Video: Behind The Scenes Of Schele Williams Directed AIDA in the Netherlands

Get a behind-the-scenes look at Stage Entertainment's production of Disney's AIDA, the musical by Elton John and Tim Rice has been reworked and updated, and made its premiere in the Netherlands on 23 April 2023 in the AFAS Circustheater in Scheveningen. The reimagined production closes April 14th, 2024 after running just a week shy of one year.

Gaia Aikman (The Lion King, TINA - The Tina Turner Musical), April Darby (Sister Act, The Bodyguard) and Naidjim Severina (The Lion King, Kinky Boots) are playing the lead roles in the production.

The updated version of AIDA differs in a number of respects from the original production. It goes without saying that the iconic music and lyrics by Sir Elton John (The Lion King, Billy Elliot) and Tim Rice (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita) have remained the same, but the creative team, led by director Schele Williams, has given the musical a contemporary feel without compromising its original quality.

The narrative of AIDA remains intact in this renewed version. It is the compelling and fateful story of two lovers belonging to feuding nations, torn between their conflicted loyalties to their countries and to each other. This love story is set against the backdrop of a nation immersed in nationalism that seeks to expand its empire by invading another country.

The music in AIDA is some of the most iconic in the history of musicals. The collaboration between Elton John and Tim Rice, who were inspired by the 1871 opera of the same name by the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, resulted in a series of songs. Songs such as Written in the Stars, A Step Too Far, God Loves Nubia, and Easy as Life have remained just as beautiful and eloquent after translation into Dutch. When it first came out, AIDA was performed in 14 different languages in 20 countries, and is now on the bucket list of a whole new generation of musical lovers, who will be able to fall in love with it at the AFAS Circustheater in 2023.