"Aida" takes stage Nov. 6-8
by Lindsay Hoeppner · October 14, 2009 Musical icons Tim Rice and Elton John don’t have anything on a select group of West Liberty High School drama students.
At least, not when they’re belting out their own special arrangements to the school’s fall production of “Aida,” a rock musical in two acts, based on Giuseppe Verdi’s Italian-language opera by the same name.
Originating from a children’s storybook version of Verdi’s opera written by the soprano Leontyne Price, the rights to the book were acquired by Disney studios for a proposed animated feature film. Although the book has not yet been developed into a screenplay, the material eventually was adapted into a stage version, which West Liberty High School will bring to the limelight Nov. 6-8 at the Alberta Metcalf Kelly Auditorium.
“The music department really wanted to do it, and we thought it was a good musical to really challenge the actors that we had in the program at the time,” said director Shelley Leiser. “We were looking for something that wasn’t too cheesy and something that had good singing and good acting.”
“Aida” proved to be just that.
A story of forbidden and unrequited love, “Aida” follows the lives of two contemporary youths — Aida and Radames — in ancient Egypt.
“It’s basically a Romeo and Juliet type of thing,” Leiser said. “They’re two people who love each other, but don’t really have the chance to be together. They’re not destined for each other — at least not yet.”
Auditions for the production were held in early September, with rehearsals beginning immediately after the cast was chosen.
The 20 plus member ensemble has been running through the musical each day after school in anticipation of the November performances, however the drama department is taking it a step further this year.
Instead of having only leads for each role, Leiser also cast understudies.
“We have such strong underclassmen, and we wanted to make sure they had a chance to perform,” Leiser said. “It’s working out really well for us.”
While the leads will take the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7, the understudies will have their shot to showcase their acting and singing abilities at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8.
Running an estimated two and a half hours, Leiser said the storyline is easy to understand, and features a rock music line — performed by a live pit orchestra — to boot.
“It’s way different than anything we’ve done in the past six years,” Leiser said. “All the music is done by Elton John and Tim Rice, so it’s really modern music even though it takes place in ancient Egypt.”
Tickets for the production are $5 for students and children and $6 for adults. |
