Theater Review
Aida (Musical.) by Tim Rice and Elton John
Essen Stage Holding, 30.04.05
Well, I don't think I have so very much to say about this. I was in Essen with one of my colleagues, who knew one of the dancers working in the show. (Actually, she new Many of the dancers working in the show.) So, we got tickets, and watched it.
I haven't got very much to compare it to, in the end though; Because it was the first large scale musical I've seen live. I must clarify that though: I've been in Gypsie, Blood Brothers, Evita, Aida, Victor/victoria, Les Miserables, and Cabaret. And I've also seen a few more than those in the theaters I've worked in. BUT... they were all -Theater productions. Produced by generalizing theaters. I don't know if I can communicate what the difference is to me.
One easy difference to point out, is that the chorus was a true, proper MUSICAL chorus; There was not a single opera singer in the lot of them. They do musical theater, and only musical theater, and are truly devoted to that style of singing. (That's opposed to Theater productions, where they have their chorus sing, -and they tend to have a bit of a classical, operatic sound. It's not a criticism, it's just a different style. Take any Ballet Company, and give them a modern dance to do. They'll end up doing it like a bunch of Ballerinas. That's just how they're trained to move.)
Another thing that I noticed, was that there was considerably more money going in to this one production. Unlike a repertoire theater, which has a number of pieces each year, this was a single production, so the entire budget went into it. This meant that it wasn't "Good Enough," it was exactly right, in every effect, and costume and set. That made me think of something else too: In a theater, there will be other generalizations besides the choir: The ballet too, will be what ever dancers the theater has. And much more than that: The soloists. Will be picked from the small selection of soloists in the theater. And these soloists will do a good job... but could it be as good a job as would be done by the best soloist picked from the entire country?
So, this was good in all these aspects, and better than things I'd seen before. (Though, I've seen all the elements before: Specially selected soloists for Cabaret, spectacular production for Aida, great costumes for Evita and Les Miserables, and the chorus I saw in the Estonian Cabaret.) And that made it harder to compare with the Aida I did in Estonia. I can make very simple, and rudimentary comparisons only; That their dances were mostly Modern, and thorough Modern, while ours were... silly,uninspired ... steps, by someone who works better with choruses, or singers. (Sorry, but Our "choreographer" for that production didn't know what to do with Dancers, who could do anything, and well, and specificaly. There were many instances of "Which foot was that? I don't know. just one of them to the front. Facing which way? Well... I don't know.")
One thing I can say though, is that the singer playing Princess Amneris, was blowing my socks off. First off, I must admit that seeing her in this first costume... well... stunned me. She was gorgeous. I'm talking about a degree where saliva on the public's shirt fronts may become a problem. And then her voice... was -well... -so, GOOD. It was so well suited to this roll.She was... magnificent for the part. She just shone, and could show off her voice to its full extent. (Incidentally, She showed her body off to that same extent. :-) And all the other soloists were good, but none of their voiced took my breath away like Amneris.
There was one thing that worked better in Estonia though, that was not as effective there in the Essen Production; "The Gods Love Nubia." This song is something like a spiritual, telling the slaves from Nubia that there remains hope for them. In Estonia, it was with a choir of at least 40. And it was just after sunset, in an open air theater, in the summer, and there were softly calling birds, and an endless sky, and the first stars coming out, and twinkling, and you had the silent rustling of over a thousand spectators seated there. And then one, beautiful voice started the theme, and was in time joined by the men, humming a harmony to it. And it built, and built, until you had all the voices of the choir, forte, and a cappella. It was -devine. And in Essen, it was only 20 singers or so, in a closed off space. Without a whole huge outdoor stage space to spread out over.
Truly though, that was the only supreme moment of the Tartu production. Everything else in Essen seemed better to me. Ah, and though the dancing was modern, it was fairly decent, respectable modern. (Please excuse my awful Biases.) And the dancers certainly did it credit, putting 100% energy into it. So... three cheers for that production.