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Variety Was Key to Muny Season
‘Aida’ Closes Muny’s 98th Season
On a High Note of Love and Peace
by Pat Lindsey
The final show of The Muny season is always bittersweet because it signifies that the end of summer is near and we’ll have to wait until next June to enjoy sitting beneath the stars and losing ourselves in the genius of Mike Isaacson again.
This 98th season began with a real rainbow over the Land of Oz and ended in a tomb in Egypt. During ten weeks of Muny magic, we met man-made monsters in Transylvania, looked for trouble in River City, tap-danced on Broadway, asked what the name of the game was on a Greek isle, and watched the sun set on Anatevka, but some of us had no idea what to expect from Aida. I only knew that if Elton John and Tim Rice wrote the songs, the music had to be better than good.
Aida is the story of love during a time of hate in ancient Egypt. Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child fame reprises her role of Aida, the captured princess of Nubia, who falls into a love triangle with Radames, the Egyptian captain who enslaved her people, and his betrothed Princess Amneris. The Grammy-award winner first played the title role 13 years ago on Broadway when the show received critical acclaim. From her first song to her last, Williams mesmerizes the audience with her strong, gorgeous voice and we wonder how such a small woman can belt out the big songs such as “Easy as Life ” and “Dance of the Robe.” Zak Resnick, who played Sky in Mamma Mia on Broadway, is now Aida’s love interest and blends his beautiful tenor voice with that of Michelle Williams in lovely duets such as “Enchantment Passing Through.”
The story begins at sunset as the handsome Captain Radames (Zak Resnick) and his men are returning from an expedition through the land of Egypt’s long-time enemy, Nubia. They have captured a group of Nubian women and Radames is captivated by one of the them, Aida, who tries to free herself by out-dueling one of his soldiers. Radames saves Aida’s companions from the copper mines and certain death by sending them to work with the palace groundskeeper. He then presents Aida to his fiance’, Amneris (Taylor Louderman), to be her handmaiden. Taylor Louderman’s portrayal of Amneris provides comic relief to a serious plot. She’s beautiful and sings like an angel, but at times she acts like a spoiled Bridezilla who still appreciates quality and high threadcount in Egyptian fabric.
As time passes, Radames and Aida are drawn to each other, but the Pharaoh (Lara Teeter) has ordered Radames to marry his daughter, Amneris, in seven days. Radames confesses to his ambitious father, Zoser (Patrick Cassidy), that he does not want to marry Amneris because he
loves Aida, but Zoser flies into a rage and tells him that he has worked too hard to allow him to throw away his opportunity to ascend the throne and rule Egypt. Zoser orders his men to find Aida and kill her. Meanwhile, Aida convinces Radames that he must go through with the wedding ceremony so that his plans to free her captured father, the King of Nubia (Muny favorite Ken Page), can be carried out by the river, where a boat is waiting to return the king and Princess Aida to Nubia.
Throughout the story, a Nubian slave, Mereb. delivers messages between Aida and Radames. His role is crucial to the events that unfold and superbly played by Wonza Johnson. Although he did not approve of the romance between Aida and Radames, he knew immediately that she was nobility and sang about it in “How I Know You.”
During the wedding ceremony, a guard interupts with the announcement that Aida and the king are trying to escape, chaos and fighting occurs, Mereb is killed by Zoser, and Radames and Aida are accused of treason. The Pharaoh sentences both Aida and Radames to be buried alive, but Amneris convinces her father to let the lovers die in the same tomb, an act of mercy for two people she has come to love–an act befitting one who is about to inherit the throne.
The ending of this love story might come as a surprise, but it must remain as locked up as a tomb until you go to The Muny and experience Aida for yourself. Aida is the perfect ending to a perfectly splendid Muny season. It was “Written in the Stars.”
Aida is playing at The Muny in Forest Park nightly at 8:15 p.m. through Aug. 14. For more information, call 314-361-1900 or visit muny.org.
