The very qualities which make this production of the Verdi classic objectionable to adults make it perfect for young people. Disney's traditional cartoonization of the classics has added a happy ending to the poignantly tragic opera about an Egyptian princess, Amneris, hopelessly in love with her country's military hero, Radames, who falls in love with his captured slave, the Nubian princess Aida, whom the jealous Amneris has condemned to death, only to discover that Radames has chosen to die with her (not to worry, they meet again at a museum)! Add the bubblegum pop of Elton John and you have, in this awkward attempt to marry rock with the book musical, a production so simplistic and geared to adolescents it makes Saturday Night Fever look like My Fair Lady.
This schizophrenic production is part tragedy: Aida (an unremittingly intense Heather Hadley) and her ill-fated romance with Radames (Adam Pascal), and part Las Vegas: Sherie Renee Scott plays Amneris, with throw-away comic lines, as an airhead concerned only with the way she looks. She then metamorphoses from dipsy doodle to tragic ruler during the intermission. Wayne Cilento's choreography has Egyptians doing MTV rap moves.
The hero of the show is Bob Crowley, whose imaginative costumes and sets show where the money went. Most notable is his vertical swimming pool, inverted reflections of palm trees on water, and an outrageous Las Vegas-type fashion show with gals on the runway modeling outlandish costumes. And credit the bookwriters for the opening and closing scenes in which a modern day Aida and Radames meet again in the Egyptian wing of the Metropolitan Museum (stolen directly from One Touch of Venus). After all, every Disney show must have a happy ending!
