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AIDA AT CONSTELLATION IS  DAZZLING
What is there to say about  a musical when the voices, the dancing ensemble, the sets, the costumes, the lighting, the sound — all these come together so spectacularly?  
Constellation Theatre’s production of Elton John and Tim Rices’ musical Aida is that dazzling combination of everything that makes a musical grand. 
The musical  story starts earlier than the opera, when the Nubian princess Aida and the Egyptian military commander Radames, get off to a bad start when he captures her as a slave. Shayla S. Simmons is Aida,  Jobari Parker-Namdar is Radames and Chahani Wereley is Radames’ bethroyed/the daughter of the King of Egypt.  The three form the love triangle who through soaring arias and heartfelt duets unfold the complications of forbidden love.
Dazzling costumes by Kenann M. Quander match their dazzling voices. 
 Greg Watkins as Radames’s father who is also the scheming Chief Minister Zoser, plays one of the baddest guys ever in a show stopping scene.
This is a cast of actors worth remembering: The good guys are two Nubian slaves in the royal household: Da’Von Moody as Mereb and Ashley Johnson as Nehebka.  The fathers are the Pharaoh, played by Kaylen Morgan who is continually coughing near death from poisoning by Zoser, and  the  captured Nubian king Amonasro, by  Wendell Jordan, who delivers a  thundering directive to Aida to forsake her lover for her people.
The ensemble give a powerful performance on the small stage setting, that effectively recreates this larger than life production.  They  include Ian Anthony Coleman, Ashley K. Nicholas, Tara Lynn Yates-Reeves, Topher Williams, Lawrence Hailes,  and Amber Lenell Jones. Walter “Bobby” McCoy, choreographed their  exhilarating dance sequences with some tense fight scenes choreographed by Ryan Sellers.
Scenic and lighting by A.J. Guban, sound by  Roc Lee  and property by Tony Koehler  transported so effectively the epic scale music to a an intimate theater space.
Heard but not seen is the live band.  Walter “Bobby” McCoy and Marika Countouris on Keyboards,  Jason Wilson/ Bass, Manny Arciniega/Percussion, Mila Weiss/Reeds, Jaime Ibacache/Guitar.
Kudos to director Michael J. Bobbitt  for bringing it all together in a dazzling evening.
So what can one say about all that—it’s a MUST SEE!

WANT TO KNOW MORE
WHERE: Constellation Theatre Company in residence at Source, 1835 14thStreet NW, Washington DC 20009 (on the corner of 14thStreet and T Street). 
WHEN: November 18, 2018.
INFO: Website: www.ConstellationTheatre.org
Email: BoxOffice@ConstellationTheatre.org
Phone: (202) 204-7741





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