Song:How I Know You
Album:Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Aida was a very successful Broadway musical written by Elton John & Tim Rice and produced by Disney. As you probably know, it is based on Guiseppe Verdi's opera Aida and also on a children's storybook version written by opera singer Leontyne Price. Disney acquired the book looking to turn it into a movie. But they had great success with Elton John's musical version of The Lion King that they decided to see if he could do the same thing with Aida. It turned out great. The show premiered in Atlanta Sept. 16, 1998 and then moved to Chicago before opening on Broadway on Mar. 23, 2000 and it ran for over four years. Starring in the title role and winning a Tony award was Heather Headley. She had been with the show in Atlanta. This role made Heather a star and she went on to success as an R & B singer. She is currently recording as a gospel artist for EMI Gospel. Others in the cast included Adam Pascal and Sherie Rene Scott. Damian Perkins played Mereb, the slave who spreads the word about Aida. The duet How I Know You is early in the show. Perkins has done some TV and films but he's mainly a stage performer and director. For reasons unknown, Elton John released a concept version of Aida with guests like Sting and LeAnn Rimes in 1999. Then they came to their senses and released a traditional cast recording in 2000. That's the one you want to get. Before the stage musical was written, Disney had planned to produce Aida as an animated film. In recent years, there has been talk of producing Aida as a live action movie musical. Beyonce Knowles and Christina Aguilera have been rumoured as possible stars but there has been nothing about it for a couple of years. Maybe it will never happen. Here's Heather Headley and Damian Perkins performing How I Know You on The Today Show Aug. 19, 2000.
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