Look Back: Elton John Musical 'Aida' Opens On Broadway 11 Years Ago3/23/2011 12:03 AM ET
(RTTNews) - The musical "Aida," with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, opened on Broadway on March 23, 2000.
John wrote the music for the production, while lyrics were provided by Rice, who had worked with the Rocket Man before on Disney's "The Lion King." For that animated movie, the two had collaborated on such songs as "Circle Of Life" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," which would win an Oscar for Best Song.
"Aida" is based on a version of Verdi's opera and tells the story of a Nubian princess who is taken into slavery in ancient Egypt and falls in love with an Egyptian military commander.
The original Broadway production of Aida ran for more than four years. It features the song "Written In The Stars," which was recorded as a duet between John and country singer LeAnn Rimes.
Zitat von ejfanDen Löwenkönig gibt's bald wieder im Kino, diesmal auf 3D: ab 16.09. in den USA und ab 10.11. dann bei uns
...und ist auf Platz 1: FRIDAY 3PM: Very early numbers show Disney’s Lion King 3Droaring back to #1 with $15M weekend in 2,330 theaters; Warner Bros’ holdover Contagion #2 with $12M in 3,222 theaters, FilmDistrict’sDrive #3 with $11M from 2,886 theaters, Sony/Screen Gem’s Straw Dogs #4 with $8M from 2,408 theaters, and The Weinstein Co’s I Don’t Know How She Does It with $7.5M from 2,476 theaters.
David Furnish and Elton John's Rocket Pictures is set to tackle a new project: a movie based on John's illustrious career and how he got to where he is today. Lee Hall, the playwright who penned the 2000 film Billy Elliot - which was adapted into a musical for the West End with music by John and lyrics from Hall and later transferred to Broadway, winning the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical - will write the screenplay. "Rocketman will be a radically different kind of biopic," Rocket Pictures' Steve Hamilton Shaw toldDeadline.com. "It will be as unique as Elton's life, told in a non-linear and hyper-visual manner that will transport people through the many intense experiences, some wonderful, some not, that helped define Elton as an artist, musician and man." In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. While the film is still in its Early Stages of development, it's said to include some of Elton John's hit songs and will cover his journey from childhood to his enormous success in the music industry and beyond. "It will be more of a fantasy, Moulin Rouge type of stuff," John told BBC2 earlier this year. "Obviously, it's not going to be your normal, run-of-the-mill film. My life's been so surreal, from buying a football club to God knows what."
danke für den Link, ich finde das hört sich doch schon sehr vielversprechend an, auch wenn ich mir noch nichts darunter vorstellen kann, normal scheint es ja nicht zu werden. Aber irgendwie stimmt es auch, würde auch nicht passen. Bin auf jeden Fall sehr gespannt :D
NEW YORK — Very quietly, almost stealthily, a new king has been inaugurated on Broadway. Box office figures to be released later Monday show that "The Lion King" last week swiped the title of Broadway's all-time highest grossing show from "The Phantom of the Opera," The Associated Press has learned. The cumulative gross for "The Lion King" is $853,846,062, according to the show's numbers. Its chandelier-swinging rival's cumulative total is $853,122,847, according to musical's publicist. The "Lion King" surged past "Phantom" after netting over $2 million at the box office for the week ending Sunday, while "Phantom" pulled in about $1.2 million. What makes the achievement all the more remarkable is that "The Lion King" chased down and grabbed the title despite "Phantom" having almost a full 10 years' head start. The Disney show opened in November 1997, while "Phantom" debuted in January 1988. The upstart's victory is due in large part to its higher average ticket prices and a slightly larger theater. "It doesn't surprise me," said Cary Ginell, a music historian and biographer who edited the seventh edition of "Broadway Musicals: Show By Show." He compares "The Lion King" to a Disneyland ride. "It's a spectacle that satisfies on many different sensory elements – audio, visually, emotionally. It's also good for all ages – just like Disneyland is. For the kids, it's the visual elements – the colors, the costumes and the puppetry. For the adults, it's `Hamlet,' basically. And the music is not geared to one age or gender or race. It's as universal a show can get." Disney Theatrical Productions was gracious when contacted about reaching the milestone, saluting "Phantom" song writer Andrew Lloyd Webber and "Phantom" producer Cameron Mackintosh, who also co-produced Disney's hit "Mary Poppins," and calling their show "a global phenomenon of historic proportions." Thomas Schumacher, producer and president of Disney Theatrical Productions, also gave credit to Julie Taymor, the director, costume and mask maker of "The Lion King." "Her vision, continued commitment to the show and uncommon artistry account for this extraordinary success," he said in a statement. "This accomplishment belongs to our audiences, millions of whom are experiencing their first Broadway show at `The Lion King,'" Schumacher added. "Surely, introducing so many to the splendor of live theater is our show's greatest legacy." To be sure, "Phantom," now in its 24th year, is still the longest-running show in Broadway history, with more than 10,000 performances and it has sold many more tickets than its Disney rival on the Great White Way, a staggering 14.8 million so far.The Broadway League, a trade group that collects revenue from theater owners, has slightly different numbers, putting the cumulative gross of "The Lion King" at $851,956,963 and "Phantom" at $851,859,966 as of April 1. Later Monday, they will release numbers for the week of April 8. The League in 2009 changed the way it calculates grosses, which may explain the discrepancy. None of the figures are adjusted for inflation. In comparison, "The Lion King" looks like a pup: It is the sixth longest-running show on Broadway with over 5,900 performances over 14 years and has sold just over 10 million tickets. "The Lion King" may now have won on Broadway, but "Phantom" is still a juggernaut elsewhere. Its producers have even declared it the most successful entertainment venture of all time, with revenues higher than any film, including "Titanic," "Star Wars" and "Avatar." The total worldwide grosses for "Phantom" are estimated at over $5.6 billion, while the worldwide haul for "Lion" is $4.8 billion. "Phantom" has also been seen by 130 million people worldwide, while "Lion" puts its number at 64 million. Those gaps may also close: "The Lion King" has seven – soon eight – productions worldwide, while "Phantom" has seven productions around the world: London, New York, Hungary, Japan, South Africa, Las Vegas and a UK tour. Ginell points out that about 40 percent of "Phantom" tickets are sold to repeat customers, an extremely high number. Plus, 68 percent are women. "`Phantom is kind of a live-action romance novel," he said. "I think that's what's attracting a huge percentage of women to the show." H. Todd Freeman, vice president of operations at ticket broker Applause Theatre & Entertainment Service, Inc., said the success of "The Lion King" is due to its family draw, big visuals and ticket prices that were double those for "Phantom" when it started. Both shows now use premium pricing – offering deep-pocketed theatergoers the best seats for a hefty mark up. Even so, "The Lion King" still commands a higher average ticket price and shows no signs of softening. "Will it make 25? I don't know," said Freeman, who admits he never thought rival "Phantom" would last this long. "It holds up pretty well all year long but the times when it is the strongest is the Christmas breaks, the Easter breaks, the Spring breaks and the summertime." The two share some attributes: Both have musical giants behind them: "Phantom" has songs by Lloyd Webber and is directed by Harold Prince, while "The Lion King" features music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice and the vision of Taymor. Both have multiple Tony Awards, movie tie-ins, simple-to-understand stories and are spectacles – important for attracting tourists whose command of English might be weak. Both are not dependent on having stars on stage. And both call home in similar-sized theaters, "Phantom" at the 1,605-seat Majestic and "Lion" at the 1,677-seat Minskoff. The staying power of each is remarkable. Over their first 750 playing weeks – which "The Lion King" has recently reached – they've played to roughly the same number of people: "The Lion King" at 10,092,235 and "Phantom" at 9,241,333. Most shows that have achieved a ripe old age never appear in the top 10 by this point in their ages, but both "Lion" and "Phantom" are still routinely among the top earners, week in and week out. On the other side of the ledger, over 500 shows have opened and closed on Broadway during lifetime of "The Lion King." Ginell tips his cap to the new box office king and doesn't see a time soon when it abandons its kingdom. "`Lion King' is the perfect family musical and I think it always will be as long as expenses don't go so far up that they won't be able to afford to put it on anymore."
[...]Negotiations are also in the works to take Love Lies Bleeding to Germany and the U.K. in 2013, and with sights set on future Love Lies Bleeding tours to the U.S. and Australia, Alberta Ballet’s executive director, Martin Bragg, envisions this made-in-Alberta pop ballet project leading to big ticket sales worldwide.[...]
New father Sir Elton John is working on a Broadway musical aimed at children. The singer and his partner David Furnish became parents to son Elijah, a sibling for two-year-old Zachary, earlier this month, and 2013 is shaping up to be a busy year for the couple. In an interview with Britain's Hello! magazine, Furnish reveals, "Later this year we begin filming Rocketman, a biopic of Elton's early life. Towards the end of the year we are also planning to open a children's musical on Broadway." No further details of the project are known, but the singer will be adding to an impressive stage resume - he has previously composed the score for Billy Elliot the Musical and created tracks for Disney movie The Lion King, which was later adapted into a theatre show.
Hat jemand von Euch irgendwo einen kleinen Jungen rumsitzen, von dem er schon immer dachte "Verdammt, der sieht aus wie der kleine Elton"? Rocket Pictures sucht noch einen Darsteller für den jungen Reg. Macht hinne, sonst wird das Ding am End' nicht gedreht. Oder sie müssen warten, bis Zach im passenden Alter ist. Hier gibt es mehr Infos dazu.
------------------------ Back to the howling old owl in the woods , hunting the horny back toad Oh I've finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road...
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Elton John - How wonderful life is while you're in the world 
, hunting the horny back toad 
Elton John - He´s been touching our hearts!