AIDA

WARNING: MUSICAL TALK

After lunch with Anna yesterday, I drove past the Media Theater and nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw the marquee:

Coming this fall: ELTON JOHN'S AIDA

I love Aida. I saw it several years back with JB, and it was one of the few shows that pleasantly surprised us. The morning after the show, I asked Rachel if she had any intention of seeing it. When she said no, I proceeded to tell her the entire plot, in detail. By the end of my reenactment, Rachel was crying. We then talked about seeing it together some day. Then one day I read that Aida was closing and Adam Pascal had returned to close the role he had originated. Now Adam Pascal - you have to understand - he is the original Roger from RENT and the original Radames in Aida. I hear his voice all the time in the soundtracks, but I have never seen him in person. So, Rachel and I went up to NYC hoping we could get tickets to Aida.

It was a sad morning. Tickets were sold out or $100 for partial view. The guy at TKTS said they may have tickets on sale when the booth reopened in the afternoon. Rachel and I debated on what we should do because another possibility - a serious long shot - was to try to win lottery tickets for Wicked. I say it was a serious long shot because over 200 people try to win some 20 tickets. I had tried a couple of times but lost. Eventually I made a decision. We would try to win lottery tickets for the Wicked matinee. I just couldn't come to NYC and not try for them. If we won those tickets, we would miss our chance at buying Aida tickets and would miss our last chance to see it. However, as I told Rachel, "if we win Wicked tickets, it's because Jesus wants us to see it." If we didn't get the tickets, we'd walk the streets of NYC until the TKTS booth reopened and try for Aida. If that also failed, there was always RENT :) It was a plan.

And oh how Jesus loves us! Before the massive crowd, the lottery man screamed out "Rachel Bare!" It was one of most thrilling of my life. Rachel had just won two front row center tickets to the most popular show on Broadway for a whopping $25 a piece!! And so, without a single thought, we said goodbye to Aida. And that was fine with me. I got to have my Beatles moment with Idina Menzel, and Rachel and I got to see what we both consider one of the best, if not the best show, we have ever seen.

But we still haven't seen Aida. Of course, the first thing I did when I saw that marquee at Media Theater was leave a message for Rachel and make a date for this fall. Awesome.

I do acknowledge it can totally suck. Several years ago I saw Footloose the Musical on Broadway. That's when I met and fell in love with Kush (it's okay, Timmy, I love you more). Rachel didn't get a chance to see it but listened to my soundtrack so much that she wanted to see it too. One day I saw a commercial saying that Footloose the Musical (not with Kush) was coming to the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. It was a sad, sad production. Truly pathetic. So, my hopes for Aida at the Media Theater aren't very high. But that won't keep me from seeing the show. When it comes to musicals, it's about the experience. Even a bad production can be a good time.

I need to talk to Rachel about exactly which day we will see the show, but if you are interested in joining us, just let me know.