When his soldiers capture a group of Nubian women, he is captivated by one of the women, Aida, who tries to free herself by out-dueling one of his soldiers. A statue of Amneris, a female Pharaoh, comes to life ("Every Story Is a Love Story") and transports them to Ancient Egypt, where Radames, captain of the Egyptian army, and his men are returning from an expedition through the land of Egypt's long-time enemy, Nubia ("Fortune Favors the Brave"). In the Egyptian wing of a modern museum, a man and a woman touring the exhibit catch each other's eyes. Despite his opinion that "opera people can be very elitist", John, along with Tim Rice, immediately signed on. However, Elton John chose not to pursue another animated project after The Lion King, so Disney executives suggested a Broadway adaptation instead. In 1994 the book rights were acquired by the Walt Disney Company for a proposed animated feature film. The book featured illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon. The musical originated from a children's storybook version of Verdi's opera written by the soprano Leontyne Price. The show is based on Giuseppe Verdi's Italian-language opera of the same name, the libretto of which was written by Antonio Ghislanzoni. 2 in the Billboard US adult contemporary music chart. A song from the show, " Written in the Stars", recorded by Elton John and LeAnn Rimes, reached No. The original Broadway cast recording won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. It was also named by Time as one of the top ten theatre productions of the year. It was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four, including Best Original Score. It has music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and was originally produced by Hyperion Theatricals.Īida premiered on Broadway on March 23, 2000, running for 1,852 performances until September 5, 2004. This makes it a perfect choice for those who cherish classical opera productions.Aida (also known as Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida) is a musical based on the opera of the same name written by Antonio Ghislanzoni with music by Giuseppe Verdi. Italian musicologist and music critic Massimo Mila believes that Aida is an opera that is stage directors and designers find hard to modernise without compromising on the work’s splendour. To think that this grand work, despite being untypical for Verdi, was written and orchestrated in just four months. The splendid spectacle still attracts today’s audiences with its extraordinary score, fantastic sets inspired by the ancient world, exquisite duets, in particular the final one sung by Aida and Radamès, and numerous crowd scenes featuring a chorus and extras. Having opened in Cairo on 24 December 1871 and less than seven weeks later in Milan’s La Scala, the opera began a triumphant march across the world’s opera houses. Love that goes against the raison d’état as defined by priests leads to Aida’s demise as she suffers the consequences of her beloved’s choices. The four-page prose scenario was devised by well-known French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette-Bey, yet the actual libretto was written in verse by Antonio Ghislanzoni.Īll of the efforts produced a moving musical tale of love between Aida, a slave at the Pharaoh’s court, and Egyptian military commander Radamès who chooses his heart over his country and his Gods, becoming a tragic protagonist not unlike those in Sophocles plays. Paradoxically, although he rejected the style of grand opera, Verdi decided to create a spectacular large-scale work that would attract huge crowds. That is perhaps why the failure of Un ballo in maschera, whose Naples premiere had not taken place after the composer rejected changes introduced by censors, the frigid reception given to the first version of La forza del destino by the critics and audiences, and the publication of the famous To Italian Art - Sapphic Ode with Glass in Hand by Arrigo Boito who failed to appreciate Verdi’s work – contributed to the birth of this great yet singular opera by Verdi. Having accepted this rather usual commission, Verdi had to work out a compromise with himself, leaving aside the principles he had formulated and applied when writing all his previous operas. Eventually, however, possibly prompted by a series of unfortunate events and a read of a prose scenario for the opera provided by Camille du Locle, Verdi committed himself to the task. At first the composer initially refused the offer despite a hefty fee. In 1870 Giuseppe Verdi was approached with the request to write an opera for the new Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, erected on the orders of Isma’il Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt.
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