Aida the Musical- Page 2

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 11:17pm

Headley was never going to be topped. 

Toni Braxton and her lowered keys were a disaster, as was Michelle Williams, whose voice was thin and whose acting was horrendous. Of the celebrities they brought in, Deborah Cox, unsurprisingly, was the best. 

Simone was a fierce vocalist (in a lot of ways the best), but she was a terrible actress. And she looked like Grandma Moses up there. 

I enjoyed Maya Days a great deal, but she didn't have the "big" voice some of the others did. 

Of the understudies I saw, Schele Williams was awful. Saycon Sengbloh and Nikki Renee Daniels were both very good. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 12:41am

thanks adam

maya days was the other aida i saw....

I think heather headley delivering one of the most incredible singing/acting combination performances

imaginable, given who many songs and scenes she was in and the vocal difficulty of the songs

im so grateful to have seen her do it, over and over again, and every performance i saw was absolutely extraordinary

 

I think her performance and this show had more to do with reawakened my passion for musical theatre than anything else id seen previously as an audit, and my obsession for musicals and yearly journey to broadway to see all the new obc's each year....

 

 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 1:00am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmgG6CjnNFI

the gods love nubia OBC 2000

words i seldom say "thank you rosie odonnell!"

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 1:15am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO1U8T0i3pk

one of the few good captures of the OBC doing

the absolutely terrific "A Step too Far"

(the orchestrations are wanting....)

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 3:15am

No Schele was amazing when she went on. 

Thursday as awful.  

Heather was Heather can't beat her amazing performance. 

Maya was great. Her voice was totally different than heathers which people didn't like. 

Simone was awful. She could sing but she came across so cold and old 

T''Rea was pretty but bad. 

Braxton - yes key changes - was enjoyable  

Saycon just ewww

merle was fierce 

michelle Williams sang the hell out of it.  

Paulette Ivory was perfection. 

Loved Cox. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 9:22am

dang jbradshaw

thats a lot of aidas you saw perform...

 

how many times did you see the show?

[Justin D]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 12:26pm

I had issue with Ivory's accent at the time.

 

Also saw Cheyenne as Radames, he was very, um, unconvincing as a straight army general

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 1:04pm

JBradshaw said: "No Schele was amazing when she went on. 

 

Thursday as awful.  

 

Heather was Heather can't beat her amazing performance. 

 

Maya was great. Her voice was totally different than heathers which people didn't like. 

 

Simone was awful. She could sing but she came across so cold and old 

 

T''Rea was pretty but bad. 

 

Braxton - yes key changes - was enjoyable  

 

Saycon just ewww

 

merle was fierce 

 

michelle Williams sang the hell out of it.  

 

Paulette Ivory was perfection. 

 

Loved Cox. 

 

"

I remember Days' performance being wildly divisive. She was the replacement for Heather (right after 9/11 no less), and her performance was significantly different from Headley's.  It was a much quieter, subtle performance than Headley gave. She sang the role differently (her voice was strong, but nowhere near the knock it out of the park level of actresses like Headley, Simone, or Merle Dandridge). 

 

I enjoyed her a great deal, but I know lots of people didn't.

jbradshaw, seems like we both saw the show a lot. 

[Sousaphun]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 4:24pm

I'm gonna see it Thursday and I just have to know... does she hit the high F in Dance of the Robes? :P

[PianoMann]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 5:02pm

I love Aida, while fully acknowledging it's flaws.  The books is downright abysmal, with laughable dialogue and no character development.  The score has to compensate for all of the shortcomings of the book, which it often does.  I've always wanted to hear this score re-orchestrated with more traditional, less pop rock instrumentation; I know many probably like the wailing guitars and synthesizer, but I think I'd like it more without them.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 6:26pm

Sousaphun said: "I'm gonna see it Thursday and I just have to know... does she hit the high F in Dance of the Robes? :P

she did when i saw her, although I think she cracked just a tad...

Dance was the highlight performance of the evening and got a number of folks in front(inlcuding me) to

give a standing ovation...)

She did a terrific job on one of the most demanding roles ever...

i hope she delivers when you see it!

 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 7:54pm

The book was revised and improved for the tour and licensing, but it's still sort of the weakest side of the triangle. The score should have been sung through, I think.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 8:59pm

I had never thought of it being re-orchestrated, but come to think of it I would love to hear that too.

[DigificWriter]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 8:36am

Sorry to bump the thread, but I just finished listening to the score for the show in its entirety (more on that in a second) and want to share some thoughts.

 

When I initially found my way to the score for this show, I wasn't all that impressed by it, as I couldn't quite figure out the narrative through-line of the songs and was thrown off by what seemed to be the random shifting of focus from song to song. There were also moments that felt derivative of songs I'd heard from other shows.

 

However, after doing some research on both the musical and the opera that inspired it, I gave the score a second listen-through and have come away massively impressed.

 

There are still some parts of the score that feel derivative (Another Pyramid, for example, feels like it was melodically stolen from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), but that's really a minor issue when juxtaposed against songs like Every Story is a Love Story, Fortune Favors the Brave, A Step Too Far, I Know the Truth, and Not Me, all of which easily could and probably would have been the "featureed poece" in any other show, so the fact that they're all in the same score speaks volumes.

 

I love the score for The Lion King, but as good as that show's music is, Aida is several magnitudes better, and is one I would put up there with the likes of Les Mis, Phantom, West Side Story, and Beauty and the Beast, all of which make my Top 5 list of the best theatrical scores of all time (which is not something I would've thought would be the case given my initial tepid response to it).

[CassandraReads]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 9:14am

Aida is definitely one of my favorite Broadway soundtracks. Adam and Heather are flawless and the songs are terrific. We must have seen the show 10 times when it was on Broadway- we saw Heather and Debra and Michelle and even Toni Braxton as Aida, always with Adam as Radames. We even went to see the show regionally several times, I would love to see it make its way back to Broadway!! 

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 6:18pm

Someone above said 'Simone can't sing?'  Ummm, yeah, about that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCrojEBu7wI

Lisa Simone was likely the best sung Aida during the run.  Yes, her acting was wooden, but damn if she couldn't add her own power to that score.  She did the same thing as Mimi in Rent.  Just. Killed. It.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy2o7pacVGI

Updated On: 8/18/16 at 06:18 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 6:45pm

BenjaminNicholas2 said: "Someone above said 'Simone can't sing?'  Ummm, yeah, about that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCrojEBu7wI

Lisa Simone was likely the best sung Aida during the run.  Yes, her acting was wooden, but damn if she couldn't add her own power to that score.  She did the same thing as Mimi in Rent.  Just. Killed. It.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy2o7pacVGI

 

No one said she couldn't sing. Everyone, including me, acknowledges how well sung her Aida was. The problem was she was too old and her acting was awful. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 6:46pm

Wasn't Simone the original Aida in readings and workshops? 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 8:04pm

I always felt that if the book got reworked & some songs deleted(Another Pyramid) and they add a new song this would've won Best Musical. If Disney ever opts to revive this, I hope it's put in the right hands.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 9:54pm

I'm fully in favor of a revival! What about an all-star cast for an ABC live musical?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 9:55pm

broadwayboy223 said: "Wasn't Simone the original Aida in readings and workshops? 

 

Yes. The show had a very different sound to it at the time. The way Simone sang the score was completely different from how she ultimately sang it onstage. The audios from the demos are a fascinating listen if you can track them down. 

[BroadwayMan5]

Posted: 8/18/16 at 11:35pm

I think Aida is a very underrated show. Yes, the book has some issues and they sometimes missed on casting later in the run (Idina Menzel did not work as Amneris at all) but the score is brilliant and the story is touching. It's insane that it didn't get a Best Musical nomination in 2000.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 11:56am

Believe it or not, I actually found Taylor Dayne to be a better Amneris than Idina :)

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:20pm

Now what I have always been curious about is, would Sherie Rene Scott be allowed to play Amneris in todays climate with casting and such.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 12:56pm

adamgreer said: "broadwayboy223 said: "Wasn't Simone the original Aida in readings and workshops? 

 

Yes. The show had a very different sound to it at the time. The way Simone sang the score was completely different from how she ultimately sang it onstage. The audios from the demos are a fascinating listen if you can track them down. 

 

"

If anyone on here has these demos please feel free to PM me. I'm curious because Simone has a great voice and she sounded really good on the score.