| Scott Ventura ( @ 2007-08-20 22:24:00 |
Why Is Fiction Less Appealing?
Today I had the good fortune of seeing the touring production of the musical Aida. This is the stage show with score by Elton John and Tim Rice. The new Aida is only loosely based on the Verdi opera. At the end of the performance, a member of our party remarked that he would've changed the ending. Having spent two hours watching a show set in ancient Egypt, we were eager to believe that the ending was drawn from the historical record, which would've made such a change unthinkable.
Upon regaining access to Wikipedia, we discovered that the modern Aida's ending is, indeed, a change from the Verdi version. Sadly, the Verdi version isn't based on anything real. Attempts to look up character names like Amneris and Radames yielded only the opera. What is it about period pieces like this that increases audience gullibility?
Today I had the good fortune of seeing the touring production of the musical Aida. This is the stage show with score by Elton John and Tim Rice. The new Aida is only loosely based on the Verdi opera. At the end of the performance, a member of our party remarked that he would've changed the ending. Having spent two hours watching a show set in ancient Egypt, we were eager to believe that the ending was drawn from the historical record, which would've made such a change unthinkable.
Upon regaining access to Wikipedia, we discovered that the modern Aida's ending is, indeed, a change from the Verdi version. Sadly, the Verdi version isn't based on anything real. Attempts to look up character names like Amneris and Radames yielded only the opera. What is it about period pieces like this that increases audience gullibility?