Thoughts on an Aida revival?

[BroadwayGirl320]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:20pm

never got the chance to see this show and have always wanted it to go back to broadway. Thoughts on who you would cast now?

Updated On: 5/9/13 at 04:20 PM

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:25pm

Just listened to this on the way to work this morning. I have always loved it but today I questioned why? I even thought to myself - not kidding - was this worth it the first time around? what would possibly encourage a revival? Maybe since it was first on Broadway more interesting shows have come to the surface for me pushing this down the list?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:27pm

Laura Benanti as Amneris.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:34pm

The design was what really made this show for me. I'm not ready for a revival if it won't be the same Bob Crowley scenery and costumes.

I know, technically, that's not a revival, but I'm still too emotionally attached.

Updated On: 5/9/13 at 04:34 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:35pm

I loved this show. Sobbed every time I saw it, even when desperately straining to hear what Toni Braxton was saying.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 4:41pm

Aida revival? How so? It was never alive in the first place. AWFUL show.

[BroadwayBrat]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:13pm

I agree that it was far from perfect, but I will admit to sobbing quite a bit at the end. I saw the original cast and thought all three (Adam, Heather, and Sherie) were perfectly cast.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:17pm

Aida isn't a perfect show by any means- but I wish Sir Elton John and Tim Rice had pushed forward farther to make it a pop opera instead of a book musical. It felt like it would suit the style well.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:21pm

I remember enjoying it a great deal. But I was young(er) then.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:38pm

I LOVE it's score. I think it has one of the best pop scores in recent years.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:45pm

There are some aspects of the score that I find enjoyable, but Zoser's two songs ("Another Pyramid" and "Like Father, Like Son") I hate so much that they do pull the entire thing down a couple of notches for me.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:49pm

^Those are the two songs that I always skip.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 5:52pm

Haha. "Another Pyramid" is my JAM! I'd love to see a production of this.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:00pm

I like "Another Pyramid." My only issue with "Like Father, Like Son" is the use of the word "cocksure" and the way the song just randomly and loudly interrupts the scene instead of having a more organic underscoring that leads up to it. It's really the only upbeat song in the second act, but I wouldn't mind if someone reorchestrated it.

[kieranbec]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:07pm

This would be a good next project for Patina.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:12pm

Or Jennifer Hudson's Broadway debut.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:13pm

No thanks to Veronica Moore for Aida.

[BewareTheUndertoad]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:19pm

Did we learn NOTHING from reviving Jekyll and Hyde?

[Starship]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:33pm

Patina Miller as Aida
Jeremy Jones as Radames
Laura Osnes as Amneris
Jonathan Freeman as Zoser
Charl Brown as Mereb
Ben Vereen as Amonasro
Ken Markas as Pharaoh
Saycon Sengbloh as Nehbka

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:40pm

Well, Veronica would belt The Gods love Nubia like no else can.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 6:43pm

I think BewareTheUndertoad is right.. Just because a show had a first lengthy run doesn't = revival success (even with star)... (all these had over 1500 perfs)

-Dreamgirls did pretty bad on the road from what I remember
-EVITA (with a mega star)
-Jekyll & Hyde
-Jesus Christ Superstar
-La Cage (both if I'm not mistaken didn't recoup)

I don't think Aida would be a big hit this time around.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 7:08pm

Verdi's Aida maybe.
Elton John's? The score is lousy, the book laughable. It's a show better left forgotten.

[BwayTday]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 7:13pm

I actually quite like the score, and the actually plot is very touching, but the the book is atrocious. They would have to re-write the dialogue to make it less awful but I think if they pumped up the rock qualities and design of the show it could be great.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 7:16pm

I remember seeing this on Broadway with the original cast and finding the whole thing a schizophrenic mess. It started out very pleasant with the scene in the museum and then Amneris comes to life to take us back to ancient Egypt. And nothing visually from that moment on resembles ancient Egypt in the slightest. The modern day bookend scenes are LESS modern than the ancient Egypt scenes. Then you had Headley's fierce singing in between scenes of dialogue either spoken in crazy affected CAPITAL LETTERS or inaudibly mumbled. Bizarre immature and contemporary acting choices from Pascal. An avant garde fashion show. The HORRIBLE optical art prison backdrop. A love triangle literally depicted by lasers. And Sherie Rene Scott owning the show and pulling the rug out from the rest of the cast.

I didn't cry at the end because the opening clued me into the coda and I knew they would "find each other" again. In the less-modern modern-day museum. It was such a mess. Interesting at times, but a mess. I just wondered if the designers and creators were introduced to each other on opening night.

Updated On: 5/9/13 at 07:16 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/9/13 at 7:17pm

I did a production of Aida a few years ago with a stripped down orchestration- one wind/reed, keyboard, guitar, bass and drum. The music sounded so much better that way, believe it or not.

Much of Aida's song composition reflects Elton John's early pre-pop days as a composer of musical character sketches and story-songs, but most of the show's orchestrations reflect his late 90s pop style, awash in electric piano, boy-band synth pads and drum machines.