I'm going to be in St. Louis next week and I am seeing Aida at the Muny. The cast is:
Will Chase- Radames
Simone- Aida
Lisa Brescia-A mneris
I know all of these people have played their role on Broadway. How were they? Reviews? Opinions? Am I in for a good show? Thanks.
Will was great, and Lisa was probably the best Amneris.
They were all INCREDIBLE!!!
Loved them all very much and I am HUGELY OBC obessed with this show. For me to say that is a BIG deal Those who know me will back that up.
These three are reallllyy special in the roles. You'll LOVE it !
I get to see it in October
Yeah! I'm glad to hear such good things. Keep the opinions comin'!
Wow. Consider yourself lucky! I saw Lisa several times and loved. her. I sorely regret not seeing Will.
Is this a tour, or what? I'm so confused.
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
Lisa is really great. She's the only one of the three I've seen, and she does not disappoint.
No, Emcee, it's not a tour. The Muny is a huge outdoor theater in St. Louis that performs shows during the summer. They do one show a week, I think last week was King and I... Anyway most of the ensemble is made up of local actors but the leads are generally brought in from somewhere else and have usually played the part before. Here's a link to the Muny's site if anyone's curious
Muny
Will Chase is an EXCELLENT Radames. You'll really enjoy him. Lisa is very good, certainly not the best Amneris (that would be Sherie), but still excellent.
As for Simone....well, her vocals will knock the roof off the place. Her voice is exceptional. However, she's now like 44 years old, and a bit long in the tooth for Aida. Also, her acting is REALLY bad. Nevertheless, she's enjoyable because her voice is so good. Just don't expect a well acted, nuanced performance from her.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/6/05
I saw Will and Lisa, but Saycon for Aida. Will and Lisa are great as other people have already said. Enjoy the show! Aida is one of my favorites.
I wish I could go to the Muny and see Aida! I think it is going to be the best show this year... I am about 100 miles from St. Louis and think that it would be well worth the trip to see it! Too bad I dont have tickets and I cant get off work...
The show is playing there for awhile if im not mistaken, im sure you have 1 day off a week.
Lucky you! I would love to go see Will Chase as Ramades!! He has such a great voice!
Oh, and I know we're not supposed to post videos from that Forbidden video site called you know what, but if you go there, type in " Aida- Michelle" <----exclude quotation marks, and you will see Will Chase!! He's awesome.
Updated On: 6/25/06 at 02:17 PM
Aida is playing for one week and I think the Muny hardly sells every ticket. The cheapest tickets are only $8 and I have gotten them the day of the show before. They also have free seats if you are willing to get there a few hours and sit ridiculously far back.
I saw Lisa as Amneris and she blew me away. You'll love her!
I'm so jealous. I've never seen Will or Lisa but from all the wonderful reviews I'm sure they are exceptional. I saw Simone in San Francisco years back and agree that her voice is incredible, as far as her acting...well, I've seen LOTS better. Paulette Ivory (I think was her name) is the only other Aida I've seen and she was fantastic...better then Simone in my opinion. Have fun!
I'm still disappointed that Paulette Ivory never played the role on Broadway. She would've been so much better than the parade of pop stars.
i like simone alot, but her mother is my favorite singer so maybe i was just in awe of that.
Here is simones site and if you click on Aida it will give you her reviews.
http://simonesuperstar.com/newmain.html
Updated On: 6/25/06 at 06:55 PM
Simone's website hasn't been updated in years.
She just recently did that big concert tribute for her Mother.
Paulette Ivory was a fine Aida, but without the "parade of pop stars" (all of whom were hideous, besides Deborah Cox) the show would have closed almost a year earlier than it did.
I saw Simone and she was fabulous!
Better off closing earlier than sacrificing quality, IMO.
I'm geting really excited about seeing the show now!
Wow, I'm really jealous. Will Chase has a beautiful voice and a restrained, nuanced approach to the character, which I thought was really effective. And Lisa Brescia, dare I say, was my favorite Amneris (equal to Sherie Rene). Funny, charming, sensitive.
I'm green with envy.
"Better off closing earlier than sacrificing quality, IMO."
Well, I tend to agree. However, if I was producing the show and thought there was still money to be made by casting a pop star, you can bet I'd do it.
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