Aida Revival?- Page 4

[Ariella]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 5:22pm

I agree with some of the points siren made. Two-dimensionality was one of the show's flaws, in that specific characters seem to serve the sole purpose of lightening the mood. That is a common characteristic of Disney productions, both movies and stage, with the villain, the sidekick, the comedy, etc. With that as the case, each character is onstage to fulfill a specific purpose/role so that the show can fit a certain formula. Aida was not always subtle in the way it presented the characters, especially with Zoser. And his songs certainly did nothing to help him.

Looking back, the show's issues are far more apparent to me than they were at the time. However, the experience of Aida was entirely postive for me, and it still constitutes a guilty pleasure.

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 6:21pm

funny thing; that's one of the shows at which i heard the audience boo in atlanta. want to be moved by a performance of Aida for real? try seeing the original in an opera house sometime.

by the way, i have this pet peeve concerning the phrase "as far as..." no, more than a peeve; it should be offensive to the ear of anyone with an appreciation for the English language to hear "as far as..." as a complete phrase! the verbless phrase, "as far as Elton John's contribution" MAKES NO SENSE. as far as the rafters? as far as Connecticut? as far as you can throw it? as far as the moon over miami on a cold day in july? or "as far as it IS CONCERNED?" anyone considering a career in the theatre, as playwright, actor, producer, director, etc. should have enough respect for the language to know when it is being grossly misused. and that goes for using the pronoun "I" as the object of a sentence or phrase as well! think it through: if you say, "all of that criticism came crashing down on Deardra and I," would you also say, "all of that criticism came crashing down on I?"

your use of the language is, quite literally, WHO YOU ARE.
Updated On: 4/9/07 at 06:21 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:06pm

Ariella and siren, I think the experience of the live show really minimized its faults, which was why it was such a crowd-pleaser. I saw it quite late in the run and found the audience very enthusiastic.

Schlozinski, we're not really talking about the same show, since the director, designer, book writer, some of the songs and some of the cast were changed between the Atlanta and Broadway versions. I also believe that we're far more than our use of language.
Updated On: 4/9/07 at 08:06 PM

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:18pm

no, without language, you have no commonality with the rest of humanity, you'd be little more than meat, moving. you can't consider 'being' without using the word, can you? and if you could not describe music, or ascertain in words whether your responses mean anything to anyone else, how lonely would it be for you, and who would know you hear music at all?
consider: in the beginning, there was the word... consider the tower of babel and the nature of schizophrenia. consider how you've learned what you know, and consider how you perform the act of consideration.

if you were incapable of understanding the word, 'gestalt,' would you be part of it? for pete's sake, people talk to cats (and sometimes call them 'pete') and attempt to make sense of cats' behavior not by becoming 'cat-like' but in language! human experience is not only shaped by metaphor, it is defined by it.

and i'm not speaking of either misguided project (a crowd-pleaser is not necessarily good theatre; in fact, it only rarely is). i'm comparing the source material to the original work. Disney's Aida is hardly on par with West Side Story as a contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare.

but i suppose most people miss the alegorical nature of the source material for "Cats" as well.


Updated On: 4/9/07 at 08:18 PM

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 8:53pm

by the way, Chloe, do you disagree that i've properly characterized both errors in english usage as such?

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 9:58pm

Though you have properly characterized those grammatical errors, I believe that Chloe's response may have been more in surprise that the majority of your post was dedicated to pointing out the error rather than responding to other posters' thoughts. Yes, language is essential to human consciousness, etc., but you have no further than your own posts to look to realize that conventions for the proper use of English (including capitalization) are often relaxed on internet forums such as this one. I completely understand that that particular phrase is a pet peeve of yours, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one taken aback to see that it roused such a lengthy response.

[kleighblue01]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:03pm

To me, there's nothing to revive.. that had to be my worst theatre experience. The story? It's ok. The score? Nothing brilliant. Just didn't like the show at all.

[NCSAcat]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 10:29pm

This show was neer intended to be a Animated Feature.
Capnhook needs to ceck his sources.
Check the The Thomas Schumacher ATW Podcast

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 11:08pm

my comments are hardly a comment on relaxing the conventions of language on internet chat boards. the example i cited was not intended as an abbreviation -- it is a symbol of a culture that considers pop music and the word 'gangsta' worthy of consideration as anything more than an appeal to its collective emotions.

you have completely missed the relationship between grammar and theatre -- or elaborate lives and aida, the latter being an opera, the former being a mistake ( in both cases, i might add ). you'll have to do backflips to convince me that the incomplete phrase i note or the improper use of a pronoun does not reflect the posters' frame of reference when attempting to judge the merits of a stage production.

i fully expected many of you to be taken aback by my comments. i used the comments here to point to a larger issue. classic, living, interpretable, and even merely good theatre's essential element is its ability to inform one's passions through words, form and music, with the truths behind them and/or from a point of view one may not have considered. the disney work does neither; it merely edifies a consensus view of virtue and vice, good and evil, "true love," etc. With Aida (or elaborate lives, if you will), Disney has turned the source work into "guess who's coming to dinner."

the comments i read here have little to do with the actual quality of the show. they mirror the thinking of disney, ie, will this show get asses in seats? first tell me you can't imagine it as a "full length animated production" with a G rating. then tell me that any adult familiar with guiseppe verdi and maria callas should consider the narrow topic herein more important than the the idea that audience acceptance of this claptrap as a work of art, the degradation of language (e.g., compare the lyrics of 1960's 'carnival'), and the fact that most of you are more deeply influenced by feel-good commercial endorsements than those who might inform you.

note: you'd be wise to consider more than what you already know (or think you know) about the relationship between language and consciousness (there is no relationship: they are one and the same! haven't you ever considered the term, homo sapiens sapiens??). also note that your certainty that you weren't the only one taken aback speaks to a reliance on the opinions of others rather than critical thinking to reckon the position of your pied a terre. please don't presume to lecture me on where to look for realizations of any sort?

Updated On: 4/9/07 at 11:08 PM

[Lenexajones]

Posted: 4/9/07 at 11:49pm

I have a soft spot for this show. It was my first Broadway show and I loved it. Have seen many productions since (including a high school production) and still love it. It could be improved with some editing, and thus in 5 years or so would be ripe for a revival, if you could ever cast someone as awesome as Heather.

[klutzyduckzy]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 2:02am

I saw this show a few years back with a professional cast, and it was fabulous. In my opinion, "Another Pyramid" is VERY crucial to the show. Yes, the dance break was long, but it's a musical -- you do need flashy numbers every now and again, in a lot of shows. Plus, the point is that each song is a different genre -- "My Strongest Suit" is Popish, "Another Pyramid" is Rock-esque, so on and so forth. So, that's my opinion on the matter.

I think that a revival of this could be potentially very good, but it would have to be at least a decade before that was even considered. Plus, don't we want NEW shows?! Ones that are good? Sorry, haha, I just feel very strongly about the lack of creativity lately...:)

[LifeofTheParty2]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 2:17am

I agree with the critique of Zoser. He's really the only character that seems like he was taken right out of a Disney cartoon. (Jafaar anyone?) I would love to see the show revived, it is an old favorite of mine, even with all the problems. I would love to see some actual color blind casting if it is ever revived.

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 2:28am

klutzyduckzy, it almost has been a decade...well since it opened that is...if we're talking about since it closed then yes we will have to wait a few more years .....Maybe by 2010 or 2011 there might be talk about it coming back...I just love this show and wish it would come back and have an even more healthy run!

[misschung]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 5:22pm

Disney's Aida is hardly on par with West Side Story as a contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare.

was it supposed to be?

[Neverandy]

Posted: 4/10/07 at 7:00pm

I actually like the comic elements of Amneris's Character, especially "Strongest Suit". Strongest Suit not only lightens the tone of the show, but also sets all of us up to underestimate Amneris, so that when she takes charge of the sentencing of Aida and Radames, we are surprised at her depth. She also acknowledges this "Journey" during the "Every Story" reprise.
That being said; I still find that Aida is plagued with some very big problems-one being the book and the other being the lack of Subtext in the Lyrics.

Updated On: 4/10/07 at 07:00 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 11:46am

G_Schlozinski2, as far as your pet peeve goes, I, too, have a pet peeve with not capitalizing their "I's" and the first word of each sentence. In addition, I have a pet peeve of users placing only a single space after each sentence, rather than two spaces.

[just playin' with ya, because your language is who YOU ARE. ]

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 8:08pm

^ i think in mono, not stereo
Updated On: 4/12/07 at 08:08 PM

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 8:11pm

figure it out

[G_Schlozinski2]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 8:19pm

was it supposed to be? if it wasn't aiming at least as high, it's a musical for slackers by sluggards. if it was, it missed.

Updated On: 4/12/07 at 08:19 PM

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 2/24/08 at 4:15pm

*SUPER BUMP* Now that the movies in the works, do you think Disney would do a tour or a full on revival?

[brad3]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 1:21am

All the songs are amazing. They shouldn't cut any of them.

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 2:13am

An equity tour at the least would be nice.
Updated On: 2/25/08 at 02:13 AM

[Chloe]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 8:46am

Honestly, unless there's something new I haven't seen, there are no current plans for Disney to make a movie of Aida. The online columnist Jim Hill brought up the possibility last summer, saying Beyonce had been approached, but she then denied it. Since then, there have been no other professional mentions that I've come across. The only current 2010 version of Aida is not accessible except in IMDb Pro, and is an animated version of the opera, not Elton John's version. Here (once again) is what is printed there. By the way, they originally had Maria Callas down as Aida, but since she's dead her name keeps getting removed, despite the fact that they're using her recording of the opera.

IN DEVELOPMENT

Status: Optioned Property
Contact: Alpha Line Production
Boulogne Billancourt, France:
16 Boulevard
De La Republique
Boulogne Billancourt, Hauts de Seine 921100
France
Phn: 33 155200530
Fax: [phone]
http://www.alphaline.fr
[e-mail]
Production Co: Alpha Line Production
Genre: Musical / Romance /
Summary: An Ethiopian princess, Aida, is enslaved in Egypt where she falls for a young warrior, Radames, who is being pursued by the Pharaoh's daughter.
Source Material: Play

Current rank: 38,891

Filmmakers: Guillaume Hecht - Director / Writer (writer), Hisham Abdel Khalek - Director / Writer (writer) more »
Cast STARmeter™
Kurt Baum ... Radames 761,163

Directed by
Guillaume Hecht (attached)
Hisham Abdel Khalek (attached)
Writers
Guillaume Hecht Writer
Hisham Abdel Khalek Writer

Production Companies
Alpha Line Production

Boulogne Billancourt, France:
16 Boulevard
De La Republique
Boulogne Billancourt, Hauts de Seine 921100
France
Phn: 33 155200530
Fax: [phone]

[BillFinn]

Posted: 2/25/08 at 9:16am

Did someone say the book is stronger than the songs? The book was atrocious when I saw it (Bway Cast: Felicia Finley, Adam Pascal, and Simone). Whenever Amneris spoke, she had to be sarcastically witty (puns! puns!). Radames was always angry or sexually frustrated. The only voice who had any sense of realism or bite was Aida.

Cut "The Past is Another Land." It's boring. She only sings it during a scene change. It tells us nothing we don't already know from the book--- anguish.

If you make Zoser a stronger character, more specific, then "Another Pyramid" will work.

Cut the Fashion Show Dance break or turn it into something that establishes a relationship between Aida and Amneris. You can't go from "Aida! Sewing Room! NOW!" to "My Strongest Suit Reprise." It's not credible; this sister bond they suddenly have.

Act I feels like it should end after "Elaborate Lives." I love "Gods Love Nubia," but it just feels like fluff.

Keep everything else. Get someone to tweak the book though. The choreography could help tell the story. Maybe Bill T. Jones.

[itCouldBeWorse]

Posted: 7/3/08 at 9:14pm

BUMP