It's not just the Palace Theatre that's being refurbished for the March 23 opening of Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida." The show itself has been undergoing some not-so-fine retuning since it closed in Chicago in January, including during its current four weeks of previews. The $15-million Disney production will have a projected advance ticket sale of also $15 million, a healthy but not record-breaking figure, by opening night.
Among the ongoing changes in the show is a libretto that now has three authors: Robert Falls, the show's director; Henry David Hwang, the playwright ("M. Butterfly," "Golden Child") who was brought in as "creative consultant" after the show's unsuccessful debut in Atlanta in 1998; and the original book writer, Linda Woolverton. Composer John and lyricist Rice have added at least one song since the Chicago run, "Fortune Favors the Brave."
John, who because of his extensive touring schedule has not been able to participate in the day-to-day evolution of the musical, bolted out of Sunday's matinee only 15 minutes into the performance, objecting to two incidental pieces of dance music added to the score in his absence. Reportedly he found the two techno-pop dance numbers based on his compositions "My Strongest Suit" and "Another Pyramid" "already dated." Production sources could not or would not say if the offending numbers would be stricken from the score. But John is expected to revisit "Aida" next week.
As in Verdi's "Aida" (the most-performed opera in history), the Broadway version centers on the story of a love triangle among the captive Nubian princess slave Aida; her mistress, the Egyptian pharaoh's daughter Amneris; and the newly named commander of the Egyptian forces Radames, who is in charge of fighting Aida's people. Lavish spectacle surrounds the central plot. The Broadway cast numbers 25.
The new John-Rice number is an attempt to build up the role of Radames, played by Adam Pascal, who made his reputation playing Roger in "Rent." In addition, Pascal has been re-assigned what was the show's title song in Atlanta, "Elaborate Lives." This was sung by Aida herself (Heather Headley) through the Chicago run. Headley gets to reprise "Elaborate Lives" in the second act, but was said to be unhappy at losing her show-stopping number, which she also recorded on the "Aida" concept album. Headley and Sherie Rene Scott, who plays Amneris, overshadowed Pascal's Radames in Chicago, according to seasoned observers.
John, who first saw the "Elaborate Lives" version on opening night in Atlanta, didn't see the Disney-mandated metamorphosis into "Aida" until the opening night in Chicago in December. Sunday afternoon would have been his first sight of the New York incarnation, had he stayed. Audience and production observers found his storming out of the theatre, with an entourage of four young men, "rude to the performers, rude to the audience, and rude to everyone who has worked so hard to get to the show," one unnamed company member told The New York Post. John and company "were sitting in the middle of a row, so they had to climb over people to get out."
A more usual reaction would have been to meet with the producer, director, and other principals after the show to give "notes" on his objections. John also displayed his temper at a press conference after last Wednesday's Grammy Awards, on which he performed, calling the awards "bullshit."
Only Headley and Scott remain from the Atlanta cast of "Aida," and Falls took over as director in Chicago, replacing Robert Jess Ross. Bob Crowley replaced Stanley A. Meyer as set designer, and the famously non-working moveable pyramid from the Atlanta production is long gone. Wayne Cilento was not replaced as choreographer, but after out-of-town critics found his work clunky, many of his dance numbers have been eliminated or reduced in length. Among those cut down is the fashion show at the end of "My Strongest Suit," Scott's big first-act number as Amneris. The clothing display, a tribute to the late Gianni Versace, a John friend, was deemed irrelevant to the love story.
The refurbishing of the fabled Palace Theatre itself has cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars," Stewart Lane, a producer who co-owns the venue with the Nederlander organization, told Playbill On-Line.
The major renovations have been completed. These include installing new carpeting and additional seats and repainting the auditorium's interior, which had been maroon, in a warmer earth tone with gold trim. A new bar was added in the balcony level, and an additional chandelier was hung in this first Palace re-do in a decade.
Some "checklist" items remained undone this week. Lane could have been speaking for the production team as well as himself and the Nederlanders when he said, "It's like it always is in the theatre: we're stilling working on it."