Elton John's 'Aida' to rock Virginia Beach

Sing out, Aida!

But give it a beat. In fact, rock it, honey.

Virginia Musical Theatre opens its Broadway at the Center season Friday with "Elton John's Aida" in what amounts to a marathon run of five performances in three days.

In and out, quick. There's hardly room for reviews to come out, much less word of mouth - be it good or bad. (Rumors are that the cost of renting Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is one of the factors in the abbreviated run. VMT, in the old days at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, ran for two weekends).

For those who have been waiting for Virginia Opera to do a big "Aida," this is not their day. (Perhaps camels and elephants are not yet in the budget, even for the well-heeled company). For VMT, which bills itself as the state's only professional musical theater, the composer is Elton John, not Giuseppe Verdi.

It is still based on a story penned by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Aida is a slave girl who falls in love with a prince and, well, you know operas. Any of the principals who are left alive at the end are novelties.

"Aida," which opened to mixed reviews on Broadway, went on to win a Tony Award for its leading lady (a diva role) and a long run. It was plagued, though, with developmental tough choices from the start.

I remember telephone calls from Peter Schneider, the original producer. I met him at the world premiere of the movie "Beauty and the Beast," the first and only animated movie to be nominated for an Oscar in the best-picture category. He was head of animation at the Disney film studio, along with Jeffrey Katzenberg (who was on the run from the flop Disney "live" movies and eager to take credit for hit animations) and Thomas Schumacher (now the head of Disney Theatricals with current hits "Mary Poppins" and "The Little Mermaid").

Schneider was that rare Hollywood producer who could, and would, talk openly about creative things - things that went wrong as well as right. He was particularly interested in theater, which opened the way to a common ground.

After "Beauty and the Beast" made him and Schumacher Broadway producers, he talked about what to do next as he switched from film to theater. I suggested "The Little Mermaid."

"It, by far, is the best musical score of all the new generation of Disney films," I pointed out. "Add a few songs and you have the perfect Broadway score."

He agreed, but there was a pause. A long pause.

"We want to do 'The Lion King,' " he said.

"No," I said, followed by "How?"

"They are four-legged beasts," I pointed out. "You can't do four-legged critters onstage. If you're going to do that, why not go ahead and do 'Bambi'? Are you going to have the lion standing on two legs? Well, it worked in Oz with the Cowardly Lion but, well, I suggest doing 'The Little Mermaid.' "

"We're going to do lions with puppets," Schneider added.

"Puppets? You're going to ask people to pay $100 to see puppets? Peter, think about it. Do 'The Little Mermaid.' "

"We're going to hire Julie Taymor. She has some ideas."

That was an understatement. Taymor proved to be a genius. Flash forward to the opening night of "The Lion King" on Broadway. I was there. In fact, I came in right ahead of the giraffe. Not knowing there was a giraffe behind me, I wondered why everyone was staring. The rest, as they say, is history.

Schumacher and Schneider won the Tony for best musical.

So what did they want to do next?

"Aida," Schneider said.

A pause. A long pause.

"It's an opera," I said. "Are you going to use the Verdi music? Well, at least they are humans. Everyone can stand on two feet. But (pause, pause) yes, it will work in either case. And think! It will be new. This will be the first Disney show not to be based on a Disney movie."

It, indeed, was a step toward Disney Theatricals truly becoming theatrical.

Then, things began to go wrong.

We talked. The first production of "Aida" was called "Elaborate Lies" and was staged in Atlanta. I couldn't make it, but it was a flop.

The trouble seemed to be that it was too serious. Too Egyptian. Too literal. Too "historical" and not hysterical. The Disney high-and-mighties flew to Atlanta and collectively said no.

The Chicago run made the difference. The show became (maybe partially due to ego) "Elton John's Aida." A modern frame was added so that the romance of Aida and Radames had a kind of campy, mod touch. In other words, make fun of yourself and you can get away with plenty. Amneris, the other main character, who also falls for Radames, became a kind of fashion-obsessed yuppie. It got to Broadway, and it ran.

When last heard from, which hasn't been recently, Schneider was working on an off-Broadway musical version of the Whoopi Goldberg fun-nun movie, "Sister Act." Also, he had become, according to some sources, an international bridge champion - roaming the world and playing bridge.

Schumacher is head of Disney Theatricals, busily counting the money from "Mary Poppins" and "The Little Mermaid," which finally made it to Broadway. (One is suspicious that the bad reviews are partially due to reaction from New York insiders against the Disney empire, but it can't be said for sure, here, because I have yet to see "Mermaid.")

Now this "Aida" comes to Virginia Beach.

Felicia Boswell has the title role. She once sang it on tour. Radames is played by Ricky Nehas, who has played Abraham in the hottie-boy show "Altar Boyz," the musical about a group of Christian boys who go to New York and find their faith challenged. Amneris is played by Jacqueline Bayne, who was most recently seen on Broadway in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

It is directed by Chip Gallagher, who began his career working with the Disney franchise in Florida 25 years ago. Paul Miller is designing the lighting. He worked on "Lion King" and, more recently, on "Legally Blonde." The music director is R. Mark Snedegar, who is on hiatus from directing the orchestra from "Lion King" on tour. (One could imagine hearing that music every night for a number of years might, indeed, require a hiatus.)

The scenery, which is often a deal-breaker with VMT's budget, is designed by Benjamin Needham. His assignment is both ancient Egypt and mod modern. His work is cut out for him. The costumes, which hopefully will include a few bare midriffs, are by U'nice d'Boombu.

It was choreographer Tim Smith, though, who has been with "Aida" from the first. (Elton John's, that is. No one is left alive who was with the Verdi version from the first.) Smith, a native of Hopewell, majored in telecommunications and television at James Madison University but worked summers in musical revues at King's Dominion. The shows had titles like "Dancing in the City" and "Those Magnificent Movies." He was hooked.

Originally considering himself a singer, he learned to dance and left for New York. He's been in there for 15 years and has danced in shows that starred Bernadette Peters ("Annie Get Your Gun"), Christina Applegate ("Sweet Charity"), Rosie O'Donnell ("Grease") and, of course, "Aida," beginning in Atlanta.

"Everything in 'Aida' was changed during a three-month run in Chicago," he remembered as he took time out from local rehearsals. "They brought in a new director. They made the leads sexier. They added humor. They scrapped the Egyptian period seriousness."

In a cast of 25, the local version, entirely produced and designed in Virginia Beach with a cast imported from New York, features 16 dancers - eight guys and eight gals.

"We auditioned in New York, and I'd guess some 200 people showed up," Smith said. "In some shows, the choreographer has to teach people to dance before he can teach them the choreography. That's not true here. These are dancers. We have two big dance numbers, 'Another Pyramid' for the guys and 'My Strongest Suit' for the gals. My job is to make them make themselves look good."

From Atlanta to Chicago to Broadway to Virginia Beach, Smith has spent more than five years working with "Aida."

"I just saw the set," he said, reflecting the rush of less than two weeks of local rehearsal. "It's spectacular. It's all going to work."

That's the kind of optimism that puts on shows.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com