happened.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 10:23pm

Disney doesn't pretend it doesn't happen, they just want to make sure that so little information is availible that no one knows enough to ask because there is nary any proof it even existed.

I'd get into a discussion of their SONG OF THE SOUTH but this really isn't the time nor the place.

I think AIDA would be a fantastic film and a perfect showcase for 3 knockout pop stars, I really do.

P

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 11:55pm

Wow! Thank you SOO much for those pictures! Totally a different show!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/15/09 at 11:58pm

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/27/09 at 7:43pm

Dear Brody, love you, but do you need to post pictures of everything always?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/27/09 at 8:58pm

Dear Brody, love you, and THANK YOU for posting pictures of everything always. I can't tell you how much I love it. :) :) :)

[Gavin Rehfeldt]

Posted: 12/27/09 at 9:58pm

I like the pictures. Thanks.

I remember when Elaborate Lives was around, and I'd seen those pictures. Weird. I remember its tryout in Chicago and all of those pyramid-motif posters hanging in all the subways. I far preferred that aesthetic to the crude face of the final poster.

Makes me think back to King David. What ever happened to that? I remember being thrilled by that score. It's been a while, though.

And, yeah, the presence of a Chess: In Concert on DVD kinda blows my mind too. Thank you, Mamma Mia! You proved useful after all.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/27/09 at 10:09pm

I still say Tim Rice is only person who can get EJ to write theatrically. TLK, LESTAT and BE all are just pop songs stuck into a book, really.

Um, you do know that Tim Rice was the lyricist for The Lion King too, right?

[tommigyrl5]

Posted: 12/28/09 at 4:15am

I might get deleted for this but I have a pre broadway video of Aida. Can't remember if it was Chicago or Atlanta but its pretty wild. I saw Aida about 80 times on broadway...


What I found super curious was that Sisqo (who sang the "Thong Song") had Enchantment Passing Through on his album...which 17 year old me loved....eek. Then when I saw the show I was like, "Why does this song sound so familiar?"

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/28/09 at 10:33am

When you "Saw" this pre-Broadway engagement, how different was it at that point? Which songs were in it, were any of the deleted moments or the pyramid still in it, etc.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/28/09 at 10:54am

darquegk-

Actually, Tim Rice's website has some lovely information on that:

http://www.timrice.co.uk/aida2.html

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/28/09 at 12:18pm

Sounds like this video was of the Atlanta run, most likely.

Tell me then- what did you think of the deleted songs, "Our Nation Holds Sway," "The Messenger," "Night of Nights," and "You Both Must Die?" And what was the original Act 1 Finale instead of The Gods Love Nubia?