Review: Slickly produced 'Aida' not deep but plenty loud.

Jim Kershner _Staff writer_March 31, 2007

"Aida" is not exactly grand opera. Call it grand Elton.

Or maybe, grandiose Elton.

The Elton John-Tim Rice Broadway version of "Aida" is, for the most part, a successful pop-rock-gospel update of the Verdi opera.

On the plus side, this "Aida" has: tuneful Elton John melodies, plenty of top-quality performers, a striking set and brilliant lighting effects.

On the con side: bombastic vocals, a thin love-triangle plot, and a blizzard of uninspired lyrics.

That's assuming you can catch the lyrics. I heard from a number of theatergoers Thursday night who complained about the rock-concert volume of the nine-piece orchestra, including one couple who said they walked out after 30 minutes.

The volume didn't bother me – I've been desensitized from too many rock concerts. But I will concur that the lyrics are especially difficult to make out on first hearing, mainly because of the style of delivery.

Still, as pop-rock musical scores go, this one is superior to most. John is, without question, a gifted writer of melodies. In song after song – "Written in the Stars," "Elaborate Lives," "Like Father, Like Son" – John's melodies are full of surprises and invention. He avoids, in many cases, melodic clichés.

If only lyricist Tim Rice had done the same.

We hear, for instance, that "we are free to have it all," and that "too many choices tear us apart" and that "the present is an empty space between the good and the bad." In other words, we hear standard, bland, adult-contemporary-radio sentiments.

This has the unfortunate effect of making the entire plot seem bland. It doesn't help that the plot devotes only partial attention to the larger issues – slavery, for instance – and all of the rest to the love-triangle melodrama of Aida, Amneris and Radames.

On the other hand, this is a love triangle for the ages.

You have one Egyptian princess and one enslaved Nubian princess both in love with the same hunky Egyptian general. Guess which one the general chooses?

Marja Harmon delivers an intense and powerful performance as Aida, the Nubian princess. She is especially moving in "Easy as Life" and in the exceptional act-one gospel-tinged closer, "The Gods Love Nubia."

Leah Allers as Amneris provides welcome comic relief in the song, "My Strongest Suit," portraying the Egyptian princess as a ditzy blond Valley girl who proclaims, "So forget the inner me, observe the outer, I am what I wear." Yet Allers also successfully delivers the show's key dramatic moment when she intervenes to save Aida and Radames.

As Radames, Casey Elliott's strong voice was too bombastic for my taste, as if channeling the lead singer of Journey. Yet as an actor, he commanded the stage and also demonstrated a remarkable compassion. He was an alpha male with a conscience.

The ensemble members, many of whom have Alvin Ailey dance backgrounds, were incredibly nimble and well trained.