"So I'm following in their footsteps," Terrell says. Terrell is inspired by two artists who triumphed in the role - Leontyne Price in Verdi's opera and Headley, a Berklee graduate, in the musical's original 2000 Broadway production. "She's very sure about herself and what she wants. "She's a really, really strong woman," says Terrell, 17, a School of the Arts senior who'll study music therapy at the Berklee College of Music in Boston starting this fall. Kenesha Terrell, who's playing the role in the All-City production, comes to the part with extensive experience onstage at Karamu House, the School of the Arts and elsewhere. The woman Radames falls for is Aida, the Nubian (in some versions, Ethiopian) princess taken prisoner by the Egyptians. Every woman he encounters likes him more than a friend and falls in love with him." But he doesn't know how to be friends with women. "Radames knows what to say when he's around girls. Tony Sias, co-director of the All-City Musical production of "Aida," takes a moment during rehearsal to show cast members how to express passion for their savior princess, Aida. "You have to play the role of an Egyptian captain and still come home at night and be the love interest of two women. "The role is extremely, extremely - I cannot put emphasis enough on extremely - difficult," says Malone, 17, an 11th-grader at St. He talks about the show with an enthusiasm on the far side of elation. Malone II - in the lead role of Radames - is appearing in his first major production. Since the score of "Aida" brims with songs, cast and crew members will be very busy, and many for the first time in a musical. "The way the play is written calls for some very fluid changes from top to bottom where the actors transition from one locale to another without any break in a song." The students working on the tech crew are "responsible for moving our mobile set pieces around," says co-director Kimberly Brown, managing director of the All-City Arts Program. The group taking part in the production includes six students working backstage with professional crew members and three students teaming with 11 professional musicians in the orchestra pit. They'll tap into another source when they watch a film of Verdi's opera, "Aida," upon which the musical is based. The students expanded their historical knowledge of the show's themes by taking a trip to the Great Lakes Science Center to see the Imax film "Mystery of the Nile" and view an exhibit about Egypt. Nor did she or her peers have any idea that cataracts are rapids of the Nile River, not just an eye disease. Rivera, for example, knew little about Egypt or Nubia before joining the "Aida" cast. "One of the other reasons we chose 'Aida' is because of the rich history the students learn." "When you have pop artists who have been in these starring roles on Broadway, it's a point of entry and sensibility for the students," Sias says. Sias says "Aida" was chosen in part because it is closely associated with pop stars Heather Headley and Deborah Cox, whom many of the cast members are familiar with. Nearly 140 students auditioned for this year's All-City Musical, a tradition that has included shows ranging from "The Hot Mikado" and "Carmen Jones" to "Guys and Dolls" and "West Side Story." "It's having a deeper interest in the curriculum using the arts as exploration and investigation." "It's really about arts integration, arts infusion, cross-curricular instruction," says Tony Sias, director of arts education for the school district and co-director of the production. Rivera and 49 other students from schools throughout Cleveland are transforming themselves from 21st-century teenagers into ancient (but hip) Egyptians and Nubians for the show, which they've been rehearsing since February.Īlong the way, the students have savored collaborating with talented colleagues and professionals and learning about ancient civilizations. "I'm not used to being a princess," says the ebullient Rivera, a ninth-grader at the Cleveland School of the Arts. So imagine her surprise when the 15-year-old landed the role of Amneris in the production of the Elton John and Tim Rice rock musical "Aida" that the Cleveland School District presents this week in PlayhouseSquare as the 14th annual All-City Musical. Aside from singing in church and playing a pig in "Charlotte's Web," Melannie Rivera hasn't had much performing experience.
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