Sometimes we're spontaneous. And when we're at a family party (thanks, Auntie Judy!) and my mom says, "Do you want these tickets to see Aida? I'll babysit your girls..." we say yes. Even though the show starts in an hour and a half. That's spontaneity. You can tell it's spontaneity because of how it is.
There were originally four tickets and we were supposed to find someone to give away the extra two to but we failed. 35 of the 35 people we invited to take them were not spontaneous enough (and that doesn't include the open-ended invitation we put out on facebook). So we went alone and gave away the tickets at the door because we're nice like that.
My little sister was supposed to go on a double-date with the tickets but her date got stomach flu so the tickets fell into our hands. They were hand-me-down tickets, but I don't mind hand-me-downs at all.
We went into Aida blind. We had hoped that the Aida (the opera) would play at the Cairo Opera House while we were in Egypt, but that didn't happen. So we went to see Aida (the musical) today...still not knowing the story.
Since it was a musical we thought it would be a hunky-dory, happy-ending story but it turns out it was a tragedy. Who knew? Only because it was Disney-ish it turns out that Aida and Radames are reincarnated thousands of years later and find each other in an Egyptian museum and instantly fall in love. Or so we are led to believe.
In truth (or at least the original operatic version) that didn't happen. Aida hides herself in the tomb in which Radames is to be buried alive and they find each other and they die in each other's arms. Tragic.
It kind of reminded me of Antigone, actually, as well as several other tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, anyone?
Ah, well. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun—that's from Ecclesiastes 1:9.
I thought it was a wonderful story and that it was wonderfully done.
They skewed the Nubian Empire a little bit but it's possible Andrew was the only person in the crowd who knew and/or cared. The Egyptian guards made me laugh whenever they danced but I think that was more me wondering how they ever found enough young men to agree to do it. The choreography for their numbers was a little...off...somehow. All in all, though, it was fantastic.
We were a little worried about getting rained on since it was at an outdoor amphitheater and there were black skies overhead, threatening to burst at any moment. Instead it just got really, really windy. Some trash blew onto the stage and danced among the "ancient" Egyptian pillars and I thought, "Look how authentic!" And then the unoccupied lawn chairs started blowing over and the stage lighting started bouncing up and down and I started worrying about them falling over and lighting the stage on fire. But they didn't.
I almost cried when Aida and Ramades were sentenced to death together by Amneris, and although I thought it was cheesy when they met up in the museum all of five minutes (or several thousand years) later, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch the operatic version of Aida. Because then I will cry for certain!
There were originally four tickets and we were supposed to find someone to give away the extra two to but we failed. 35 of the 35 people we invited to take them were not spontaneous enough (and that doesn't include the open-ended invitation we put out on facebook). So we went alone and gave away the tickets at the door because we're nice like that.
My little sister was supposed to go on a double-date with the tickets but her date got stomach flu so the tickets fell into our hands. They were hand-me-down tickets, but I don't mind hand-me-downs at all.
We went into Aida blind. We had hoped that the Aida (the opera) would play at the Cairo Opera House while we were in Egypt, but that didn't happen. So we went to see Aida (the musical) today...still not knowing the story.
Since it was a musical we thought it would be a hunky-dory, happy-ending story but it turns out it was a tragedy. Who knew? Only because it was Disney-ish it turns out that Aida and Radames are reincarnated thousands of years later and find each other in an Egyptian museum and instantly fall in love. Or so we are led to believe.
In truth (or at least the original operatic version) that didn't happen. Aida hides herself in the tomb in which Radames is to be buried alive and they find each other and they die in each other's arms. Tragic.
It kind of reminded me of Antigone, actually, as well as several other tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, anyone?
Ah, well. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun—that's from Ecclesiastes 1:9.
I thought it was a wonderful story and that it was wonderfully done.
They skewed the Nubian Empire a little bit but it's possible Andrew was the only person in the crowd who knew and/or cared. The Egyptian guards made me laugh whenever they danced but I think that was more me wondering how they ever found enough young men to agree to do it. The choreography for their numbers was a little...off...somehow. All in all, though, it was fantastic.
We were a little worried about getting rained on since it was at an outdoor amphitheater and there were black skies overhead, threatening to burst at any moment. Instead it just got really, really windy. Some trash blew onto the stage and danced among the "ancient" Egyptian pillars and I thought, "Look how authentic!" And then the unoccupied lawn chairs started blowing over and the stage lighting started bouncing up and down and I started worrying about them falling over and lighting the stage on fire. But they didn't.
I almost cried when Aida and Ramades were sentenced to death together by Amneris, and although I thought it was cheesy when they met up in the museum all of five minutes (or several thousand years) later, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch the operatic version of Aida. Because then I will cry for certain!
There was one point of the show where I expected her to say, Ramades, Ramades, Wherefore art thou, Ramades? :)
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