Springville, Utah, USA
The joy is just as intense, just as pure. I had a dream for the last 5 years to see Tim Rice and Elton John's Broadway production of AIDA and yet my annual visits to NYC somehow didn't provide this opportunity, though I did have the pleasure of the Phantom, the frolic of Mamma Mia, the romance of Beauty and the Beast, the mystery of Wicked, the simplicity of Oklahoma, the feline physicality of Cats, the innocence of Annie, the colours of Joseph and several other plays and off Broadway stuff both in and outside the Big Apple. And yet, just like the craving for that which cannot be, my desire to see AIDA continued to haunt me. I had heard the sound track a long time ago when a friend played it on a midnight drive along the barren landscape of Southern Utah and the music and the lyrics remained etched in my soul.Last night amidst the red cliffs of St George's Tuacahn Amphi-theatre and under the midnight blue sky that was riddled with stars, the stage no longer felt like a prop, as the waters of the Nile seemed to engulf the tears and tribulations of the Nubian princess AIDA in her choice between the love she finds in Radames and her calling towards her people.
While "enchantment passes through" and they are given "paradise but just for a day", yet the fact that love can flourish for a lifetime between the two most unlikely people with the most different of circumstances is what makes one smile. It is not improbable to guess the finality of this story which is based on Verdi's Opera, but the beauty of this masterpiece lies in the romanticism of love that is sought and the strength of character with which it is returned.
Yes just like this fictional tale may or may not have come alive under an Egyptian sky aeons ago, last night the dream of seeing this play out in front of my eyes, led my soul to a higher plane and yet again, I was left spellbound by this simple four letter word.. called LOVE.
The lyrics below say it all...
"Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by
You don't have to ask me and I need not reply
Every moment of my life from now until I die
I will think or dream of you and fail to understand
How a perfect love can be confounded out of hand
Is it written in the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time
For some God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day."
Yes just like this fictional tale may or may not have come alive under an Egyptian sky aeons ago, last night the dream of seeing this play out in front of my eyes, led my soul to a higher plane and yet again, I was left spellbound by this simple four letter word.. called LOVE.
The lyrics below say it all...
"Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by
You don't have to ask me and I need not reply
Every moment of my life from now until I die
I will think or dream of you and fail to understand
How a perfect love can be confounded out of hand
Is it written in the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time
For some God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day."
