Elton John musical 'Aida' reinvents timeless love story
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"Aida is not opera," John said. "It's truly a pop musical with spoken dialogue and all kinds of recognizable song types: urban-based rhythm and blues, gospel-inspired songs, ballads and, of course, Crocodile Rock songs."
Based on the story from the classic Verdi opera, "Aida" is a new musical with John's modern pop score. The performance is presented by Purdue Convocations.
Winner of four 2000 Tony Awards, "Aida" is a musical bursting with contemporary energy chronicling the love triangle between Aida, a Nubian princess stolen from her country, Amneris, an Egyptian princess, and Radames, the soldier they both love. "Aida" is an epic tale of love, loyalty and betrayal with a Tony and Grammy Award-winning score by John and Rice, their first collaboration since writing the music for the worldwide phenomenon "The Lion King."
"Aida" features music by John, lyrics by Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang. "Aida" was originally directed by Falls and produced by Disney Theatrical Productions.
Big League Theatricals Inc., who recently produced the acclaimed North American tour of "Miss Saigon," has conceived and developed this new touring production. Staging is by T.J. Young and choreography is by Sarita Allen. Design team for the new production includes Neil Patel (scenery), Emilio Sosa (costumes) and Charlie Morrison (lighting).
"'Aida' is filled with glorious pop anthems," raved the Detroit Free Press, whileUSA Today praised the musical's"crowd-pleasing score," and The Star Ledger of Newark, N.J., proclaimed, "Elton John's high-energy theater score swoons with romance."
The score for "Aida" was hailed by Time magazineas "filled with luscious melodies and soulful lyrics."
The show produced a number of hit songs including "Written in the Stars," recorded by Elton John and LeAnn Rimes, which hit No. 2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary charts in 1999; "Easy as Life," recorded by Tina Turner and as a dance remix by Deborah Cox that hit No. 24 on the U.S. Dance charts in 2004; "Elaborate Lives;" "My Strongest Suit" and "The Gods Love Nubia."
The original Broadway cast album is available from Disney Records. The concept album, featuring a host of music superstars from Turner and John to Boyz II Men and Lenny Kravitz, was released on Island Records.
The original production had its world premiere as "Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida" at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta on Sept. 17, 1998. A new revised production opened on Dec. 9, 1999, at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago.
The Broadway production, named Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida," opened at the Palace Theatre on March 23, 2000, and ran a total of 1,852 performances, making it one of the longest running shows in Broadway history. It also generated a successful national tour and several international productions.
Big League Theatricals Inc., by special permission from Disney Theatrical Productions, acquired the rights to create this new touring production of "Aida."
"Aida" will play Elliott Hall of Music at 8 p.m. Oct. 13.
Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets.
Tickets are $20-45 for adults and $20-32 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Group discounts for 10 or more are available by calling (765) 494-9071.
Source: Kerry Schutt Nason, Purdue Convocations interim director of marketing, (765) 494-9071, knason@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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