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Post by shownut on May 1, 2023 7:05:48 GMT
This sounds godwaful.
I have had the good fortune to see AIDA in its original form at The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 1998, the Chicago try-out in 1999 and eventual Broadway bow in 2000. So much heart and soul went into transforming a very interesting, albeit flawed, piece of musical theatre into something unique and very special.
How heartbreaking that the 'powers that be' clearly felt the need to break apart the elements that made this show amazing and revise it into something unrecognizable to those who have long adored it.
After the disaster known as MANDELA and her work on the revision of this piece, I am beginning to think Schele Williams is not a director I am going to become a fan of anytime soon. And if they aim to bring AIDA to London, I hope they revert back to something that resembles the show that had a successful 4 year run on Broadway, spawned national tours and several global productions, not this current production which sounds like a massive misstep.
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 1, 2023 7:26:37 GMT
This is a bit heartbreaking.
I loved the Broadway production and love this score. That version should have come to London.
However the good thing about Disney is that they are not afraid to bin a production if it’s not working and start again.
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Post by SuttonPeron on May 1, 2023 10:05:22 GMT
Disney love to change stuff for the sake of it, for no apparent reasons. They´ll do everything to make their shows cheap, short and politically correct. I doubt they´ll bin the production. They´ll say it´s "spectacular", "updated" or whatever and call the original version "problematic" or whatever. Hopefully the people here that are upset understand how some of us felt about the last Beauty and the Beast tour or the current Phantom in London.
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 1, 2023 11:09:18 GMT
This sounds terrible. I saw the Broadway production 3 times and loved it. Schele Williams was an original cast member and also understudied Aida. Can't believe she's doing such a terrible job directing this production. Then again, Mandela was a complete and utter mess according to reports. Never got to see it as the performance I was due to attend got cancelled.
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Post by BVM on May 1, 2023 12:24:57 GMT
So, if only to play devil's advocate the writer maintains the score is little changed from the Broadway version:
Less worried re what they do with casting and direction - but I would like the score to be pretty much as per the original as it's epic.
Am also sorry to hear how cheap the set sounds. Not that it surprises me sadly!
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Post by dan28 on May 1, 2023 13:33:19 GMT
Every song has changed arrangements. Many of them have extra drum/street- dance breaks. Tempo changes, pauses in strange moments, different rhythms, different countings, completely newly written parts in songs, new key changes, people are cut from songs, some songs are sung by different characters, often the arrangement is replaced by african drum r&b beats only, different tempo's (mostly slower) and many songs are cut from the show entirely.
There are about 3 songs that sound reasonably similar to the original.
Tim Rice only wrote the lyrics, it is not really fair of him to lie on behalf of Elton John.
Edit: The guy on Twitter asks him if there will be new songs by him (Rice) and Elton John. Perhaps what he meant with his answer is that he did not write new songs? The new songs (the Hymnes) are probably written by someone else and do not have lyrics. He doesn't deny there are changes. He is just answering from his perspective about new songs.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on May 1, 2023 16:59:23 GMT
I wonder where it’ll go if it’s set for early 2024. Surely that’ll have to be announced soon.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on May 2, 2023 10:20:03 GMT
This has the potential to be the equivalent of 'Rent - Remixed'
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Post by danb on May 2, 2023 10:30:40 GMT
It’s sounding a bit like ‘Bat’ after they took all of the expensive bits out that they didn’t want to tour, and ‘Joseph’ when they dropped the key for Burke. Basically removing the exciting bits. I hope we’re wrong though because I love the score.
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Post by anthony40 on May 2, 2023 12:10:29 GMT
What was wrong with the production that ran on Broadway? I was great! So great in fact, I never forgot it.
If it's good enough for Broadway, why isn't it good enough for over here?
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Post by BVM on May 2, 2023 13:23:04 GMT
It’s sounding a bit like ‘Bat’ after they took all of the expensive bits out that they didn’t want to tour, and ‘Joseph’ when they dropped the key for Burke. Basically removing the exciting bits. I hope we’re wrong though because I love the score. For Sheridan lol. Burke could have belted the hell out of Pharoah Story (and indeed all of it) so was something of a disappointment that she was lumbered with the Sheridan direction. Thank God as time progressed Linzi reverted to singing it as written. By the time the tour made it to Bristol was almost back to the original!
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Post by danb on May 2, 2023 20:10:42 GMT
It’s sounding a bit like ‘Bat’ after they took all of the expensive bits out that they didn’t want to tour, and ‘Joseph’ when they dropped the key for Burke. Basically removing the exciting bits. I hope we’re wrong though because I love the score. For Sheridan lol. Burke could have belted the hell out of Pharoah Story (and indeed all of it) so was something of a disappointment that she was lumbered with the Sheridan direction. Thank God as time progressed Linzi reverted to singing it as written. By the time the tour made it to Bristol was almost back to the original! Of course for Sheridan…I’d blocked it out 🥴
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Post by BVM on May 2, 2023 22:28:43 GMT
For Sheridan lol. Burke could have belted the hell out of Pharoah Story (and indeed all of it) so was something of a disappointment that she was lumbered with the Sheridan direction. Thank God as time progressed Linzi reverted to singing it as written. By the time the tour made it to Bristol was almost back to the original! Of course for Sheridan…I’d blocked it out 🥴 Very wise!
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Post by bobbievanhusen on May 3, 2023 0:39:23 GMT
dan28 Because the show is in Dutch, Do they have have english subs? I'd love to go and see it, but wouldnt have a clue what they were saying without a translation.
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Post by danb on May 3, 2023 5:08:07 GMT
They’re saying…listen to my love story and watch this modern day framing device…I’m tough rarrrrr….its rubbish being a slave, I’m actually royalty…my Dad is a sh!t…God, I’m spoilt but I love clothes…oh hello handsome, this shouldn’t be happening…be my slave…this happens…why doesn’t he fancy me…slightly political bit I don’t understand…she knows, and rather than have us executed recognises our love and buries us alive together…modern day framing device revisited. The end.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on May 3, 2023 16:58:24 GMT
They’re saying…listen to my love story and watch this modern day framing device…I’m tough rarrrrr….its rubbish being a slave, I’m actually royalty…my Dad is a sh!t…God, I’m spoilt but I love clothes…oh hello handsome, this shouldn’t be happening…be my slave…this happens…why doesn’t he fancy me…slightly political bit I don’t understand…she knows, and rather than have us executed recognises our love and buries us alive together…modern day framing device revisited. The end. Thanks for the synopsis of the Broadway production, but i have already seen it.
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Post by danb on May 3, 2023 17:08:31 GMT
You’re most welcome.
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Post by dan28 on May 3, 2023 21:02:56 GMT
dan28 Because the show is in Dutch, Do they have have english subs? I'd love to go and see it, but wouldnt have a clue what they were saying without a translation. They don't have English subs, but perhaps if you can't understand what they are saying it makes the show a little less bad. Any bad joke, butchered lyric, ruined story line will be hidden a bit more. But I would really save my money for something else.
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Post by theatrefan62 on Jan 18, 2024 22:26:51 GMT
There's a post on Broadwayworld saying the person had bumped into Schelle Williams at Spamalot and they asked her about Aida. Apparently she said the new production that got quite negative reviews in the Netherlands will be worked on with Elton John and open in London first.
I really hope it gets a lot of reworking as I really want to see if, but the new production sounded awful.
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Post by shownut on Jan 19, 2024 7:32:51 GMT
There's a post on Broadwayworld saying the person had bumped into Schelle Williams at Spamalot and they asked her about Aida. Apparently she said the new production that got quite negative reviews in the Netherlands will be worked on with Elton John and open in London first. I really hope it gets a lot of reworking as I really want to see if, but the new production sounded awful. I hope that is true and that they do the wise thing and scrap the revised production and return to the relatively good Broadway version. It could use some minor tweaks but this new version, as described here, that opened last year sounds like the show is now unrecognizable from the Broadway hit. The godawful video they did behind "My Strongest Suit" told us all we needed to know. I had high hopes for Schele Williams as a director but after MANDELA....I am very, very skeptical.
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 19, 2024 9:45:55 GMT
Possibly I'm missing something but I saw the Broadway production and i loved it! I went in blind and just thought this was original and fantastic!
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Post by steve10086 on Jan 19, 2024 10:01:25 GMT
Possibly I'm missing something but I saw the Broadway production and i loved it! I went in blind and just thought this was original and fantastic! Yeah, I saw the Broadway production right at the start and again near the end. I still remember it as one of the most powerful musicals I’ve seen. What exactly was wrong with it?
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Post by thebroadwayboy on Jan 19, 2024 10:09:52 GMT
Where is Cynthia Erico when you need her?
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Post by danb on Jan 19, 2024 10:11:56 GMT
Where is Cynthia Erivo when you need her? Hmmm…she’d be fine.
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Post by thebroadwayboy on Jan 19, 2024 10:13:22 GMT
What was wrong with the production that ran on Broadway? I was great! So great in fact, I never forgot it. If it's good enough for Broadway, why isn't it good enough for over here? it got terrible reviews
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 19, 2024 10:47:45 GMT
It won Tony Awards!
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Post by shownut on Jan 19, 2024 12:05:33 GMT
What was wrong with the production that ran on Broadway? I was great! So great in fact, I never forgot it. If it's good enough for Broadway, why isn't it good enough for over here? it got terrible reviews It would be fairer to say the reviews were mixed, not across the board pans. In any event, it had a successful run and spawned a couple of successful tours and international productions. The book could use some work and a couple of songs could use replacement but it is far from a car-crash. It had its fans, including me, but there was clearly a lot of bias against this production, probably aimed at Disney. It makes zero sense that a show that won 4 of its 5 Tony nominations, including Best Score was denied a nomination for Best Musical. The winner for Best Musical that year? Contact. A dance show with not a single live note of music. The other shows that were nominated were all flops including a musicalisation of James Joyce's THE DEAD and La Chuisa's THE WILD PARTY. AIDA certainly had the last laugh and deserves a comeback.
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Post by hitmewithurbethshot on Jan 19, 2024 13:26:10 GMT
I saw the Dutch revival, there was some things I really enjoyed like how songs were rearranged (especially The Gods Love Nubia) and Radames being made less of an arsehole but cuts/changes to the book took out most of the jokes and the character development of the two female leads. Plus they cut the first 2 songs so the first 10 minutes or so feel a bit flat.
Having seen this and Mandela it’s clear Schele Williams has a few directing quirks, namely a handful of dancers doing contemporary movement to no music, and one single ensemble member wail/singing when something sad happens. I see what she was going for but it just looked goofy.
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Post by Jon on Jan 19, 2024 13:28:46 GMT
Isn't Schele Williams directing The Wiz revival?
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Post by viserys on Jan 19, 2024 13:57:34 GMT
cuts/changes to the book took out most of the jokes and the character development of the two female leads. Plus they cut the first 2 songs so the first 10 minutes or so feel a bit flat. Those were my main quibbles too, it took a long time to get going without the upbeat "Fortune favours the brave" at the beginning and I dearly missed the beginning and end with Amneris coming alive to sing "Every story is a love story" and at the end melt back into a statue. The thing I absolutely did not understand is why they eliminated every reference to Aida being a slave - I understand slavery is a touchy issue in the USA, but there's no way around that Aida was one and in fact that despite being enslaved she was strong, proud and unbowed made her such a compelling figure both for the audience and for Radames who fell hook, line and sinker for her. Instead they seemed hellbent on showcasing her and her mom as some tough-ass warrior princesses - at least in my opinion it was a completely misguided attempt to create stronger female characters in a show that had compelling strong female characters to begin with. I also wasn't a fan of the new orchestrations - so much of "Aida" is great, just because it's all-out gorgeous power ballads drowning you in sound and the cast was barely given a chance to shine. Finally, the original version had a minimalistic concept but still put money on display, as in "My Strongest Suit" - this new version just looked cheap throughout.
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