On Monday, May 7, at 8:00 p.m., the Concerts & Lectures program of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Aida: The Making of a Musical – a behind-the-scenes discussion about the Museum's Egyptian art collection and the inspiration for Elton John and Tim Rice's Tony® Award winning musical Aida. The discussion will be followed by a concert of songs led by the show's stars, Tony® Award winner Heather Headley, Adam Pascal, and Taylor Dayne.
The evening will begin in the Metropolitan Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium with an informal discussion on Egyptian culture and design, which served as the inspiration for the Elton John/Tim Rice musical. Participants will include Aida's Tony® Award winning set and costume designer Bob Crowley and director Robert Falls, both from Aida, and Dorothea Arnold, the Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum. Moderating the discussion will be Thomas Schumacher, president of Buena Vista Theatrical Group.
At 9:00 p.m., the audience will move to the dramatic setting of The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing for a concert performance by Tony® Award winner Heather Headley, Adam Pascal, and Taylor Dayne, and members of the cast of Aida.
The Temple of Dendur is a full-scale Egyptian monument built at the Nubian site about 55 miles south of Aswan by the Roman Emperor Augustus circa 15 B.C.E. It was presented to the United States as a gift from the Egyptian government in recognition of the American contribution to the international campaign to save ancient Nubian monuments, and it has been reassembled at the Metropolitan Museum as it appeared on the banks of the Nile, in a modern simulation of the site.
Following the performance, guests at a special reception will have the opportunity to meet the performers and speakers. At the reception, dessert will be served.
Tickets for the discussion and concert are $75, and for the full evening including the reception are $150 each. They may be ordered from the Concerts & Lectures Department of the Museum at (212)570-3949, Monday through Saturday, 9:30-5:30.
Currently playing at Broadway's legendary Palace Theatre, where it opened in the spring of 2000, Aida is the story of a Nubian princess stolen from her country; Amneris, an Egyptian princess; and Radames, the soldier they both love. The choices these three young people are forced to make not only change their lives, but alter the course of history. The Grammy Award winning cast recording is available on CD through Buena Vista Records.
The Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum has been growing since 1874. With an estimated 36,000 objects dating from 30,000 B.C.E. to about 400 C.E. – from prehistoric Egypt through Roman Imperial times – the collection today is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world.
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April 24, 2001
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