The warhorse classics of screwball comedy and musical theater are the meat and potatoes of community theaters all across the nation.
Titles like “The Music Man” and “Singing in the Rain” are safer bets to draw strong audiences for often cash-strapped and struggling theaters.
I’m not knocking those musicals. I chose them specifically because they both will be staged at the Plaza later this season.
These two are classics because they are darn good stories with catchy, toe-tapping music.
There is nothing wrong with staging great plays that will draw an audience and entertain. That is what theaters do.
Some brave, others might say foolhardy, theaters will sometimes seek to challenge their audience with something fresh, new and unfamiliar.
The Plaza is laying out an invitation to its audience to step outside the familiar and experience something new with its muted, luminous production of “Aida.”
This soon-to-be classic has never been performed in Johnson County and has had only two other performances in the Metroplex.
“Aida” is a rock musical based on the Verdi opera of the same name.
Please, do not stop reading because I used the words “rock musical” and “opera” in the same sentence.
I agree, both can be scary, but we are not talking “Hair,” or The Who’s “Tommy,” or some rather rotund lady with Viking horns on her head shouting in German or Italian.
The music and lyrics for “Aida” were written by Elton John and Tim Rice.
The music evokes the time in the play while still being familiar and comforting to modern listeners.
The musical styles range from gospel to Motown to reggae. It’s John’s strongest work since “The Lion King.”
Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang wrote he book for “Aida.”
It’s a classic story of love, betrayal and heartbreak. If the second act doesn’t tug at your heart strings, then you don’t have a romantic corpuscle in your bloodstream.
To stage a production as daring as “Aida,” a theater has to have a drop-dead-on cast.
Directors JaceSon and Tina Barrus are uniquely adept at putting together the finest talent in a 100 mile range and then wringing out every ounce of that talent on stage. They have outdone themselves this time.
Feleceia Benton stuns in the title role. I could throw out a laundry list of superlatives to describe her voice and performance, but you’d just think she was my cousin or I was being heavily paid.
All I’ll say is a that performer like Benton doesn’t roll through town too often, and it would be your loss if you didn’t catch at least one performance.
Kyle Adams plays the romantic lead, Radames. Adams more than has the vocal chops to hold his own with Benton, and his performance is passionate and heartfelt.
He is perhaps a little slight for a rough-and-tumble, Egyptian warrior prince, but he has a believable chemistry with Benton that wraps the audience tight.
As strong and mesmerizing as Benton and Adams are, Courtney Sikora as Anmeris will affect you the most.
She wrings every ounce of emotion out of her performance, and her character’s strength and growth is surprising.
Crystal Hires deserves an honorable mention. Hires has the kind of voice that will push you to the back of the room when she lets loose.
The set and lighting design is first rate and visually stunning.
The only real quibble is with some of the costuming. Let’s just say they might want to rethink the placement of Adams’ wireless microphone transmitter.
Small nitpicks really, but that’s what happens when you set the bar as high as the Plaza has over the last season.
“Aida” runs through April 25. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, with two performances Saturdays at 3 and 7:30 p.m.
As an added bonus the Double J Café right next door in the Wright Building will be open before and after performances.
It’s a great place to stop by for coffee and desert.
For information and reservations at the Plaza call 817-202-0600 or visit www.plaza-theatre.com.
Cleburne
Related Photos
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From left, Feleceia Benton, Courtney Sikora and Kyle Adams star in the Elton John musical “Aida,” a love-triangle story set in Egypt. Mark A. Nobles/Special to the Times-Review
Discussion
‘Aida’ breaks new ground
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