Fan report by Phillip.

Elton has already produced four musicals, of which are only two left in the mind of most people. First, of course, the all-time-standard "Lion King", popular on Broadway, in London's West End, and in Hamburg, Germany. Apart from that Billy Elliot premiered five years ago in London and two years ago in New York City. It's a pity that the other two plays aren't seen anywhere nowadays. We got Lestat on the one hand, which was pretty much of a disaster when it comes to ticket sales and on the other hand there was the story about the Nubian slaves and their princess Aida. Like Verdi told us a few hundred years ago, Aidas fall in love with the upcoming king of Egypt.

I've been very, very excited when I heard about the great news that AIDA was going to come to Germany. The "Musical Factory Groß-Umstadt" toured with their own production through some suburbs of Frankfurt. This group is a mix of professionals and laymen. There were all kind of age groups presented in this production.

On this evening, they brought a piece of Egypt back to life. With a breathtaking stage show, accompanied by a live orchestra, everyone of the 80 contributors gave their best to please the audience. The music has all been played live with the original Broadway score. With the help of their own stage outfits, and some great sound/lightning men the "musical factory" suited everybody's taste.

Even though you heard that most of the singers didn't have trained voices, everybody sang with such a passion that one believed they are doing this show every evening. None of the characters meant any disappointment for the audience. It was rather hard to find a singer you liked the most. They have all been fabolous.

There is one big praise left for me for the conductor and producer of the show, Ralf Schreiner. Even though his orchestra did never play in a professional (and commercial) produced play on Broadway or in London's West End, it was hard to find any differences in quality concerning their play, and the way the music is played on the official AIDA cast recording. Schreiner was very caring about every detail in Elton's musical composition.

This actually was my second Elton musical I have seen so far. I've been able to attend the Lion King twice (in London and Hamburg) and I have to say that the Lion King is far away from the quality AIDA has to offer. After this evening I'm a bit angry on Elton's management for they stopped every AIDA production on this planet. There are just small, local ones like the one I attended to suit the taste of musical lover.

In the end I have to admit that when the first act finished (Gods love Nubia), some tears started rolling out of my eyes.

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