Aida

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida premiered on Broadway on March 23, 2000, running for 1,852 performances until September 5, 2004 and won four Tony Awards.  It is the first time I have seen this show so had no expectations as to what I would see and am happy to say that I enjoyed the production very much.

The show opened with Kathi Ludlow commanding the stage as the prologue and throughout the night her portrayal of Amneris was one of the highlights of the show.  Zak Charlesworth, as always, gave a very strong vocal performance and his characterisation of Radames grew through the production resulting in a very believable central relationship with Tracey Renshaw as Aida.   

Tracey delivered a strong leading performance with great contrast between the joy of falling in love and the internal conflict of “loving the enemy” and betraying your country. Tom Phipps played a sympathetic Mereb and Martin Briggs pulled out all the “scheming” stops with his portrayal of Zoser.  Sue Hagan, Martin Lewis and Nick Buckthorpe all delivered believable characterisations of Nehebra, Pharoah and King Amonastro which resulted in a very believable central narrative.

The Ensemble ably supported the action throughout the production and delivered the vocal clarity required to communicate the story to the audience.  The Choreography was well presented on every occasion and the sound quality and balance was excellent throughout the night as was the band and the lighting/back projections.

Congratulations to all for taking on a new piece of theatre to many, and I very much look forward to seeing you all again for Miracle on 34th Street in November.

 

Martin Holtom

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.