From left, Chani Wereley, Shayla S. Simmons, and Jobari Parker-Namdar star in “Aida.” (Photo by Andrew Propp courtesy of Constellation Theatre Company)
The official title of Constellation Theatre Company’s current production is Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida. In this incarnation our heroine Aida cedes top billing: She’s the possession of two Brits joined by an ampersand. Giuseppe Verdi, on the other hand, simply called his immortal opera Aida. Alas, he lived in a backwards world, long before search engine optimization and penicillin were modern innovations.
When John and Rice’s Aida debuted on Broadway in 2000, Disney was tightening its grip on Times Square and adjacent theaters. Stage adaptations of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King were proven blockbusters. The latter remains an artistic outlier, a transcendent showcase of pathos and puppetry. But the Mouse House needed to fill a void, and since Elton John refused to score another animated film, Aida skipped the cineplex and landed onstage.
And so, a bad show was rushed into production. Aida is a tragedy in every way. No company, even one as talented and enthusiastic as Constellation, can elevate this dreck. The problem isn’t execution, but this material, which is here billed as “Broadway’s timeless love story.” Um, sure. Okay.
I guess we can elide narrative holes, like how the proud princess Aida (a radiant Shayla S. Simmons) falls deep in love with her asshole captor Radames (Jobari Parker-Namdar). Or why another fabulous princess (Chani Wereley, a scene-stealer) is willing to wait so long to be his bride. In what world, ancient or modern, could this story solidify and then unravel so quickly?
None of this would matter if the tunes were good. I’m a big fan of The Lion King. Imagine “Hakuna Matata” as the best song this musical never lives up to. “Written in the Stars” comes closest, a schmaltzy remake of Bonnie Tyler or Meatloaf bombast. But mostly these songs are dull, generic pastiches, a smorgasbord of blah.
And yet, the set design is visually dazzling, an Art Deco-inspired confluence of triangular edges of blues and golds. The show’s lighting, which includes colors that change up and down a ribcage of LEDs, is hypnotic.
Constellation makes the most of a poor hand. Aida is too long, too tedious, too pedestrian. But who’s to blame? Disney? Elton John? Tim Rice? No, they didn’t resurrect this zombie of a show. Constellation Theatre Company decided to raise the dead, just in time for Halloween.
Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida from Constellation Theatre Company is playing at Source through November 18, tickets $25-$55.
