With Elton John's music and Tim Rice's lyrics, this pop-rock version of the
story of a Nubian princess taken prisoner by the ancient Egyptians ran on
Broadway for over four years. There it had an extravagant visual design and
a strong rock beat behind the performance of leads and large chorus alike.
Here, in a performance in the hall that 2nd Flight hopes will be a permanent
locale for musicals, there are strong voices in the leading roles and
attention to enunciation of both lyrics and lines which makes the story easy
to follow. However the driving
rock beat behind the melodies is lacking, even as the small combo supporting
the vocalists does establish a fine standard for pitch and key. The strength
of the show is the vocal performances of Keisha Spaulding as Aida and Ryan
Khatcheressian as her Egyptian commander. It also helps that, unlike even
many professional companies, this production has a vocal director, Michael
Ehrlich, and the result is that everyone on stage does his or her best to
deliver both the melody line and the lyrics with clarity and assurance.
Storyline: The Egyptian army takes prisoners from neighboring Nubia
including, unbeknownst to them, the princes Aida, a young woman with a
strong sense of dignity and powerful voice. The Egyptian commander Radames
is betrothed to the Pharaoh’s daughter, but falls in love with the princess
he thinks is a slave girl. Love and jealousy, patriotism and treason, fate
and even reincarnation play in a different version of the story than in the
classic opera.
The story is a
variation of the story found in Verdi's famous opera, but don’t expect grand
opera here. Instead, there is the pop sound of the music composed by Elton
John in his first written-for-the-stage musical. And there are lyrics by Tim
Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess and parts of The Lion
King and Beauty and the Beast) which include his trademark
idiosyncratic anachronisms for which I admit a weakness. He has Pharaoh's
minister referring to genetics thousands of years before the discovery of
DNA ("Don’t come on so cocksure boy / you can’t escape your genes / no point
in feeling pure boy / your background intervenes") and the Pharaoh's
daughter sounds for all the world like a modern valley girl as she sings
"Forget the inner me / observe the outer / I am what I wear / and how I
dress."
Spaulding's vocal strength is consistent all
night long in an extremely demanding role and her acting is solid as the
pridefull princess reduced to hiding her nobility in order to keep her
identity secret from the conquering Egyptians. She gives every impression of
being able to hold her own in a more distinguished ensemble. In contrast,
Khatcheressian is impressive mostly for his vocal strength. When he belts
out a pained plea for release from the burdens of duty to spend some simple
time with his love, he can sell both the emotion and the musicality of the
scene. Katie Pond has some effective scenes as the Egyptian princess as
well.
The constraints of budget are clearly evident
in the visual impact of the show, spread out across a wide stage with a
single set used for multiple locations and costumes that only hint at either
the wealth and power of the conquering nation or the degradation and plight
of the slaves taken from defeated Nubia. The score works best as a highly
amplified artificial sound, and the sound system (with wireless mics) used
here has all the volume that could be wanted but suffers from distortion,
especially on Spaulding's big moments, and intermittent malfunctions which
particularly plagued Faqir Qarghah as the slave who serves his princess by
manipulating his captors.
Music by Elton John. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Book
by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang. Directed and
choreographed by Shannon Khatcheressian. Music direction by Bob Kraig. Vocal
direction by Michael Ehrlich. Design: Kevin King (set and lights) Kelsey
Cropp (costumes) Kat Brais and Andy Izquierdo (hair and makeup) Erin
Anderson (properties) Stan Harris (sound) Warren Reid (stage manager). Cast:
Brieann Anderson, Kadira Coley, Edward Brient, Alex Chu, Chan Chung, Janelle
Delaney, Michael L. Ehrlich, Corey Eskridge, Lance Han, Greg Khatcheressian,
Ryan Khatcheressian, Tien Nguyen, Carla Okouchi, Katie Pond, Edris Qarghah,
Faqir Qarghah, Jacqueline Ryan, Michael Schwandt, Nicole Scott, Keisha
Spaulding, JeRhonda Spaulding. Combo: Bob Kraig, Carla Okouchi, Rick
Peralta, Dan Spadoni. |
