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IN MEMORIUM: 9/11 Review by: Beth M, Sep 11, 2008 |
AIDA AND 9/11
by Beth Mandelbaum, written in 2002
“Aida is a story about people torn between personal passion and political responsibility, about love transcending hate and ancient division. And we can offer no easy answer…“David Henry Huang
“Aida has a spiritual center that speaks to us about the power of love and redemption and the transcendence of spirit.” Robert Falls
I first saw AIDA on September 9, 2001. Two days later,... read more, our world was changed forever.
I have revisited this deeply moving musical twice since 9/11, nearly six months after the tragedy and again today, three days before its one year commemoration.
I was struck each time by how much my response to seeing AIDA has been shaped by the events not only of 9/11 itself, with its devastating and unspeakable human loss, but also the months of war, aggression, captivity, murder which followed. And while the story of AIDA is by nature powerful, inspiring and emotionally wrenching, seeing it through the lenses of the events of the past year has profoundly heightened the experience for me.
I noted so many universal and timeless themes: the hatred and misunderstanding that all too often exist between peoples who seem different to each other on the surface; the desire for power and conquest; war and captivity; the appearance of evil; the expression of deep patriotism; the struggle for freedom; service to one’s people; forgiveness, mercy and compassion; and ultimately, the power and triumph of love and its capacity to transcend time, space and death.
AIDA is set during time of war between Egypt and its neighbor Nubia. We see the captured Nubians, including the Nubian princess Aida, brought against their will to Egyptian shores. Watching the captured Nubians in chains and tattered clothing, bound by handcuffs, roughed and thrown to the ground, and helplessly led to their fate as slaves, could not help but bring to mind so many of the images of war and desperation of conquered peoples that have passed my eyes on television and in the newspapers over the past year.
The musical’s opening lines tell us that Aida’s story is that of “a love that flourished in a time of hate.” Aida shows a powerful, courageous, and deeply inspiring sense of patriotism. She comes to make the profoundly painful decision to sacrifice her relationship with Radames, to be with her people, serve them and support them in their fight for freedom.
The first act ends in the slave camp, with Aida accepting the responsibility of leading her people to freedom. Aida and the Nubian slaves sing the song “The Gods Love Nubia,” which I found to be a powerful expression of hope, of inspiration, of comfort and of fierce determination by these people in captivity, far from the land that nurtured them.
In Act II, Radames tells Aida that he is even prepared to call off his marriage to Amneris, so that they can be together. However, Aida, in a profound and highly moving act of patriotism, dedication to her people and self-sacrifice, asks that he marry the Princess Amneris, as it is her hope that this marriage might lead to peace between Nubia and Egypt.
However the love between Aida and Radames will not die, and Aida and Radames do meet again. The Princess Amneris witnesses, from behind a wall, their expression of love for each other.
Amneris now has no choice but to have the ill-fated lovers put on trial for treason, for their love is a crime against Egypt. While the punishment for treason is death, as that is the law, the Princess shows deep forgiveness, mercy and compassion by decreeing that the lovers be allowed to die together, buried alive in a small tomb beneath the Egyptian sands.
As the lovers enter the tomb, Radames easing Aida’s fears of the darkness, and powerfully expresses his faith that they will one day find each other again. He shares his strong conviction that he will find her again, no matter how many rivers he will need to cross or how many lifetimes he will pass through. The beautiful and deeply moving message that love is really all that exists, that it is as eternal and has the power to transcend death pervades the last minutes of this performance.
I watched, with deep emotion, the image of the two doomed lovers crouching and trapped inside the small square tomb, as the opening becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, until all is black. And then, with a throbbing crescendo of music, the darkness that we see becomes a black sky filled with bright and beautiful stars, which seems to tell us that the lovers have died and that we are privileged to be present with their souls in eternity.
As I watched, transfixed, I could not help but think of and imagine the horrific last hours and minutes of many who died in the World Trade Center disaster. I would like to believe that what I witnessed in Aida, a profound and almost indescribable image with its message of the power of love, courage and hope in the face of death, resonated throughout the buildings destroyed on 9/11, as those who were trapped faced the inevitable.
And for those who are even slightly open to the possibility of re-incarnation in another lifetime, the final scene of AIDA, which has remained indelible in my consciousness, may perhaps slightly ease the pain of those who were tragically separated from their loved ones in those unspeakable moments in September, or through acts of war.
The final message of AIDA seems to offer hope, at least to this writer, that love is eternal and exists outside of time and space, that through the power of love horizons can be crossed, and that after the death of our bodies, our souls may indeed find each other again, in surprising, or in not-so-surprising places.
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Aida and 9/11 Review by: Beth A. Mandelbaum, Nov 6, 2007 |
Aida is a story about people torn between personal passion and political responsibility, about love transcending hate and ancient division. And we can offer no easy answer…“David Henry Huang
“Aida has a spiritual center that speaks to us about the power of love and redemption and the transcendence of spirit.” Robert Falls
I first saw AIDA on September 9, 2001. Two days later, our world was changed forever.
I ... read more have revisited this deeply moving musical twice since 9/11, nearly six months after the tragedy and again today, three days before its one year commemoration.
I was struck each time by how much my response to seeing AIDA has been shaped by the events not only of 9/11 itself, with its devastating and unspeakable human loss, but also the months of war, aggression, captivity, murder which followed. And while the story of AIDA is by nature powerful, inspiring and emotionally wrenching, seeing it through the lenses of the events of the past year has profoundly heightened the experience for me.
I noted so many universal and timeless themes: the hatred and misunderstanding that all too often exist between peoples who seem different to each other on the surface; the desire for power and conquest; war and captivity; the appearance of evil; the expression of deep patriotism; the struggle for freedom; service to one’s people; forgiveness, mercy and compassion; and ultimately, the power and triumph of love and its capacity to transcend time, space and death.
AIDA is set during time of war between Egypt and its neighbor Nubia. We see the captured Nubians, including the Nubian princess Aida, brought against their will to Egyptian shores. Watching the captured Nubians in chains and tattered clothing, bound by handcuffs, roughed and thrown to the ground, and helplessly led to their fate as slaves, could not help but bring to mind so many of the images of war and desperation of conquered peoples that have passed my eyes on television and in the newspapers over the past year.
The musical’s opening lines tell us that Aida’s story is that of “a love that flourished in a time of hate.” Aida shows a powerful, courageous, and deeply inspiring sense of patriotism. She comes to make the profoundly painful decision to sacrifice her relationship with Radames, to be with her people, serve them and support them in their fight for freedom.
The first act ends in the slave camp, with Aida accepting the responsibility of leading her people to freedom. Aida and the Nubian slaves sing the song “The Gods Love Nubia,” which I found to be a powerful expression of hope, of inspiration, of comfort and of fierce determination by these people in captivity, far from the land that nurtured them.
In Act II, Radames tells Aida that he is even prepared to call off his marriage to Amneris, so that they can be together. However, Aida, in a profound and highly moving act of patriotism, dedication to her people and self-sacrifice, asks that he marry the Princess Amneris, as it is her hope that this marriage might lead to peace between Nubia and Egypt.
However the love between Aida and Radames will not die, and Aida and Radames do meet again. The Princess Amneris witnesses, from behind a wall, their expression of love for each other.
Amneris now has no choice but to have the ill-fated lovers put on trial for treason, for their love is a crime against Egypt. While the punishment for treason is death, as that is the law, the Princess shows deep forgiveness, mercy and compassion by decreeing that the lovers be allowed to die together, buried alive in a small tomb beneath the Egyptian sands.
As the lovers enter the tomb, Radames easing Aida’s fears of the darkness, and powerfully expresses his faith that they will one day find each other again. He shares his strong conviction that he will find her again, no matter how many rivers he will need to cross or how many lifetimes he |
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| * Review is an opinion of a BroadwayBox user and not that of BroadwayBox.com and BroadwayBox, Inc. |
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