Thank you, BlueWizard. That's one of my problems with Aida. I feel like the show had a lot of potential to tell a serious, dark story of love and loyalty, but Disney covered it up with campy numbers like My Strongest Suit and Like Father, Like Son. Aida only met a shred of its potential and it is sad because I feel like it could have been a truly great show if the themes and character's conflicts had been developed further instead of spending time and energy on fancy, ugly and unecessary outrageous costumes and sets. Sometimes the characters came across as very believable, other times the writing was careless and filled historical inaccuracies that kept me from fully enjoying it. (Example- Radames' Letter being written on a piece of paper. That would NEVER happen, papyrus was only used for important documents that needed to last a long time. He would've used a clay tablet or a broken bit of pottery; they were much more common.) To me, even the 'spectacle' aspect of it could have been good if it had been tastefully created around reality and not Disneyland. My Strongest Suit comes to mind; instead of goofy space-age costumes and annoying repetive pop music, that scene could have referenced actual Eygpytian trading habits and included Chinese silks and tea, gold, ivory and the like. The song, and really a lot of the score, could have benefitted from taking elements of the time period's music and relying on historical facts to create an atmosphere and establish a credible Eygpt. All I could think of while watching the show was how great and emotionally provacative it could have been and how sad it was that the mature and thoughtful show that almost was was instead coated in Disney's seasoning of sugar and five-year old friendliness. The score itself isn't terrible, but only a few of the songs are really good in my opinion- Elaborate Lives, Gods Love Nubia, Every Story Is a Love Story reprise. I love the cast, despite Adam's acting *ducks rocks* Sorry, not great. It's decent, but he can't match Heather (though they do have excellent chemistry).
Anyway, I realize that wasn't a very well-organized ramble, but it's still early. I do like Aida and I don't think it's bad, but it could have been so much more than it was.
Updated On: 12/29/04 at 10:51 AM
