'Aida' rocks Alumni Hall

The heat of the desert — inside the Indiana Memorial Union.

On Saturday and Sunday, “Aida” took the stage in Alumni Hall at the IMU.

The rock musical is the story of an enslaved Nubian princess, Aida, who falls in love with the Egyptian soldier and pharaoh-to-be, Radames. With their two countries at war and Radames’ prolonged engagement to the Pharaoh’s princess, Amneris, conflict ensues.

An additional performance will be 7:30 p.m. Sunday, with $10 tickets for adults and $8 tickets for students.

“I think that the story reaches everyone,” said Jacque Donahue, sophomore and ensemble member. “Aida is such a universal story line, that anyone who sees it will get something out of it.”

The cast performed for an enthusiastic crowd Saturday, who appreciated the large orchestra responsible for delivering the Elton John numbers.

“They have a very talented orchestra,” said sophomore Andy Sterneman. “The orchestra is extremely quick to adapt to any changing circumstances.”

But Sterneman also appreciated the casts vocal abilities.

“Everyone has fantastic voices,” Sterneman said. “I particularly enjoyed the villain, Zoser. He really hit the creepy nail on the head.”

Senior Steve Greist, who portrays Zoser, said he had concern about playing the role.
“At first, I didn’t think that I could play the villain,” Greist said. “But then I got up on stage and was like, ‘Yeah! I can be super evil! No problem!’”

Although audience members confirmed a successful production with claps, the cast needed to persevere through difficulties behind the scene.

Cast members had only three- and-a-half weeks to get their show ready, and needed to make last minute cast changes. 

AJ Whittenberger, another ensemble member who portrays Radames, said the cast had to tackle rehearsal space problems, practicing with the orchestra and a time crunch.

“I think that we got a lot more accomplished than people thought we could pull off,” said junior and cast member Stephanie Feeley. “In fact, the people that we needed to find at last minute’s notice were actually the happiest to be on board.”

Hoosier Musical Production’s artistic and executive director Jon Lerner, who also directed Aida, said this has been one of the most difficult shows for the organization to produce, but turned out fine in the end.

“Although this show has been the greatest challenge, it has therefore been the most rewarding,” Lerner said. “With great challenge comes great reward.”