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[0:00] Tim Rice: Hello, this is Tim Rice, and this is episode 52 of my podcast, Get Onto My Cloud.

[0:16] Tim Rice: In the past, yikes, 56 years in which I've been contributing lyrics to musicals and to movies and to the occasional one-off song, one of my favorite shows featuring my words is Aida. The music was by Elton John. The producers were Disney Theatricals. Aida played on Broadway for over four years at the turn of the century, opening at the Palace Theatre in March 2000 and closing in July 2004. As everyone agrees, the 20th century did not end until the close of the year 2000, and the 21st, that wonderful century we now occupy, didn't begin until the 1st of January 2001. Many shows that managed to survive more than 12 months are not slow to proclaim that the production is now into its second amazing year.

I suggested, after the 1st of January 2001, that the Aida posters outside the theatre should now say, Into Our Second Amazing Century, but this imaginative proposal cut no ice with the Disney PR machine. Still, its run of 1,852 performances was quite an impressive achievement. Not a Lion King-type stat, that one's now heading for nearly 10,000 performances, but still in the all-time top 40 on Broadway and ahead of the 1979 original Zavita, 1,567, but admittedly mega-running shows were much rarer in the 70s and early 80s.

[1:46] Tim Rice: I recounted much of the story of Aida's conception, creation, ups and downs in Atlanta and Chicago before the show's eventual Broadway debut, in Get Onto My Cloud Parts 8 and 9. So, for gripping backstage gossip and how we took Disney's first totally original stage musical to New York, despite plenty of drama, changes of direction, and changes of creative personnel, please refer to those two podcasts, where you will also hear some of the songs. To my amazement, Elton and I won the Tony Award for Best Original Score, which, thanks to world tours, pressing holiday arrangements, and a Lord's Test match, we were unable to accept in person at the 2000 Tony Awards bash. At the Palace Theatre, we were blessed with an outstanding cast, led by Heather Headley, Adam Pascal, and Cherie Renee Scott, whose interpretation of our words and music was all we could have wished for. Nip over to podcasts 8 and 9 to hear them.

[2:47] Tim Rice: But not surprisingly, the first vocalist to sing the song was Elton himself. He recorded demos of virtually every song, and they are among the most prized demos of my stuff in my shambolically-filed archive, which I am attempting to sort out in my twilight years. One of my favourite Elton and Aida tracks is Not Me, a song which never quite hit home, in my opinion, in the show, because it was broken up by chat, which may have helped the plot, but seriously compromised the impact of the song. I've always felt that there's hardly ever justification for a song in a musical to be interrupted by dialogue. Once a song gets going, it should be allowed to flow and build emotionally, rhythmically, or whateverly.

The punters, by and large, have paid to see a musical, and if the music is compromised, they will be disappointed, losing the full emotional zap of a number, even if they don't realise what they're missing. The plot bit, of course very important too, should be dealt with between numbers, which will have the added plus of making the story clearer.

[4:02] Tim Rice: All this obviously only applies to a musical, which also has a spoken book. Creators of a musical often feel the need to explain things in much more detail than necessary. Am I talking about directors here? I could not possibly comment, but sometimes, in fact more often than not, the message gets through to the audience more strongly when delivered emotionally rather than intellectually, i.e. via a song or even just a tune. The more you explain, the more you need to explain. Anyway, back to Not Me, a ballad which in the show got mixed up with rather too much else going on, including Radames giving his possessions away, his servant analysing his master's emotions, Amneris asking Aida to send a message to Radames, and all this taking place over several scene changes, from the banks of the Nile to the marketplace to Radames' tent. All in all, the song got lost. Elton's original demo makes far more of the song. Here it is, Not Me.

[5:26] ♪ Musical number: "Not Me" — performed by Elton John ♪

[9:41] Tim Rice: Thanks to the pandemic, optimistic plans to get Aida back on the road and thence to Europe and to London for the first time have been stalled for the best part of two years. But now there are definite dates set for new workshops in New York. Dates in April, May and June 2022. Will they happen? Watch this space. It certainly seems strange that a show which has had considerable success on Broadway, toured the US and which was played in several European countries, notably Holland in Dutch, for nearly two years in the famous Dutch musical house Circus Theater in Scheveningen, it's certainly strange that it's already taken over 20 years not to get to the West End, nor has it ever been professionally staged elsewhere in the UK. After all, it's the home of both its composer and lyricist.

[10:30] Tim Rice: During the Broadway run, a pretty good lineup of theatre and record stars took the major roles, such as Idina Menzel, Toni Braxton, Michelle Williams, Nina Simone's daughter Simone, Taylor Dane, Patrick Cassidy and Mickey Dolenz. Former monkey Mickey has a close link with my final musical offering at the end of this podcast. On the face of it, a Broadway show with that track record and pedigree, not to mention a full recovery of its investment costs and a profit of 12 million dollars, should have strolled into the West End. But the unavailability of a suitable theatre and perhaps a little loss of nerve on behalf of the producers and certainly on behalf of the lyricist, it was felt that the time in venues were not 100% auspicious. So back in 2001, dither and concern turned into loss of enthusiasm.

[11:26] Tim Rice: However, with Aida now, two decades later in the directorial hands of Shelley Williams, who originated the role of Nahepka in Aida on Broadway, confidence has returned and it is she who will be an artistic charge of the new workshops and who will direct the new productions. I played Dance of the Robe, featuring her powerful and moving lead vocals in Get Onto My Cloud, Episode 8. The Aida Tony winners Bob Crowley, Sets and Natasha Katz, Lighting, will be once again on the team and Disney Theatricals once again at the production helm. David Henry Huang will return to the book, i.e. the script. All of this is good news.

[12:05] Tim Rice: Inevitably, as the world has moved on, the interpretation of Antonio Ghislanzoni's original story of the doomed love affair between a Nubian princess, Aida, and an Egyptian prince, Radames, whose nations are at war, may change in emphasis. But the essence of the tragic legend that inspired Verdi back in 1871 will surely resonate still a century and a half later. Human nature, in both its greatest and most unpleasant forms, has barely changed for a lot longer than that.

[14:27] ♪ Musical number: "All This Letter Will Have to Do" — performed by Tim Rice ♪

[18:22] ♪ Musical number: "I Am Here To Tell You" — performed by Tim Rice ♪

[22:29] Tim Rice: Finally, a footnote re-Michael Nesmith. I was a great fan of Michael's, both in his capacity as a Monkee and even more so of his later work with the First National Band, so I was sad to hear of his death this month, December 2021, at the comparatively early age of 78. At least, I hope 78's a comparatively early age. He wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit in 1967, "Different Drum," although she was technically part of a trio called the Stone Ponies at the time. Unaccountably, their record was not very successful in the UK, so I covered it in 1972 under the bizarre moniker Huddersfield Transit Authority. My voice is barely in the fourth division compared with Linda's, but Nick Ingman did a fine arrangement to compensate.

The single flopped, but I'm closing this episode to get onto my club with it, so you can safely turn me off. There's no chat after it's finished, but do look out for episodes 8 and 9 for more Aida stuff. In the meantime, Michael Nesmith, R.I.P., a charming gentleman with whom I spent one relaxed dinner back around 1980. I wish there had been more.

[23:54] ♪ Musical number: "Different Drum" — performed by Tim Rice ♪